Two more days...

On Tuesday, which is two days from today, all of my responsibilities for finals will be OVER!! I am so excited. Until then I still have to write the second half of a 10 page paper, edit it, and study for/take two exams. I will make it through, though, I know I will!

This week was pretty stressful but I feel like I have accomplished a lot. I have written a 10 page paper, a 5 page paper, a 3 page paper, read 50 short stories and written notes and summaries about them, passed an oral exam, AND I even managed to do laundry.

As it gets closer and closer to the end of my time here I am beginning to realize how much I am going to miss Spain when I leave. I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about that before the time comes, though. I have 17 days left and, man, it seems like I have so much to do I couldn't possibly be ready to leave in 17 days. I will be though.

In other news, USA tied Britain last night in their first round world cup game! I have always loved watching soccer games, so the world cup is one of my favorite sporting events. One problem, I don't have a TV...major bummer. This is the only time over the past 6 months that I have really wished I had a TV. At least I will be home before its over, so hopefully I'll get to watch a few games.

And now its time for me to get back to work...

Classes = Over!

I am proud to say that the close of this week means I have officially finished my classes here at the University. I am so happy to be done! Now I just have a lot of papers to write, research to do, and a couple finals to take before I am done!!

Yesterday, to celebrate being finished and to relax a little bit in the midst of finals I went to the beach with my roomate, Lara, and our friend Kellian. We had a wonderful time and swam a ton! There's a little sea called Mar Menor about an hour from here (its way smaller than Lake Michigan,) and because it is entirely enclosed the water there is really warm. You can go to a beach called La Manga, where you can swim in both the Mediterranean and the Mar Menor, or you can go to several beaches on the interior side of the Mar Menor. We went to the least touristy of them all, and my favorite beach, Lo Pagan. It is on the side of the Mar Menor farthest away from the Mediterranean. The water was so nice! It was cool enough to be a refreshing break from the 90· air but warm enough that you could just jump right in. Wonderful. After that I made eggplant parmesan for diner, which turned out to be a huge success! It was delicious and between the two of us we ate every last drop.

I have to say, I can't believe how quickly these past couple weeks have gone by, but at the same time I am so grateful because it means that soon my mom and sister will be here and I'll be on my last international adventure before heading home. Only 24 days left until I'm back in the US. For now, I'm planning on spending the next week focusing on my last responsibilities, enjoying life, and looking forward to going to Paris.

A Very Interesting Week

Sooo...this week was stressful, interesting, sad, and happy all at the same time. I spent the first few days finishing up saying goodbye to people, which was a bummer, but at the same time I'm happy my friends are making it back safely to the US and everywhere else in the world. There have been flight strikes all over Europe which have been impeading a lot of travel plans, but I think the trans-atlantic flights have been running pretty smoothly.

On Wednesday my computer went kaput. Byebye, gone to heaven, hasta luego. It was not a good day. I spent most of it trying to figure out how in the world I was going to get through the last two weeks of classes and finals with no computer. Luckily, my wonderful father and grandparents were very helpful and now I have a rental computer coming tomorrow and my friend Erin let me borrow her's for the weekend while she's in Prague. I guess even though it was stressful I'll make it through ok.

This weekend has been all about trying to de-stress and yet get a lot done. Its amazing how much I have to do in the next three weeks. I'm sure I'll get it all done, I always do, but until then I might be freaking out a little bit. Last night Lara and I went to a great concert in front of the cathedral. It is el festival de las tres culturas here; I think the three cultures are Catholics, Islam, and Christianity but I'm really not sure at all. They have been having concerts everywhere around the city all weekend. I love it! I really enjoy having so much music surrounding me.

Other than that, not much to report. It's been getting hotter and hotter every day. I'm hoping to get to the beach next weekend. Yay beach!

Goodbyes

This week I spent a lot of time saying goodbye to people. I really didn't like it. A lot of the Americans who I met here were in a different program which ended on Friday, so they have been leaving little by little as the weekend went on. These people have become my family here, so saying goodbye was really hard. There are also other people leaving as the semester comes to a close. Erasmus students (european students who are studying abroad) don't really have to take finals, so they can leave whenever they are ready. Most will be trickling out over the next month. All of the Asian students here leave on June 1. I can't believe its coming to that time already. As for me, I have 38 days left here. I am planning on making the most of them, but I am definitely ready to go home. I still have to get through the last couple weeks of class, 4 finals, and 2 weeks of travelling with my mom and sister before I can do that, though, so I'm going to keep on enjoying Spain as much as I can.

Me, Laura, and Megan before going out on Laura' s last night. I will miss these girls!

We were twins! Tristan, Bret, Me, and Angie.

Going away dinner for some of the Americans. Beth, Laura, Betty, Tom, Rachel.

People who are staying in Spain for a bit longer with me! Eva, Me, Kellian, Manuel, Lara.

Venezia

Just a warning: This is a long one!

I just got back from a weekend trip to Venice, Italy with my roomate Lara. It was an absolutely fantastic weekend. I loved Venice, and I got to see so many cool things. Unfortunately it rained a lot of the weekend, but it was still nice. We flew into Treviso Airport on Thursday afternoon. This airport is in a little town about an hour away from Venice. We took the bus from there to Venice and then another bus to our hotel, which was not actually on the island of Venice but across the bridge on the mainland. I really enjoyed the bus ride because we got to see the real Italy-- the non-touristy countryside part. There were a bunch of beautiful old villas, tons of sprawling vineyards, and of course some really cute little towns. It was so romantic and a wonderful way to start the weekend. When we got to the hotel the first thing we saw was a double rainbow over a field of poppies and a canal. Stunning!

After settling in we headed back into the city to wander around and see what there was to see. We found a cute little piazza where we ate dinner, and we got the general feel of the city. It was beautiful to see everything still shiny and wet from the day's rain. Luckily it didn't rain on us too much.

Above: Piazzale Roma, the first thing anybody sees when they arrive in Venice. This is the Piazza where all public transportation goes.

Below: Random other piazza we saw.

The next day we woke up early and went back into the city to catch a water bus to the island of Murano.

On Murano they make glass. We went to a glass factory and watched a demonstration and then we spent a few hours roaming around the island. Every shop on the island was full of beautiful glass. They had everything from shandeliers to jewelry made in the traditional mili fiori style. We ate lunch on the island and then caught a water bus to Burano.

On Burano they make lace. The lace stores were beautiful and I couldn't get over the intricacy and beauty of the different pieces. We met a lady who was working on a lace placemat. Her son said she would work on it for 30 days. The placemats were on sale for 9euro, which means that she will make less than 33 cents per day. I felt so bad for her! The lace reminded me of my great grandmother, which was fun, but it wasn't my favorite part of the island.

The thing I loved most about Burano was the color! Every house on the island is painted a different beautiful, bright color. I couldn't get over how quaint it was. I took about 700 pictures, all of rows of houses like this that were every color of the rainbow. I especially liked how the flowers growing in the window pots and in front of the houses, and the door coverings were coordinated to match each house.

On the last day Lara and I walked more around the city of Venice. It was pouring rain all day, making for a pretty miserable few hours, but I still enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful architecture. This picture is of Piazza San Marco, where the main cathedral and palace of Venice are.

Of course, one of the best things about being in Italy was the food. We ate everything from pizza to pasta to bruschetta and, of course, it was all delicious. My favorite part? Gelato twice a day every day!!

I was pretty proud of Lara and myself for managing to travel in a place where neither of us knew anything about the language. We did pretty well for ourselves and manages to avoid any major mishaps.

Now its back to the real world once again. In a few weeks I'll be doing my finals and then my mom and Allie will be here! I hope these next few weeks go by quickly, I can't wait to go to Paris!

SitgesSwing

So I spent this past weekend in Sitges, Spain dancing my heart out and thoroughly enjoying myself. Sitges is like Provincetown, MA or San Fran. It is by the ocean, small, and thriving with life. There are gay men and clubs everywhere, not to mention the nude beaches and amazing restaurants. I loved every minute of it. I arrived on Thursday evening, so I decided to go walk down to the beach and around the main center of town. It was pretty cool! I even got to watch the sun set over the beach.

A store I saw called LSD- Love, Sex, and Diamonds. It seemed like the perfect example of the crazy vibe this little city has.

Beautiful sunsets are one of my favorite parts of life.

On Friday I enjoyed the built in free-time I had given myself, knowing I would definitely want to spend a day by the beach. Luckily for me, it was the only sunny day of the weekend! I spent a few hours at the beach and then decided to wander around some more to get out of the sun. Then, around 4 I headed back home and layed by the pool until it was time to get ready for the Champagne & Truffle meet and greet for the swing festival. It was in a place called the Palau Marycel which was really beautiful!

After that I spent the whole weekend dancing. I took 7 hours of classes each on Saturday and Sunday. 4 hours were lindy and 3 were solo jazz. I loved every minute of it! I got to take classes from my swing idols Skye and Frida as well as from some amazing French dancers Thomas and Alice. Thomas and I have known each other for a while, so it was nice to see him and finally get to take class from him. Of course, there were also dances on Saturday and Sunday night.
Skye and Frida showing off their stuff. Frida really helped me figure out something that has been bothering me about my swing out for a long time. I was so glad she could help me make this breakthrough!
Me and Thomas dancing. He has a great style. He does a lot of "slip slops" which is really fun for me because they give me time to throw in a lot of my tap moves. He has been a tap dancer for a long time too, so our dance styles fit together pretty well. Sorry the picture quality is bad, the lighting was crazy and no flash allowed.

On Monday I woke up, ate breakfast, and headed back to Murcia. Sitting on the train for 8 hours was so miserable considering how sore I was (and still am) but it was so worth it! I had such an amazing time dancing and I also got to practice my Spanish a lot, meet a bunch of dancers from all over Spain, and also meet my dancing idols. All in all, it was an absolutely awesome weekend!

Musclehead

So I know this is a break from my usual posting routine, but I wanted to write a little bit about Frankie Manning, who died a year ago today. "Who is Frankie Manning!?" Is probably what most of you are thinking right now, so let me tell you:

"Swing dancer extraordinaire Frankie Manning was a leading dancer at Harlem's legendary Savoy Ballroom where, in the mid-1930's, he revolutionized the course of the lindy hop with his innovations, including the lindy air step and synchronized ensemble lindy routine. As a featured dancer and cheif choreographer for the spectacular Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, he performed in numerous films, and entertained on stages around the world with jazz greats Ethel Waters, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Cab Calloway. Upon the demise of the Swing Era, Frankie took a job in the Post Office, where we worked for thirty years until his rediscovery by a new generation of swing dance enthusiasts in the mid 1980's. Since then, he's been in constant demand and motion, teaching, choreographing, and performing globally. He won a 1989 Tony Award for his choreography in Black and Blue, and served as a consultant for and performed in Spike Lee's Malcom x. Frankie's activities have been chronicled in hundreds of articles and dozens of news programs. Considered the worl's leading authority on the lindy, he is highlighted in Ken Burns' acclaimed documentary, Jazz. His autobiography, Frankie Manning" Ambassador of Lindy Hop, co-written by Cynthia R. Millman, was published by Temple University Press in spring 2007. He passed away on April 27, 2009, one month before his 95th birthday." - frankiemanning.com

What does this have to do with me? There's the obvious, I love to lindy. Thanks to this man I have been able to find a kind of dancing which moves me in a way no other really can. I am lucky he lived because without Frankie, Lindy Hop wouldn't be what it is today. That's pretty superficial though, and its nowhere close to the reason I hold this man near and dear to my heart.

Frankie Manning loved to dance. I mean he loved it. He always described dancing as "a series of three-minute romances." Obviously, to him, a dance meant pouring out your soul, moving to the music, and working with your dance partner. Dancing, for him, was about self expression, movement, great music, and most of all just having a great time. He didn't let the end of the Swing Era get him down. A lot of people said that while working at USPS Frankie was still a really happy person, even though he wasn't dancing anymore. When he was given the chance to dance again he took it and relished in a second chance to do what he loved to do. Some of his last words were, "I'd like to tell them, if they're not dancing, get out there and dance! And do the lindy hop 'cause it'll make them feel good." For Frankie, dancing and all things involved were about making people happy.

I hope that my passion for movement and music can manifest itself in the same way that Frankie's did. I have been so blessed to be able to share my love of dancing with people throughout my life by teaching, choreographing, and performing. I can only hope that these opportunities continue, and people remember me for the way I used this passion to bring joy and happiness to others.

Frankie said:

"All dances come from the music. What the music does, thats what you try to dance."

"I'll stop dancing when my feet won't move any more. And then I might just try to sit in a chair and do it. If you want to live for a long time, lindy hop. 'Cause I'm still doin' it man."

El sol!

It's finally sunny on a regular basis here in Murcia. Its wonderful! I feel safe saying that the weather might actually be turning nice, finally!

This week was pretty normal, I went to class, and did lots of laundry. On Friday Lara and I went to our friend Megan's to do homework and lay out on the rooftop terrace. We are supposed to be getting the key any day now, but for now we're stuck mooching off of everyone else. Yesterday I went to the beach with Megan, Ali, Brita, and Karlene. Brita and Karlene are from Wisconsin and have been in Murcia for the whole year. It was nice to meet them, and they had a lot of advice for us about getting through these next two months and the hot hot weather that is coming. I think I need to go shopping for some flowy dresses ;)

Today I gave myself my first ballet class since I've been here. Ouch! I am so out of shape it was miserable, but I am determined to be back in shape by the time I get back to Indy and have to start teaching again. I know it is a high expectation, but I am going to work hard to get there. After that I spent the afternoon reading and working, it was pretty relaxing until the internet went out...for FOUR hours... I tried to call the internet company and by the time they had put me on hold 600 times and finally figured out what I was trying to tell them I had spent about 6 euro off my pay-as-you-go phone, and they had nothing helpful to say. Thanks, ONO! One thing I won't miss about Spain is the crappy internet service.

Every day I feel a little bit more ready to go home and a little bit less ready to leave Spain. I do love it here, but I can't wait to get back to real life. I am excited to be with the people I love, not to mention to go back to dancing regularly. I have a couple adventures to come before that happens, though, and hopefully now that its getting to be nice out I'll start feeling better about staying here for another 2 months.

These are the things I'm looking forward to:
Going to the beach every chance I get for the next two months!!
Next weekend: Sitges-- SKYE AND FRIDA!! I can't wait for this.
May 13-15: Venice with Lara. We just booked this trip, the round trip flights were 20 euro, so we figured we couldn't not go.
June 8- Last day of school!! :) (but then there are exams...)
June 18- I head to Madrid to meet Mom and Allie, Madrid for a few days, Paris for a few days, and then back to Murcia to get ready to head back to the US. Paris in June...should be wonderful.

Isaac's Visit

A lot has happened this week! Isaac came to visit and it was so wonderful to have him here. On his first night it was Entierro de la Sardina which is the final day of the spring festival of Murcia. We went out for tapas with some of my friends and then to see the parade. During this parade there were several floats and the people on the floats gave away hundreds of thousands of toys to the people watching. It was so much fun trying to get toys, but also a little scary. There were a few times when I had to dodge a flying soccer ball or puzzle because it was coming straight for my face. I caught a princess jewelry kit and Isaac caught a soccer ball. At the end of the parade they burn a giant statue of a Sardine to celebrate the coming of Spring and a successful Holy week. It was really cool!
The Sardine being burned. It was more like 3 sardines.

Me and Isaac during the parade. Happy to finally be with each other!

On Wednesday and Thursday Isaac and I went to Valencia. It was his birthday on Tuesday so the trip was my birthday gift to him. We got to the city on Wednesday afternoon and after checking in to the hostel we walked around the historic area of the city. We saw the Cathedral, the towers that used to form the city gates, and the art museum. We also saw part of the Turia gardens which are gardens that go through the center of the city and across its whole length. I think its a feature almost every city should have!

This fountain is in the main plaza of the historic district of Valencia. The pigeons love it.

On Thursday we checked out of the hostel and walked from there through the Turia gardens all the way across the city to the Ciudad des Artes y Ciencias (city of arts and sciences.) This is a modern park that was constructed to show the new strength of Valencia. The complex holds several unique and really cool looking buildings and they are all related to the arts and sciences in some way. My favorite building was the opera house, which looks like some sort of galactic space helmet. There is also an Imaxx movie theatre, a Science museum, and an Aquarium. We went to the science museum and the aquarium and it was all great.

The building on the left is the Science museum, and the diagonal lines in the background are part of a really cool bridge. To the left is the bus station and Umbrical, and the Blue building in the background is just a statue as far as we could tell.

We left the Ciudad des Artes y Ciencias and went to grab dinner before catching an evening bus home to Murcia.

On Friday Isaac, Lara, and I went to visit El Santuario de la Fuensanta; the white church in the mountains which I visited before. We hiked around a lot and had coffee at the little cafe by the church. Afterwards we went to a really great restaurant and got salad, fried calamari, patatas bravas, paella, dessert, drinks, and shots of Baileys for only 10 euro each. What a find! I am really learning that places like that which have set menus are a good way to save money.

Lara and Isaac in the ruins of a house in the mountain behind the church.

On Saturday Isaac and I just relaxed and walked around Murcia a bit before we got ready for him to leave this morning. I had a great week, and I feel so lucky that Isaac was able to come visit. It was a much needed taste of home and now I feel more ready to conquer this last two months before I head back to the states. Next adventure? Sitges Swing fest in a few weeks! Until then I'm going to try to focus on school and learning to cook as many Spanish recipes as I can.

Granada

So I spent yesterday and the day before in Granada with my two friends Bret and Daedre. Granada is an amazing city. I understand why its the #1 tourist destination for Spain. I was kindof bummed that we only had two days, but at the same time I felt like we got to see almost everything we wanted to. On the first day we checked into our hostel, which was super cute! It had a very chill vibe (just like the rest of the city) and was very open and natural. There were even a bunch of hammoks hanging in the courtyard and a treehouse. I liked it a lot.


After that we decided to walk around the Albyzin and Sacromonte for the afternoon. The Sacromonte is where the gypsies have their cave dwellings and it has a beautiful view of the Alhambra in the distance. The Albyzin is the Arab quarter and it is full or head shops, artesan shops, and tea/hookah restaurants. You can find Morrocan food, trinkets, and jewelry there, not to mention tapas. We walked to the river which separates the Alhambra from the city, and then walked along the river back to the main Plaza and eventually back to the hostel. Granada is the last city in Spain which still serves tapas for free when you order a drink at a tapas bar. Its great! For dinner we went to 4-5 tapas bars and tried all kinds of delicious free food! It was a great day.

We went to bed really early because at 6:30am the next day we woke up and hiked up the mountain to the Alhambra to wait in line for tickets. We were able to get tickets and spent the next 6 hours wandering around this beautiful place. The best part? Watching the sun rise over the city.

The most famous part of the Alhambra is the Palacios Nazarines. It was pretty but I liked the gardens better. The Alhambra is the place where the last of the Muslim kings lived before the Spaniards finished taking over Spain. It was definitely beautiful and majestic, just like you would expect a Moorish Palace to be. 7,800 people each day are admitted into the Palace and each is given a half hour time slot in which they can enter. You are free to stay inside as long as you want. The rest of the Alhambra, however, is mostly free and it is full of gardens and other interesting buildings. I could understand why it is so famous, and it was definitely worth waking up early!

The palace itself is very intricate on the inside, great for pictures!

So, with that comes the end of my spring break. Well, almost. Tomorrow Isaac comes and it is a festival day. Entierro de las Sardinas is a day when Murcians celebrate being Murcian. There will be a big parade and at the end of the day they will burn a giant statue of a sardine. I am not entirely sure why. After that, its back to class on Monday, and a quick trip to Valencia on Wednsday and Thursday.

BarSWINGona

I had the time of my life this weekend in Barcelona. I love the city so much, I danced my heart out, and I saw so many cool things. There is way too much for me to write about so instead here are a bunch of pictures:

On the first day I walked down La Rambla and saw all the street performers.

Then I found a really cool market for coin and stamp collectors.

Then I went to the Museu Xocolat (Chocolate Museum)

The second day I slept and hung out with some guys from my hostel, then Daedre came and we went to the Placa Espanya.

The next day we walked all over creation and saw tons of buildings Gaudi designed including this one-- the Casa Batllo, and La Sagrada Familia which is his most famous work.

After that we went to the Parc Guel which was all also designed by Gaudi. I loved it there. The gardens and architecture were all amazing, and check out that view!

On Monday we went to the beach in the morning and then I went dancing before heading home.

Of course, ever night from 8-2am I danced! I met people from over 20 countries and definitely learned a lot. It was so much fun.

Today I'm staying in bed because I'm getting sick and I need to get better before the next few days. Tomorrow I head to Granada with Daedre and Bret and then Saturday Isaac gets here!

Semana Santa

This week went by really quickly! I am finally on spring break! Friday marked the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week) and I have been going out every night to the processions. The processions are held every night (sometimes there are more than one) and each procession is held by a group of Nazarenes from the Murcia region. Millions of people gather around to watch the processions and the Nazarenes give out candy to the kids who are watching as they pass. Each procession has its own color, and the Nazarenes carry statues representing their group. The statues weigh about 2 tons and are carried by 34 men. They wear costumes that are very interesting for those of us who grew up in the US. The first procession began in the year 1411. Here are pictures:

The cathedral at night before the first procession.

One of the groups of men playing instruments on Sunday.

One of the processions on Saturday, there were two this day, one was Brown and one was Red.

Statues from the processions, they are beautiful!

I will be going to three more days of processions (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) before I head to Barcelona for 5 days of dancing! After that its two days in Granada, and then home before Isaac comes. I can't wait! Hopefully this break will be just as much fun as I am expecting. As always, there are more pictures to be found on facebook.

In other news- On Friday I went to the beach to celebrate my friend Kellian's birthday. The weather seems to finally be cheering up and we had a great time playing frisbee, eating, and getting some sun. Yesterday my roomate Lara and I went shopping and spent the afternoon together before we went to the processions. Today she left to meet her family in Madrid so they can travel for a week. I spent the day spring cleaning the apartment in an attempt to get rid of all the dust! One thing I am learning about city living is that it is an incredibly dusty existance, I'm not a fan. The next few days I plan to get some work done, walk around as much of the city as possible, and get everything ready for my trip. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks. Adventures will be had!

Success!

This week was yet another simple week in Spain. The biggest difference? It was sunny until Friday! I made use of the five whole days of sun by going running, laying out on the roof during homework time, and going on lots of walks. On Thursday I woke up in the morning and went to the market. I got all the usual fruits and veggies, but I was so excited because I got a kilo of oranges for 1 euro! (That's about $1.50) The guy even threw in a couple of extra oranges for me after he weighed them. I love being able to find deals like this at the market, it makes buying food so much more fun!

Friday I decided I would make use of my day off and get a bunch of things done, so I woke up nice and early and walked to Eroski, a huge store that is supposed to be kindof like a mix between Target and something more expensive. It took me about half an hour to get there and when I finally did it was closed! Turns out that it was Dia Del Padre (Father's Day) as well as el Festival del San Jose. Everything was closed, even the grocery stores! Because of that, I didn't end up being able to get anything done at all and instead spent the day reading and watching movies. I guess I might never get used to the Spanish way of life--not unless someone gives me a calendar of all these festival days! Oh well, it was a nice walk and I was glad to get a little bit of exercise. Not to mention I think I walked about 4 miles.

On Friday night I went to my friend Bret's for movies and dinner. We watched The Time Traveler's Wife, and Watchmen. I loved the first and hated the second. Bret made fried chicken and patatas bravas for dinner (see previous food entry to find out what patatas bravas are.) I was happy to have some delicious food and hang out with a friend I don't get to see too often because of school. Overall it was a pretty relaxing and fun nice.

On Saturday I made attempt number two at getting things done. I walked to Gran Via, the main street here, and wandered around the area for a couple of hours shopping and half-looking for a dress to take to Barcelona with me. Then I went to the grocery store and loaded up on the necessities before heading home. After a quick nap I picked through and soaked lentils so I could make lentil soup for dinner. Wow was it delicious! I am proud of myself for trying to make something new, and it turned out pretty good. I am learning a lot about cooking here because I'm trying to make new things. It is pretty cool to see that I can depend on myself to make just about anything--at least so far.

Today I woke up and went to mass at the church outside my door, Santa Eulalia. I like going to mass there because its really relaxing and I always feel more upbeat when I leave. After that I cleaned the apartment top to bottom and talked to my Aunt and Uncle for a bit--it was great to hear from them! In the afternoon my friend Daedre came over for attempt #3 at tortilla de patata. It was a success! Finally we seem to have mastered this Spanish dish. As you can see from the picture it turned out pretty much perfect and absolutely delicious. The secret? You absolutely MUST have a non-stick pan.

We spent the afternoon reading and doing homework and then watched a movie before Daedre headed home. I am starting to feel like someone who actually lives in Murcia now. I am more comfortable with the city every day and I'm more confidently navigating it and its people. I feel like the fact that I've pretty much stopped taking pictures is a good sign that I'm getting more comfortable here and becoming less of a tourist. The things that I thought were unique and cool before still are, they're just also things I see every day. I am getting ready to start traveling again, though, I can't wait for the next few weeks. One more week of class, then its Semana Santa (Holy Week,) Barcelona, Granada, a big festival called Las Huertas, and then Isaac comes. I think the next month will be a great adventure!

Learning How to Relax

This weekend was one where I did absolutely nothing I didn't want to do. How wonderful is that? On Friday I slept in and then spent the morning bumming around in my PJs and reading. After that I went to a Chinese buffet with Daedre and Bret. It was so good! I definitely got to fill my Chinese food craving--even if it was super expensive. It was about $15 per person, yuck! The nice thing was I didn't have to pay for it because Bret and Daedre were paying me back for the deposit I put down on our hostel for our trip to Granada. After lunch I was absolutely stuffed so I went home for a nap and to read some more.

I lounged around for a while, showered, and then Daedre came over and we watched some TV and had attempt #2 at making tortilla de patatas. It was, as they say in Spanish, "un gran fracasa," (a major failure) though it was edible which made it better than attempt #1. We have decided to enlist the help of our Swedish friend Jonna who is a tortilla de patata expert in our next attempt to master this Spanish delacy. After dinner we watched "The Hangover," and then I went to sleep.

Saturday I slept in again and then spend most of the day catching up on some American TV shows and reading some more. I also had a great skype date with Clint, my friend who is studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan. Guess what?! While I was talking to him there was an earthquake in Tokyo! At first I thought he was shaking his webcam and then he was like...there's an earthquake happening right now. I was a little freaked out but he assured me it was only a tiny one. I am glad I don't live somewhere where earthquakes are so frequent they don't even freak you out anymore!

After siesta Daedre came over and we went to a cute little kebap place for dinner. Kebaps are a traditional Turkish food leftover from the moorish empire. They're like burritos but with roasted meat, and generally Greek ingredients including delicious Greek yogurt. Yum! This place was really great because they offer a discount to students of the university. Yay for cheap, delicious, and filling dinners.

After dinner we came back to my place and Erin, Megan, and Erin's two new Italian roomates came over for a little party before we went out to the bars. Erin's new roomates, Valentina and Monda, are really nice and they seemed like they were happy to meet us. We had a lot of fun just hanging out for a while and then we headed out to a bar. On the way we met up with a Spanish friend of mine, Anibal, and he and his friends took us to a couple bars that are more frequented by the locals. I loved seeing this new part of the city! I also had a lot of fun. At one of the bars we spent about an hour dancing and singing along to some American oldies-everyone knew the words, even the Italians and the Spaniards! It was awesome. Daedre slept over so that we could continue the fun today.

This morning we slept in, woke up, ate breakfast, cleaned up a little, and headed to mass at the cathedral. I really love the cathedral here in Murcia because it is the most colorful one I have seen. It is very open, has lots of natural light, and beautiful stained glass windows everywhere. I love how the stained glass windows are more colorful most. They have bright colors including pink, purple, and teal--colors I don't usually see in stained glass. The decoration in the cathedral is also very colorful. It is a nice difference from the usual silver and gold I've seen in other cathedrals. It was a beautiful, sunny day so we decided to sit on the plaza of the cathedral after mass and drink some coffee. Its amazing how wonderful the sun can feel when you haven't seen it for a while.

After an hour or so we decided to run home and eat lunch and then go to the park to sit outside and do homework. I stopped at the bakery on the way home and got a freash baguette- right out of the oven- and made a delicious sandwich for lunch. The afternoon was spent enjoying the beautiful weather and reading. I finished the book I was reading this weekend, so now I have to look for another one. I made spaghetti for dinner for myself, along with some more of my baguette, and now I'm going to watch a movie before I head to bed early. What a wonderful weekend!

Being here has definitely taught me to relax and do what I want to do. I thought having so much free time was going to drive me crazy but I'm really loving it. I have time to go for walks, read, and sit outside for hours enjoying the sun. What a life!

Comida

I made some collages today of food:

Things I miss: Goldfish, Reeses, Dark chocolate peanut M&Ms, tomato soup, Steak & Shake cheese fries (ew, I know,) Qdoba, Panera, hamburgers, chamomile tea, pepper jack cheese, Take 5 bars, Chinese food, hot chocolate, butter snap pretzles.



Things I love:

Principe cookies: We call them crack cookies here. Nice crispy sugar cookie on the outside, creamy chocolate on the inside...there's nothing better.

Nutella: Its so cheap here! I have to admit I'm a little addicted, its probably the reason for my weight gain.

Fresh fruits and veggies: The bell peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers here are amazing. Not to mention the strawberries and oranges. There is a never ending supply of delicious, fresh fruits and veggies and the best thing is that they're so cheap! Sometimes I feel like I'm stealing it haha.
Fresh bread: Yet another source of my weight gain. The bread here is 1,000,000 times better than in the US. It is also dirt cheap.

Patatas Bravas: A traditional tapas dish. Fried potatoe wedges smothered in this delicious spicy tomato sauce and sometimes mayo. Yum.

Bocadillos: Sandwiches made out of a half of a baguette and cheese&meat. They are a great lunch on the go and a steal at about $2.

Coffee: Cortados are my favorite, they're a shot of espresso and a shot of milk. Yum! Then come cappuccinos, a little more on the expensive side. The regular morning drink of choice here is cafe con leche, of course, which is also great. All really cheap, I never spend more tha $3 on a really great cup of coffee!

Pastries: Yum! Always fresh, always go well with coffee.

Tortilla de patata: Spanish tortilla is made out of potatoes cut really thin and fried, then mixed with onions, eggs, and milk, and fried into a sort of pancake. Can you say delicious?! One thing I don't like so much is that it is often served cold when it tastes a lot better room temperature or fresh off the stove. Its served in pretty little wedges that I love.

Paella: Traditional spanish rice dish. Its nice and creamy, full of flavor, and you can get it with anything from chicken and veggies to snail.

Zarangollo: Another tapas I love. This one is eggs, zucchini, onion, and potatoes. Its like a really light scramble, and amazingly tasty.


Are you hungry now? I am!

A Very Relaxing Weekend

This past week was pretty non-descript. I went to class, spent hours trying to chase down my academic advisor (which I still haven't been able to do,) and made it through another week. I am quickly realizing how fast my time here is going by. I'm beginning to worry that I'm not going to have time to do everything I want to do and see everything I want to see. I have to start doing some serious planning here soon, but I need to get ahold of all the money the school owes me first!

On Saturday I went hiking with a few people at a place called "El Santuario del Fuentesanta" which is where there is a big national park right outside of Murcia. I hard a great time, the actual sanctuary is beautiful and the church there is really cute and sticks out from the mountains and forest in the most wonderful way because it is white and yellow. The hiking was fun too, we went to the top of a hill where we could sit and see the whole city and the mountains that surround it. It was absolutely beautiful, something you're going to have to trust me on because I am too lazy to upload pictures tonight. After that I made homemade tomatoe soup which was a big success. There's nothing like tomatoe soup and a grilled cheese sandwich to be comfort food. I didn't realize how much I miss it until last night.

Today I went with my friend Megan to a little Renaissance Fair at a park in the city called Floridablanca. I had a lot of fun! We spent some time shopping around at all the booths which had crafts, insence, soaps, and lots of cheese, and then we went to go watch the jousting tournament. It was pretty cool to see how these guys can control both their swords and their horses. We watched them do all kinds of cool tricks and there was even a sword fight which seemed so real that even though I knew it was choreographed I was a little scared for the loser. We walked around the park after that and saw some pretty funny things like a little carousel that was powered by a man on a bicycle! I thought that was adorable. Obviously only little kids could go on it, otherwise I think the poor man would have lost his legs after peddling all day. We also saw this street performer that I have seen a few times- he makes bird type noises that are so annoying and almost abusive to listen to. He was blocking kids from being able to go on pony rides. My favorite part of the Renaissance Fair? I got to try some really great parmesean cheese and smell all kinds of coffee- yum!

I spent the rest of the day finishing my book and now I am going to get started on the tiny bit of homework I have for next week. Hopefully I'll be able to get in touch with my academic advisor so I can actually sign up for these classes!

I'm going to post a list of things I'm missing right now, because I've been feeling homesick lately and it might make it better:

Dancing: both for fun and exercise
Being skinny: this bread and cheese diet has done nothing for my figure, its getting me down!
Dancing
Being busy all the time: while at first I really enjoyed having so much free time, I'm now to the point where I'm running out of books...
Canned soup: what a time saver! and a healthy one at that
American sandwich meat: its just not the same here at all
Dancing
Dancing
My family: even though I don't see them when I'm in Indiana, it is hard not to be able to call them whenever I want to.
Dancing
My puppy: for some reason I think about Pepper a lot here, its weird, but I miss him so much!

I am going a little bit crazy about the lack of dancing. I'm learning that not only is it the thing I do that makes me happiest, it is also the only exercise I have, and it is what keeps me sane. I dance when I'm stressed out, angry, happy, sick...anything. Not having that has been a huge struggle for me. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't realize that it would be as hard as it is. I would do almost anything for a good Lindy with someone right now. I have been watching dancing videos and doing a lot of solo Charleston in my room but alas, it is just not the same. I should have gone to Madrid, if only for the fact that I would have been able to dance at least a little. At this point its looking like I'm not going to make it to Valencia to dance until at least the middle of April. Ugh...will I even make it that long before going totally insane?

Sevilla

This weekend I went to Sevilla with the International students that go to UMU with me. The organization that planned the trip is called ERASMUS student network and it was a pretty interesting experience. ERASMUS seems to have some really different opinions about what is important when planning a trip for a bunch of students.

We left for Sevilla at 2:00am on Friday morning, and started our 8 hour bus ride. It would have been 5.5 hours but the bus was driving really slowly and we stopped three times (incredibly unnecessarily.) When we got to Sevilla we checked into our hostels (they were so cute!) and went out to get some lunch. After that we all met up for a guided tour of the "Catedral de Sevilla," the largest cathedral in Europe. It is so beautiful and intricate! I loved the outside of the cathedral, especially because I learned all about the architecture in my Spanish class last year (a class I totally hated at the time.) Unfortunately it was raining, but we still had a good time. A really interesting thing about the cathedral is that it currently houses what scientists are 80% sure are the remains of Christopher Colombus. I thought that was really neat.


The cathedral was built in the ruins of a mosque, and the architect and king decided the only important part of the mosque worth keeping was the tower. Its called the Torre de Giralda and it now houses the beautiful church bells. We climbed up 32 stories worth of ramps to the top of the tower. It was amazing to see the entire city, even if it was rainy.



After touring the church we went to the Alcazar which is the palace in Sevilla. It is where the royal family lives today when they visit Sevilla so it is still considered a Royal Palace, not just a castle. It was so pretty and I was amazed by all the detailed tile work the covered the palace. I got to touch tiles that were still in the walls of the courtyard after being there for 700 years. Though it looks like it is part of a Muslim design, the palace was actually designed with the help of a Spanish prince who really liked muslim architecture.



This was the end of our planned tourist activities in Sevilla, and we still had two days! I spent the rest of Friday roaming the city and seeing some more beautiful things. After that the girls sharing my room at the hostel and I went to dinner at a great tapas restaurant--we ate a ton and really enjoyed ourselves. At midnight we met up with the ERASMUS group again for what the organization called "fiesta." Basically they bussed us al to a huge discoteque and gave us all free drinks for the night before taking us home at 4:30am. It was so much fun! We danced the night away and I even got to salsa with a Spanish guy who was pretty good. On Saturday we all slept in because we didn't really get to sleep until 6:00am, and then we woke up and met at one of the hostels for paella and sangria. Every time I eat paella I love it even more, and this was great because it was free! I spent Saturday afternoon walking around the city to see the Plaza de Torros- where the bullfights are- the Torre de Oro, which is a tower that used to be covered in gold before people stole it all, and the Plaza de Espana. The Plaza de Espana is a huge building which is covered in the most beautiful tile work I have ever seen. I was nearly brought to tears by how beautiful this building was. The best part? I was told several times that it was in an ugly phase because they are doing construction on the gardens. I can't believe that the people who live there are so used to seeing this much beauty that they can begin thinking its ugly just because there's less grass.

After a quick siesta and some dinner we met up again for fiesta #2. Of course, it was another night of free drinks and a lot of fun. They took us to a bar that had live flamenco. I loved it so much! The guitarist was amazing, not to mention the flute player and the dancer. I loved listening to the rhythms they made--it is a lot like tap dancing, my absolute favorite! One thing I didn't like was that the dancer looked angry the whole time. It made me feel like she wasn't enjoying herself. I'm all for looking passionate about what you're doing, but there's a point when it takes away from the movement itself.

I left the bar at about midnight instead of going to the next bar with the group; I was too tired! On Sunday we woke up and checked out of the hostel and then went walking around some more. After a trip to the artesian market and a stop for coffee we went to 1:00 mass at the cathedral. Needless to say it was one of the coolest things I have ever done, and now I can say I went to mass at the biggest cathedral in the world! I was really excited because I could understand everything the Priest said, which I think means my Spanish is getting better. After mass was over we went walking around and found some cool little stores before stopping for lunch and then catching the bus home. Overall it was a really great weekend.

One of the things I didn't like so much about Sevilla was that it made me really lonely. Its one thing to be living a busy life going to class and stuff and an entirely different one to be wandering around a beautiful city enjoying myself. Even though I was with a huge group of people, it made me wish that everyone I love back home could be with me to see these beautiful things. Not to mention all the couples walking around holding hands- I have to admit it made me miss Isaac a lot! I was happy to get back to Murcia and to my regular schedule.

In other news, I have added another class: Greek and Roman Art. I think it will be a good one, and it will help keep me busy. I am getting into the swing of things here and really starting to love this city. It has a great character and I like the fact that its more off the beaten track than the big cities I've been visiting. Here everyone speaks Spanish to me instead of just speaking English the minute they realize I'm not from Spain. Its helping me with my Spanish a lot. Wow this post is long.

There are a ton of pictures of Sevilla on facebook, I couldn't put them all up here! Check them out.