Atlanta was great :) The trip back was not.

Going home wassss bizarre. As I thought it would be seeing I have been in Spain for the last three months and had become acclimated to mahh lyf hurr and then was like thrown back into my life in the United States for less than 3 days. Basically my sister is the cutest thing ever. She was kind of alien looking when I saw her with her biiiig black eyes but she just lovedd to snuggle. Seriously she would just lay against my chest and then fall asleep. Hmmm I miss herrrr... and my puppyyyyy. And my parents and brother of course but I can skype them and they know what is happening haha



I had some friends from ever (Marist party + Billy and Dave :) ) come to mi casa Sunday morning for like a brunch type thing. It was really great seeing everyone although it was kind of weird. I felt like I wasn't supposed to be there.. like out of place. It was a little weird for me but it meant a looot to me that people came. Plus we had Maria Isabel to break the ice.


Saying goodbye later on Sunday was pretty awful though.. I like kind of ran out of the house to avoid the emotional stuff which would end in an escalating trend of tears.. No sanks. This was the last thing I saw... :(

she's so tiny!

Side note: I skyped with my parents and Maria Isabel last weekend. Holyy shit she has gotten SO much bigger. I really don't think I will recognize her when I see her again in August.

My dad just dropped me off at the airport as I didn't really want to extend the whole saying goodbye thing... I was kind of like on edge witih everything so it was probably better I was alone.

When I finally boarded the plane (after a nice peptalk from Julie--shanksss), I realized I was in an aisle seat next to a very large man. Great.. we chatted some and he was getting married in Madrid to this Spanish woman and such. Like 20 minutes later the flight attendant asked if he wanted a spot with more space, so I actually ended up getting two seats for myself! Win! Get so sleeeeep and  if I breakdown it won't be awkward since I was sitting by myself.

Trying to fall asleep was kind of a struggle since I wasn't tired for some reason.. Normally I am a baby on flights. As in... I sleep the entire time, no matter the length, and only wake up to eat and go to the bathroom. So yes a baby. Minus the crying (normally...)

So, still not asleep an hour and a half into the flight.. We are about to cross the Atlantic and the pilot comes on board "murmurmurmurmur yeah so our radar isn't functioning correctly.. murmurmur so we won't be able to cross the Atlantic safely murmurmur.. we can't land in NYC because visibility isn't clear murmurmurmurmur we are going to have to return to Atlanta to get it fixed"

What. The. Fuck.  I, like several other people, had a train to catch to our final destination (train at 1151!) so I was gonna be sooo mad if I missed that... I was sitting at a window seat and all of the sudden the wing is starting to expel fuel. Then there was a bunch of turbulence. I thought we were gonna die for about a 15 minute period.

When we finally re arrived in Atlanta, the plane turned into chaos. The flight attendants asked everyone to remain calm and stay seated. Nope. Plus there were ambulances when we landed.
It was suppose to take like less than an hour.. took more than 2. It's cool though I just threw my Delta jacket over my head and attempted to sleep.

We were en route to Madrid again 5 hours after our original departure time. Worst flight delay ever. I mean shit happens, but seeing my circumstances, it was just miserable miserable miserable.

We landed in Madrid at 1154. So three minutes after my train was leaving for Valencia. I bought that ticket like two weeks prior for 20 euros. I figured that I would be able to talk to the RENFE or Delta people and get some kind of reimbursement or money back, right? Wrong.

Spain is spain... No pasa nada life motto has a downfall... So Delta flights to Europe are suppose to all land in the morning. Normally before 10am. I went to the info table and asked what I should do since I missed my train and they told me to go talk to the Delta office... It was closed. NO ONE could help me. All I needed was a printed copy of the arrivals so I could prove to the train office that I had missed my train due to a delay. After about an hour of running around the airport, I just go to the train office and buy a new ticket. For 70 euros. Cooool... I left a REALLY bitchy complaint for the Delta people. They ended up crediting my Skymile account 5000 miles :)

Slovenian Partyyy

I am sure I will add more to this as the week goes on.

SO Neva is probably the most loved person in Slovenia. Seriously, every week someoneee comes to visit-- and this week there are 7 of them! (Come on friends, why are you guys not visiting me.. jokes jokes :) )

Seriously the last few nights have been like Gandia. I haven´t been going out this much this hard in so long. I had gotten boring for a while with the routine and such, but due to wonderful recent changes, I have been reminded that I am on my study abroad and I shoulddd be having the most ridiculous time of my life (so far). Jesus, and its only now thursday.

So Tuesday night we were going to be all cultural and such and go to flamenco.. nope. Instead we decided to go to the center to some bars (it was actually my first time to that part of the center... idk what I am doing with my life).

9 shots bought by some random Italian guy. Normal things.

Walking around on the street and drinking our bottles while exchanging culture comments and I correct their english and learn a little Slovenian. So great :)

So this is a Tuesday... the amount of shots we did... We were there until the bar closed, like around 4 or so. I slept at the hostel they are staying at which is on campus. Did not wake up on time for my class and when I did go, the class just chuckled at me/my appearance. Sorry I am an Erasmus student :)

While at the bar and dancing and getting hit on by sketch people and subsequently saved by the Slovenian guys, I was having a very intelligent and meaningful conversation with someone from home. My texting went from perfect to shit. SO fast. Like literally within a 4 minute time period:

Me: (4 21AM) No I don´t think that. As far as I go, I feel petty when I talk abt my shit. I know you still have an opinion but idk who or where I will be in 5 yrs

Friend: I don´t have day to day shit figured out. And I still worry about the petty things..

Me: (4 24AM): Haha okay normal properties

Friend: (4 24): Properties?

Me: (4 24): NeEd to aleeo.

*skeep

Friend: (4 24) Good night!

I got that without even the correction.

Me: (4 24)  Someone is vo$iginv in ghd b/ hfoom

Friend: (4 25) How did you go so downhill in texting so fast?? Haha

I literally have no idea.

1/3 of the Way Through!

It is sooo strange that I am just that: 1/3 of my way through my study abroad. Two months in! And its funny, I read through my blogs and journal—soooo much has happened! You can read through the blogs so no need to recap things.

I am gonna go through some things I have noticed in Spain that are extremely different than the USA, things that I miss, or things I have learned about myself.

Side note: Listening to “How to Love”—LOL its Lil Wayne singing to a stripper that he loves?? Whatttt?? Hahhaha

1.       I like cooking! Maybe it’s because I always cook with someone or for my group of friend, but really I appreciate cooking sooo much more. My room mates are like impressed with my cooking—I was like, uh honestly before this I basically only ate mac and cheese. So, BAM! Even when I don’t want to really cook (which happens at least once a week), I just make arepas. So I am like more Venezuelan than when I got here—in Venezuela they eat them like once a day. Also- I realized that I only know how to cook Venezuelan style, aka what my mom cooks so a lot of garlic, cilantro, onions, and tomatoes.

2.       I hate showering here. Relax-I still do it at least once a day, but it is seriously the most frustrating experience. First of all, there isn’t a place to put the shower here. Well there is but it ALWAYS falls. So I am always holding the damn thing or put it on the floor and then it becomes possessed and attacks my shower curtain and a huge puddle of water forms. It is a battlefield.

Secondly, the water is next to impossible to get to the right temperature. Either it is SCORCHING hot or freezing. Andddd on the chance that I get it to a desirable temperature, it decides to go cold. Normally, this is where my shower ends.

The way I think people are intended to shower here is to turn the water off between like shampoo, conditioner, soap whatever. Annoying.

3.       Love mopping, hate sweeping. My floor is like red with rocks that are white and gray so it is impossible to see dirt. Good when I am being lazy, bad when I want to clean. I sweep so much and then I stillll feel grindy shit under my feet. Mopping is great though since you can actually see where you have cleaned and notice a difference. But, you have to do a good job sweeping before you get to mop or else you get like dirty water.

4.       Doing dishes isn’t awful but I SO miss a dishwasher-put it in and you know it will perfectly clean and ready to use again! I do have a preference on the order in which I do the dishes:

1^st- cups and glasses

2^nd-plates and bowls

3^rd-silverware

4^th- fucking hate doing pots and pan

5.       I am sooo much better about laundry here; as in it doesn’t sit in a basket clean for a week before I decide to put it away slash wear it again. Our laundry machine takes hours to do its job and hanging it does take surprisingly long but then once it is dried, I put it away in its place and folded(!) immediately. We share two clothing racks between four people so that may subconsciously affect me. OH and you know, hung dried clothes prevents (that’s not the right word but I can’t think of it in English- evitar) that problem you have with just dried jeans… “I swear I haven’t gained weight since last week..?”

6.       I think I have a studying problem. Marist and Tech have broken me. Like I get antsy when I don’t have studying to schedule my life around. I can’t even tellll you how many nightmares I have had about having all my tests the same day unbeknownst to me. So not having anything to study stresses me out…

7.       I am very much a people’s person, but I NEED my space or I get pissy. I hate doing nothing in my room slash apartment but doing nothing, per say, anywhere else is great. Walking around the enter, eating at the university, laying in a park is a wonderful way for me to spend my afternoon.

8.       I really don’t like being touched. Especially my face and hair.

9.       I’m still anal about my bed! No shower/worn clothes, no bed J

10.   I always tend to have random life conversations with people at restaurants, stores, markets etc. I feel like I always tell them things that I they don’t care about (the guy I buy my fruit and vegetables from knows that I am in the USA this weekend to visit my newborn sister, for example). Of course, it always includes where I am from—identity crisis.

11.   It’s “cool” to be from the United States. I come farther than most people.

12.   24hr clock, celcius, and the measuring units used in Europe (and the rest of the world) make SO much more sense. I think USA is the only (or of veryyy few) with the units we use. Even Canada switched back to the global units. Apparently the USA has been trying to change it for a while but it’s like ridiculously expensive to change the units of everything.

13.   Trying to explain what the USA is like really hard. Maybe I’ll do a blog entry on that later but Europe no tiene nadaaa que ver con los EEUU. We are just so big and diverse and spread out!

14.   USA government may not be perfect, but I think it makes a lot more sense than some of the European governments I have learned about.

15.   Spanish people and their siesta and no working on Sundays is soooo damn inconvenient. The expression “No pasa nada” I think is a perfect way to summarize the Spanish lifestyle. It literally translates to “nothing happens” but means more like “don’t worry about it.” They are just so lax here! And then they complain about the economic crisis.

16.   Children here are much more free to do what they want. There isn’t as much pressure from parents/schools/institutions/etc to do things in a particular way.

17.   People have no tolerance to cold. I am wearing a cardigan and people are completely bundled. Come on people it’s like 20C/68F.

18.   It never rains in Valencia. Literally. My roommates told me there is one week in September that it pours for an entire week. Other than that though-nada.

19.   I am addicted to my phone. I am obnoxious about pictures. (but we knew these things)

20.   I like how people dress here. Even the grungy Spanish girls with the dreads look much more put together than I would on any given day in the USA.

21.   I DO NOT understand the hairstyles of Spanish young people. Boys love to have their head buzzed but have like a mullet, of dreadlocks… And girls have like crazy shaved heads on once side. And dreads. So popular.

22.   Face piercings. Eyebrows, lips, nose. I would say at least 50 percent of the young people have them

23.   Eating schedule is bonkers but I like it. There big meal are at 14h (lunch) and 21h (dinner) are so much more social! At least an hour and a half is dedicated to eating the three course meal. And it really isn’t that much food but it is so much more enjoyable not like, lets shove food into my throat in 20 minutes to go back to studying/working/class.

And to Atlanta I Return!

(as written on my train ride to Barcelona on March 16) and I will post pictures when I get to ATL. Don’t fret.

SO. Ways to motivate myself to blog:

-listen to Kap Slap album on repeat—BEST mashups. Get it now.

-eat a cucumber (if anyone saw me eating this like a carrot…)

Yeah.. that’s about it. OH and of course, accompanied by the one and only Randy J

I am currently on a 5 hour train to Barcelona! So crazy that I am at the beginning of my voyage home (for the weekend..) Today was unnecessarily stressful though and it all kind of started last night.

 So I absolutely hateee people waiting on me… and last night Neva ended up waiting for Justina and I for like an hour. Luckily she was with her sister and her Slovenian Fanta bottle but still.. SORRY NEVA! Justina came from Gandia for FALLAS! Real quick so you know what that is: it´s one of the biggest festivals in Spain and thus the biggest in Valencia. It’s a five day festival but celebrations happen the entire month of March.

Things you will find during Fallas:

1)      Petardos, aka firecrackers. All the time. Morning, night, afternoon, you name it. It´s like what children do after school is throw these things at each other/innocent by standers. And they are SO loud! Like seriously sounds  like a battle field.

SO many people go to Mascletás

2)      Tents everywhereeee. In these tents you will find tapas and bars and they normally offer really good deals (beer and tapa for 1.50 euros) and then music and tables. After our fail of going out last week, (we all went to the center via taxi, got separated, and on top of that it was too late to get into anyyy club without paying 10 euros) Mats and I stumbled upon one of these tents by my piso which was fun J

3)      Mascletás. Every day at 14h in Plaza de A´juntamient (sawry probs spelled that wrong but it’s in Valenciano) there is like a mini fourth of July except they choose the really loud ones. I´m telling you, Spanish people just love unnecessary louuuud noises.

4)      And most importantly, the Fallas. These are HUGE paper mache and would figures. Like they are at least 12 feet high. Normally the figures are ironic representations of important politicans or famous people but there really are no specifications. These are almost on every street. Who makes them? I don´t know. The weirdest thing is that they burn these the last day of Fallas (ON MONDAY I WILL BE HERE FOR THIS!!!)

We get school off and most people get work off as well and just walk around Valencia drinking in the tents and looking at all the Fallas. By night, there are normally like fireworks (so I have been told) and parties everywhereeee. Just like on the street people are drinking and dancing until morning.

_____

Anyways, so Justina came for Las Fallas and she stayed with me last night. She didn´t get here till late though due to random things (like 10pm). Lea (one of my roommates) has her boyfriend visiting. They both traveled through Andalusia last week and got back Friday. Well, her boyfriend decided to cook dinner for us. Suppose to be at 21h but ended up not being till 22. It was soooooo good. I am an idiot though and told these Greek girls (both Ioanna) that I met the previous week, and Neva, I would meet them at Aragon metro station at 2315. Neva was on time, all the rest of us didn´t get there till midnight. It ended up not being a big deal, I just felt really bad because she was waiting on us and I was like rushing through dinner. Whatever. No pasa nada.

We then went to Turia (the dried up river bed park that is 10km long) for a botellon! This was my first botellon in Valencia (went to one last week—so fun). It´s basically just a congregation of people that drink together in a public space. I really like it just cuz there is space and it´s no longer very cold!! We were only there for a little over and hour and then we had to leave to get to the club Murray´s before 2. Not worth it… Even waiting in line was miserable—there was soooo much pushing! And the bouncer guy was so mean, alllll I wanted to do was eat my fruit that I had put in my sangria bottle L Then putting our coats in the (can´t remember the word in English) guardaropa was such a rip off. Two euros! And the lady was suuuch a bitch. I tried to be clever and combine Justina and my jacket… she caught me. I´m sorry but if you don´t want to deal with drunk people and there shenanigans then don´t work at a club.

Once we got to the dance floor, it started out fun, but the club wasn´t very big and it kept getting more and more crowded… so the pushing was unbearable. Mats almost got into a fight with this guy. I literally had to put my hand in the other guys face and, with the help of Pelle, kept that shit from going down. I texted Mats earlier today and told him about that and he was like “No, I just asked him nicely not to push me” I cleared that up for him.

Anyways, we ended up leaving at like 4 because none of us were enjoying it. Oh well win some lose some.

_____

OH funny—so at dinner, Cristina asked me if I was in a sorority cuz she saw me with my letters in one of my pictures. Haha, made for an interesting conversation… then they proceeded to ask me if there were really like the jock/popular/nerd clicks… We do not paint a good picture for the rest of the world via our media hahaha

Mmkay so woke up today around 1pm, normal post going out time, but then my struggles began. I felt soooo bad that Justina stayed with me. I told her she could go to the center with Pella and his friend at 3pm when they messaged FFF but of course Justina is too good of a friend and waited on me. I hd so much to do do! I don’t know whyyy the fuck I didn’t do it before. Seriously… then we could of gone to the center to look at the Fallas and watch Masclet’as but fml I am an idiot. So instead, for an hour and a half I had to check in online, by my train ticket from Madrid when I return, book a hotel for tonight, figure out my train deal for today. And on top of that I had internet complications… Justina I LOVE you sanks so much for being patient!

We did get lunch together at this really good place that we discovered by my apartment, but my mind was somewhere else.

_______

LOOK what I’ve realized. Well, before let me say, I am SUPER excited about coming home! When I was, errr sangriaed, I was like GUYS  I GET TO SEE MY DOG!!! And friends and family, obvi. AND I HAVE A SISTER!?! But here’s the thing: this casual visit to the States is five days, right? Here’s the kicker: I will only spend ONE day chillin’.

Thursday- all pre traveling bullshit and this miserable train ride to Barcelona

Friday- have to wake up at 5am to get my ass to the airport by 7 for a 10 hr and 35 minute flight. WTF Delta?? It was 8.5 on the way here. Dennis informed me there was some head winds or some shit. LAME. Here I was, thinking I was to arrive at 130pm. But no. Now at 330pm. That causes a lot of “timing” inconveniences. Boo.

Saturday- my play day! EEEEEEEEEE

Sunday- meet and greaet da baybeeee and me.. (haha Mats asked me recently why I always say baby instead of my sister- you try acquiring a sister after 20 years of only having a brother. Well, 17 years). For those of you that will be coming, great! I’m super excited to see you all J And those not, hatechyoass. Nah just kidding I understand its spring break y tal. No pasa tada nos vemos en agosto (as the Spanish would say)

Monday- arrive in Madrid at 655am (my flight leaves at 630pm Atlanta time on Sunday) and then wait until 1110 to take  a six hour regional train ride to Valencia. Ugh.

So I literally will be traveling longer than I will be in the USA. Worth it, of course, just a shit ton of effort for so little time. I really want to get my dad to record Rufus (my dog) seeing me for the first time in two months. He’ll be so e-cited! EEEE my dog! Not some bullshit rat with clothes. And then of course I want my dad to be paparazzi for me meeting my sister! I am gonna me an emotional mess; jet lagged, traveled, and meeting an infant that shares my DNA.

So about a week ago, I had like a crisis. I literally started panicking about this whole going home thing. This was my thought process, that now seems rather bizzare. I, and I think my family, kind of skipped the whole miss each other/homesick phase. I know that may sound bad, but I have yet to like Ahhhhh I miss home and wanna go back. And this is my hypothesis: Normally, the first two weeks or so are the most difficult, but I was so distracted! Everything was new, I went out constantly—well you remember my first set of blogs. I literally didn’t have time to contemplate home and be sad and then by the end of the two week Spanish course I had my friends and life here to keep me focused in Spain instead of the USA.

[Side note: I now feel extremelyyy uncomfortable using the terms America for the USA. It doesn’t make sense.. Latin America, Canada, I have met so many people from the other American countries. Why the fuck did we need to have such a complicated name. And “US American” reminds me of Miss SC or wherever that dumb beauty pageant contestant was from]

And then on my parents side, well, they were busy having a baby. So just SO many changes for both parties. But nowww we both have our new (temporary) lives. Like Spain is no longer a dream to me—tis real lyf. I am very much present in my life here in the Valencia. But now I am going home and like rock the boat. I am gonna realize what exactly I have been missing... and the baby! I literally have NO IDEA what I am missing! So being home will be great: get so see my family, RUFUS!, some friends, etc. Then I come back Sunday. I won’t even have time to get used to being home—not even the time change! On Monday when I arrive to Madrid, it will be like, wait was I really just in the USA?? But yeah then when I get back to Valencia I return to my life here. It’s routine now though—there won’t be like constant thingsss happening to keep me distracted so I am a leeettle worried that readjusting to our (my family and I as two separate entities)separate lives. And this time I leave for almost five months.

2<<5 months. Let’s put this is days: 60<<150 days. Oh snapz.

So we will just see how all that goes. But shout outs sanks to those of you that helped me through that little break down. I reallllyyy do have amazing friends that I would probably go insane without.

Spain´s Oddities

I meant to post this yesterday, but I got distracted by my life.. you know, food, fixing my face, skyping, going out. The normal things.

ANYWAYS. So I have decided Spain is such a strange country...

Things that are socially acceptible slash common:

1. This one is the most bizzare one for me: PDA. Like I'm not talking about a quick peck on the cheek or even a prolonged hug, okay not even like making out. Seriously, everywhere, there are couples ALL over each other. Let's put this more clearly, when I was on the train from the airport to train station the FIRST day I got to Spain (keep in mind its like 10am in the morning) there was this couple sitting across from me... the girl was straddling the guy hooking up with him.
Even at school, I one time saw this couple sitting in the center of campus. No, well actually the guy was laying down and the girl was on all fours over him. There are people walking EVERYWHERE. Not a secluded area but literally the middle of campus.
The beach, same thing, couples like rolling around all over the place. It's so ridiculous I feel uncomfortable like walking past them but people don't even flinch. There are like children running around couples. Weird shit.


2. Small dogs with clothes that often matches their owners. I don't understand why a dog would ever need a scarf. Or a pleather coat with a hood... or shoes... Maybe get a bigger dog? But regardless I am pretty sure dogs don't need clothes...
Oh and a subcategory: Small dogs. Particulary little lap terriers (westies, yorkies) or dogs with squished faces (boston terriers, bulldogs, boxers sometimesss). When I do see a big dog, or not even that big but like, I don't know, 40 pounds or more, I legitimately get excited.

3. Small children doing age-inappropriate things. Not like sexual or anything but for example playing with fireworks/firecrackers. Right now we are in Fallas. It's a month long festival in Valencia and firethings are super popular. As I am writing this it sounds like warfare outside. (Or what I imagine living in un barrio or ghetto would be like.) Anyways, there are like 3 year olds lighting these things everywhere! And their parents aren't even normally paying attention. Today I saw a little girl trying to light one of those that like shoots out flame and wasn't doing it the safest way. I heard her father say "Oh just let her learn." Responsible parenting.

Also, so I went to Magdalena which is a festival in Castellon last night. Everyone was hammered by the time we got therea t like 7pm (didn't leave until 7am--that's another story) and there were like kids running around! Even at like 3am! I don't understand. OR so for Fallas they have this thing called Mescletas everyday in the center at 14h and basically they just shoot off a toooon of fireworks and firecrackers. They take BABIES in strollers there. Why the hell would a little kid like loud noises?

4. The only time people are awake before 10am on the weekends is if they are coming from an overnight festival.

5. Candy stores. Literally everywhere. I am surprised there aren't more fat people.

ANYWAYS this brings me to my next point. So on Friday I was waiting for the ESN office to open so I could pay for the festival I went to last night. Got there at 1130, it was suppose to open at 11 but no it's Spain so of course it doesn't open on time. I was MISERABLY tired since I had gone out the night before so I decided to lay on a table that was outside the door. Like ten minutes later the campus security guard person tells me that I can't lay there so fine whatever I move. Then she goes on and on about how wrong it is to lay on tables and that my parents should have taught me this etc. I got written up. Yes. She took my ID and student info and wrote me up. I literally could not stop laughing. I bet if I had had a boy on top of me I wouldn't have gotten in trouble.

#spainproblems