"Classes," Coffee, and Cheap stuff!

Today we supposedly started classes. Really what we did was go to campus and listen to our program coordinator in Caceres talk for 3 hours. In the middle of this we took a "15 minute" break which lasted 45...ahh Spanish time! We don't even know if classes start tomorrow, but we are going to go early assuming that they do. I have all my classes with 4 girls I've been hanging out with a lot, so that is really exciting. We can "study" together. So far our university cafeteria has won the cheapest Cafe con Leche award, which me and one of my friends have made it our mission to find. The most expensive so far has been at the Cafeteria de Caceres, but we need to return there in May to steal a cup that says Caceres on it!

After siesta today me and some friends went shopping. I bought cheap boots, cheap scarves, and a cheap shirt. Everything is on sale now because it's the end of winter and they are bringing in the spring stuff. We also found the grocery store, where one of my friends informed me there are delicious truffles. I bought some, and they are indeed quite tasty. I think I have done my shopping for awhile. Except for gifts and a cookbook. These remain necessities that I will eventually find. I am trying to see if I can plan a trip to Portugal this weekend, but it may be too short of notice to get a group together. We'll see.

Our coordinator told us our trip's motto today: Don't worry. Be happy! This seems to be the Spanish lifestyle: "dont' worry about it....it'll get done eventually..." It's quite nice, actually, and I am a huge fan.

Amor de Espana!

All About Food

When you go abroad, everyone always asks: How's the food? What do they eat? So here is a list of everything I've eaten so far.

First night: Tortilla patata (think: quiche with tons of potatoes and veggies. YUMM) I thought this was dinner. Then they brought out Pescado y salsa (Fish and salsa) except salsa is apparently just a word for sauce. It was fish in some yellow sauce that had itty bitty baby shrimp in it too. I surprisingly enjoyed it, because I don't normally like fish. The fact that it's fresher helps a lot. Then, as every meal, it ended with fruit and yogurt. This is apparently desert.

Friday: Breakfast of toast and some sweet bread and croissants. I <3 bread, so all delicious! Lunch  was again a surprise two course affair. First we had pasta in some marinara sauce (ish) and I want to say sausage in it, but I didn't ask. Then, after I was already full, we had fried chicken breasts. They gave me one and when I was halfway through with it they took it away and said it wasn't fried enough. Then they gave me a whole new one which was "fried perfectly," ie, it was burnt. It was still tasty though, I just couldn't eat the whole thing! Then that night my group went out for tapas, but it wasn't real tapas. We just went to a bar and had squid (rubbery), fried blue cheese (gross), cheese sandwiches (tasty), and proccuito sandwiches (gross proccuito).

Saturday: Breakfast of some tortilla/crepe/pancake thing (don't know, but it was tasty!) and more of the sweet bread. Lunch of pea soup (delicious if you closed your eyes) and ham/duck. It's best not to ask sometimes. Whatever meat it was, it was yummy! Dinner was then little pieces of chicken (bone and all) and french fries. They kept telling me to eat the chicken with my hands, because I was using fork and knife to cut around the bone. But then they ate french fries with a fork. It seems a little backwards to me!

Sunday: breakfast of more of the tortilla/crepe/pancake things and ColaCao (hot chocolate). Rumor has it we are having paella for lunch!

I love the food here, everything they've made me is delicious so far! There's just SO MUCH of it!!

Trials

Although my whole trip has been amazing, there have been some things that are just...different. Here is a fun list of some of my more stupid mistakes or funny situations in which I find myself.

The hallway to the apartment has light switches because the lights turn off after awhile to save electricity. Trying to get home at 2 am, I could not find it, and walked square into a wall.

The door nobs are in the middle of the door to my apartment. They do not turn. You use them to push or pull the door open/closed. Trying to leave discreetly (during siesta, everyone was sleeping) I did not want to turn the light on. I forgot that you open the door with a little latch on the right side. Instead I groped all along the side of the door for the handle, finally found it in the middle of the door, and spent a minute or two trying to find it, before I finally remembered the little latch my host dad had told me about.

The host father seems to understand me fine (despite my terrible grammar and odd words) but the host mom stares as me like she has never seen something quite like me. Mind you, these people host American students all the time. She cannot understand a word I say. Also, she won't say things in different ways. If I don't understand her, she repeats herself, just as quickly, and in the same words.

The key to the door to the apartment building hardly turns at all: maybe an 1/8 of a turn, before the door is unlocked and you can pull it open. First I spent a long time trying to make the key turn further, and was thoroughly confused because it simply would not move, and second I spent even more time trying to push the door open (there is no door handle so it looks like you should push it). Finally I figured both out. It took a grand total of 2 minutes standing on the street looking marvelously intelligent.

This morning my host mom tried to explain laundry to me. As stated earlier, she did not slow down or change her word choice. She simply repeated everything, louder and louder and louder. Eventually I figured out that I had to put the colorful clothing in one bag and the white clothing in another. What I do from there is anyone's guess.

There will continue, I am sure, to be interesting happenings. I will add more to this list as time goes on and I find myself in ever more interesting situations.

Love, from Spain!

Tapas and Kareoke

Last night my group (those of us here) went out. We went to a tapas restaurant, but it was not very good, and then to a bar. Of course, we are American, and from Iowa, so we were not yet used to the Spanish night life. We had dinner at 8:30, and made it to the bar at 11. It was DEAD. The Spanish people we were with told us that usually they have tapas from 10-12, then drink 12-3, then dance 3-6. After some kareoke (I did not sing!) and a few games of pool, e were all party poopers and called it quits around 1:30. I was okay with that, since I had not had siesta, and I got to talk to the boy. Tonight I am going to go shoe shopping (everything is on sale!) and then we are going to a concert. I am excited for my first Spanish night life the Spanish way! This morning we bought phones and walked around a little, nothing too exciting. The weather today was really nice. In the 50s, and sunny, which was a nice improvement over yesterday's constant sprinkling of rain. Since I am going out tonight, I am going to siesta now! Hasta tarde!

From Spain!

I made it to Spain!! Which, so far, is more than half my group can say. With the terrible storms in the East, half of my group is still stuck in the US or just now making to Madrid, where they are navigating taxis, busses, and trains to get to Caceres. Those of us lucky enough to get here on time met our host families last night. Mine consists of two parents and a son and a grandfather. There is also another girl here from Michigan and she leaves the 10 of February. I move into her room after she leaves. Last night my family made me dinner, but we didn't eat until 10:30!! I knew the Spanish ate late, and I was ready for it, but I was SO tired! Although my plane was very very empty, and I got to lie out and was really comfortable, I could not sleep. I hadn't slept in 48 hours by the time I finally went to bed at 11. We had tortilla patata for dinner, as well as a fish dish. I was surprised that I liked the fish, since I don't normally, but because it is fresh it is much better. Today we went on tours and looked at phones; I am buying one tonight. Then we got our bus passes and our library cards. My group and I are going out tonight first shopping and then we are having tapas for dinner. I am really excited. The weather is chilly, in the 40's, but so much nicer than Iowa!! Everyone here is complaining about the cold, but I think the weather is fantastic. If this is the coldest it gets, I will be one happy camper. I did have an adventure on my way home today. I found the square with a giant cross, and my apartment building is close by, but there are like 8-9 streets going off of the cross, and I didn't know which one was the right one since I've walked around so much that everything looks familiar now! I was lost for about 15 minutes, when the girl from Michigan came home!! We met as she was crossing a street and she totally saved me! She pointed out all the important things to look for to find our building, so I shouldn't get lost again!

I still haven't talked to the boy, but I did get to talk to my mom last night, which was nice. I miss everyone, and am trying to keep up on the flood of emails I've gotten. My roommate makes this incredibly difficult with her string of Facebook comments and posts! It is siesta now, but I slept so well I am almost not tired. I am trying to talk to my sister, but she is not responding, so I guess I will just lie down for a bit. Loving Spain, and excited for the best 4 months of my life!

12 hours!!

Well, I leave tomorrow morning. I am almost all packed except the obvious toiletries that get packed last minute. I am sad about leaving my friends, and it'll be tough finding time to talk to the boy when I'm gone, but I know I will have some of the best times of my life when I'm in Spain, and I can't wait to start the adventure! I am nervous about making friends and getting along (being able to communicate with) my host family, but I hope it all works out. I have had a great break at home, doing nothing, catching up with the fam, and figuring stuff out. It'll be nice to be active and social again: I just hope I can break out of my shell while I'm there. I also hope I don't eat all my stress while I'm there: my goal is not to gain 30 pounds in 4 months! So, off to bed to rest up and kick this flu I'm coming down with before I spend a day on germ cesspool known as an airplane. My next post will be from Spain!! =)

Two days!!

As a practiced procrastinator, I have put off packing until...well...now. I had no idea how many clothes I had until I had to narrow down my wardrobe for this trip. I guess the problem is, as a college kid, I'm so often walking around in jeans and a sweatshirt (or sweatpants and a sweatshirt), that I forget that I own cute clothes. Maybe this trip will make me want to wear them more. Or, maybe I'll get sick of them when I wear the same 10 shirts for four months.

In other news, I spent the weekend with my sisters, which was pretty fun. We ate, watched basketball, and went bowling. After Joe, I will miss them the most while I'm gone. It was great to see them before I left, though. I also got to see my roommie and another friend, which was great! I have learned that I won't have a roommate in Spain, which is okay, since I will practice my Spanish a lot more without one, and I do appreciate some alone time occassionally. I am worried about finding time to talk to the boy while I'm in Spain and he's still in the States, but I know we'll make it work. We always do. I just can't wait till October when he is finally stationed somewhere in the States. It will be really nice to see him more than twice a year.

Sorry I'm not very exciting, nothing much has been happening: just preparing to leave and trying to finish HP before I go! As if I haven't read it before...

Most people my age seem to be saying they grew up too fast, or saying they feel so old for 20, or how adulthood, or life, or whatever, slapped them in the face. I guess in a way that's my story, but in a totally opposite way, it feels like I'm living someone else's life. Here I am, in college, engaged, about to study in a foreign country for 4 months, sending my fiance off to war...and inside I feel like I'm 12. I analyze my life, and all the adult things I've done or experienced, and it feels like this can't possibly be happening to me. I'm too young for this. I'm too young to face a loved ones deployment, to live on my own, to travel freely for 4 months. Thrilled, excited, and joyous to face all of these things (especially studying abroad), but it still feels like I'm too young for this. I feel like everyday I'm proving to everyone (although really probably only to myself) that I can do this. Everyday I feel like I'm proving myself strong enough, independent enough, smart enough, and old enough, to do all of these things. It's a strange feeling, really. I can't believe how old I am. I can't believe I am an adult, leading my own life, independent, and strong. And while, often, when I'm sad or scared especially, I don't feel so strong, I know deep down I must be. And I know age has nothing to do with any of these things, but sometimes it still floors me to say "I'm 19."  And I know 19 isn't old, obviously, but it's a hell of a lot older than I feel. I feel too young for all of this. Sometimes I just want to curl up in bed and hide under the blankets and pretend that if I can't see adulthood looking at me, it won't really be there. I guess I think if I still feel young, youth and childhood and innocence will have to follow me, too. Peter Pan had a good idea.

And since this is supposed to be a travel blog, the one bit of travel information I have: I may get a roommate! One of my trip leaders said another girl also signed up for a roommie, so they are trying to arrange for us to live together. Potentially exciting, although I am happy either way.

I'm not editing this, not rereading it, just posting. So sorry for this rambling post.

Eight Days a week....I love you!

Well today I got my family stay information for my trip. Just sort of makes this whole trip more real. I don't have a roommie, which is somewhat of a bummer, but hey, I'll practice my Spanish more without one! I got to talk to the boy today, which was really nice, but the closer we get to his deployment, the harder it gets. I am seeing his parents in a few days, which will be nice, but also hard, because everytime I see them without him, it just feels like he should be there with us. Granted, it always feels like he should be there with me. Don't get me wrong, I'm really really proud of him for everything he does, but it is hard to deal with too. The distance is really hard, and his job is scary. To help me cope, a coworker at school invited me to a support group for significant others of military personell. The boy has been encouraging me to look into these groups for awhile, but since I will be abroad during his deployment, I didn't take the search too seriously, so it is nice to have this. My friends and family are a great support system, but they don't know what it's like. His parents and siblings obviously do, but I am not yet comfortable calling them up everytime I'm sad or scared. I sent the bestie and the boy some cookies I made today, and each received a super mushy letter (I'm such a sap) so hopefully they'll enjoy those. I should probably stop watching Teen Mom now, and start packing. Between visits with the future in-laws, a weekend with the sisters, and mandatory parent time, I don't have much longer to put off this packing!

Procrastinating Packing (9 days to takeoff!)

In nine days I start my semester abroad in Caceres, Spain. In the meantime, however, life has not been dull. My fiance (new and exciting!) was home over Christmas on leave from the Air Force. He, however, gets deployed in February. So while getting ready for a lifechanging semester abroad, I am newly engaged, dealing with a less-than-supportive family, and coping with his deployment. I have also been home with just my parents for three weeks, away from school for four (company the first week), and stuck here for another nine days. All my friends are either back at school or working, and the boy is at training, leaving us with very little time to talk each day. So how do I entertain myself? Rereading Harry Potter for the umpteenth time, obsessively planning a wedding that's three years in the future, and baking (terribly) as much as possible. This blog is meant as my travel blog, but with a lot going on in my life outside of just my semester abroad, you will also hear plenty about the boy and my fears and complaints about his job, the occassional wedding plans, book suggestions, and if you're lucky, a successful recipe every now and then (I promise, if I can make it, you can too).

It may not be much, it may not be thrilling, but this is my life. Enjoy the ride. I know I do.