Refleción (5)

Antes de vine a España estaba como flan porque no supe que esperar con mi nueva familia. Sin embargo, cuando yo llegué a Oviedo me di cuenta de no necesitaba preocupar. Mi familia es muy simpática, y aunque a veces nosotros tenemos problemas con comunicación, siempre nos entendemos eventualmente. Me gusta mucho la comida que mi madre ha cocinado, pero a veces quiero Taco Bell todavía…

También, estoy muy contenta porque yo puedo entender más español que he pensado. Desgraciadamente, hablo muy mal todavía. Creo que viajando con un grupo tan grande tiene beneficios y costes. Me encantan todas de las personas que he conocido en este programa, pero creo que yo aprendería más español si hubiera venido con menos estadunidenses. Nosotros siempre hablamos inglés cuando estamos juntos. Hablo mucho español con mi familia y en clase, pero fuera de la escuela solo hablo un poco.

Sin embargo, estoy muy satisfecho con mi viaje. He aprendido mucho sobre la cultura de Asturias y me gusta mucha la siesta. ¿No sé que haré cuando regresaré a los Estados Unidos y no puedo dormir durante el día! Pienso que he conocido amigos por toda de mi vida en este viaje y no puedo pensar de una manera mejor para pasar mi verano. Todavía tengo un mes para explorar España e Italia después de este programa, pero estoy un poco triste que no puedo quedar en Oviedo y asisto escuela más.

Nunca olvidaré mi tiempo en Oviedo ni mis amigos nuevos.

Foto Contest--Mejor Foto

El Fin de Semana Libre (4)

El fin de semana pasado, cuatro de mis amigas y yo fuimos a la playa en Llanes. Yo estaba emocionada en particular porque eso sábado era mi cumpleaños. Me encanta que mi cumpleaños sea en el verano porque tengo la oportunidad a hacer cosas muy interesantes durante el descanso. No puedo pensar de una manera mejor a pasar mi cumpleaños que en una playa hermosa en España. Entonces, cuando mis decidieron que ir al Llanes por un fin de semana de chicas, estaba muy contenta.

Llanes es un pueblo pequeña en la costa del norte de España. Aunque pequeño, Llanes es uno de los lugares más bonitos que he visitado. Nosotros sólo encontramos una playa con arena, la resta era muy accidentada y rocosa. A mí me gustó mucho andando por los caminos en los acantilados. Pasamos mucho tiempo broceando en la playa por los días y salimos a bares por las noches. Porque Llanes es tan pequeño, los bares no son tantos divertidos como los en Oviedo—había demasiados chicos horripilantes en las calles. Sin embargo, no vine a España para beber.

Desgraciadamente, creo que tenía intoxicación de comida en mis cumpleaños y he sentido una poca enferma desde entonces. Me encantó mi tiempo en Llanes, y espero que puedo regresar un día.

Llanes

We had a long weekend last week and didn´t have class on Friday, so Courtney, Ashley, Ashley K., Raquell, and I decided to have a girls´ weekend in Llanes. Judging from my usual track record with girls I´d say the weekend was a success...I don´t normally get along with many, but it was fun!

The beaches were absolutely breath taking. Well, okay there was really only one beach, everything else along the water was all rugged landscape, but the water was clear and beautiful. We swam on Friday, but it was pretty chilly on my birthday (Saturday) and there wasn´t really any sun...I still managed to burn my back a smidgen though.

The nightlife in Llanes was a bit iffy though. We seemed to be some of the only girls everywhere we went...and the guys were TOTAL creeps. We had two nights where they tried to force their way into our hotel...luckily our new friend Froggy (her voice was JACKED) at the front desk did a lot of bouncer work for us.

Speaking of the hotel...that was quite a worry the first night...We had only made a reservation for four people and there were five of us. The people working definitely caught on and we had a rough night where we thought they were going to kick us all out, but we worked it out in the morning and all was well.

So, on my birthday I had the third hamburger I´ve ever had in my entire life and I´m fairly certain I got food poisoning...but that wasn´t until like 3 in the morning, so I suppose it wasn´t technically my birthday anymore. Anyway, I don´t feel any older, or any wiser, or any better at Spanish, or different in anyway...guess leaving the teen years behind isn´t as an abrupt of a change as one might think...

Pee.Ess. This picture is of this way cool grafiti pier thing...Me gusta muchisimo.

Foto Tarea (3)

LlanesPor el fin de semana libre, mis amigas y yo decidimos ir a un viaje de chicas solamente. Fuimos a Llanes, un pueblo precioso en la costa del norte de España. Me encantó la playa allí, el mar era más caliente que en Gijón o la Playa de Rodilles. También era mi cumpleaños en sábado, y creo que un fin de semana in la playa era un regalo perfecto.

GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I´m super sad because I left my card reader with my memory card in that stupid grocery store/internet cafe. So, not only did I lose all of the pictures that I´ve already taken, I also lost the BEST video of Simon dancing in da club...seriously the most hilarious thing I´ve ever seen in my life and meow it´s no more :( Needless to say estoy muy muy muy triste about the whole situation...

So, this weekend we went on another neato excursion. First we went to Las Cuevas de Altamira which have some of the oldest cave paintings in Europe. They´re actually considered art. I thought the whole thing was pretty interesting, they are 18,500 years old. Unfortunately, we only got to tour a replica of the cave and paintings because they stopped giving tours of the real cave a few years ago. They had these holographic cave people in there...super cheesy, but at least our tour guide was interesting.

Next we went to Santillana del Mar, this gorgeous mideviel village where we went to a torture museum. Reading about all of the torture devices they had on display really grossed me out. I can´t believe people actually went to watch people get tortured for entertainment, let alone the people who came up with those devices. I mean, I have a pretty twisted mind, but that´s shit´s nasty (sorry Mommy, the vulgarity of the torture merits vulgar language). The town itself was beautiful though I took SO many pictures, and they were all real pretty too, but of course now I don´t have them anymore :(.

Then we took another little 20 minute drive to Comillas, a beautiful little coastal town. We saw some awesome gothic architecture in one palace and then right next door was a crazy Gaudi building. I REALLY wish I had my pictures because I think I was the only one who took close ups of random things like the tiles and carving...alas, I´ll look through Courtney and Ashley´s photos and post some ASAP. For meow, I´m outie like Gaudi (God I´m funny). Gotta rest up for trivia night tonight at Asturianu :D.

Foto Tarea (2)

La TorturaEsto es un instrumento de tortura que nosotros encontramos en el Museo de la Tortura en nuestra excursión a Santilla del Mar. Las descripciones a bajo de los instrumentos eran muy gráficas y horripilantes. Muchos de mis compañeros de clase estaban incómodos después de nuestra visita al museo…a mí también.

Comida en España (3)

Todas las noches mi madre nueva preparaba comida diferente pero toda es autentico de España. He probado muchas cosas nuevas, usualmente, soy una tiquismiquis con comida pero mi madre estaría orgullosa porque ¡yo comí una cebolla hace cuatro noches! Me encanta que Asturias está muy cerca del mar porque mi familia come mucho pescado.

Sin embargo, mi madre nueva siempre me da demasiada comida. Cuando digo a ella que “estoy llena”, ella siempre me ofrece más. Digo que no quiero estar gorda, pero ella se ríe y me da postre.

Muchas veces me gusta mucho la comida que me madre cocina. Pero, a veces es demasiado extraño para mí. Por ejemplo, en el Martes del Campo la comida tradicional se llama “bollu prañáu”. Este es pan rellenado con chorizo. Desgraciadamente, no me gustó y eso día no comí almuerzo.

Los sabores aquí son muy diferentes que en los Estados Unidos, pero estoy acostumbrado a la comida nueva, aunque a veces todavía quiero macarrones y queso.

Sharks and Princes and Boobies, OH MY!

SHARKS:

So, yesterday afternoon our class took a little trip to the aquarium in Gijón. I absolutely love aquariums, I think they´re very soothing or something... I loved loved loved the sharks...and they had the cool shark tunnel that you walk through underneath them...I took some pictures but they all pretty much sucked because we weren´t allowed to use a flash. We had a tour guide, and I was stoked that I actually understood most of what she said because she wasn´t talking very slow :). Here´s one cool picture of a shark that I took...pretty much the only one that turned out. Oo and this other one of a gigantor lobster.

PRINCES:
I forgot to decode my Spanish assignment for those of you who can´t read it because it´s a super funny, embarrassing, slightly creepy story. Courtney and I were walking home from class one day through the park and we passed this guy coming the other way. As soon as we passed him he turned around and started following us and yelling "Oi!" but we weren´t sure if he was talking to us or not so we just kept walking and didn´t turn around. Sure enough, a couple minutes later I feel someone graze up against my arm. He started asking us if we spoke English and where we were from. He said he loved girls who spoke English because they could speak English where he was from in Nigeria. Then he went on to tell me that the moment he saw me he knew he had to turn around and follow me because he was sure that I was the love of his life...real subtle eh? I had absolutely no idea how to repond to that, but Courtney lost it laughing. He followed us almost all the way home and was calling me his angel and saying he "didn´t want to miss me" and he wanted to come with me. We got smart at this point though and stopped walking and tried to get him to leave. He wouldn´t go until he´d given me his number though and made me promise (with my fingers crossed) to call him. He also showed me his email address which said prince.antony.69...so now we call him my Nigerian Prince haha. He was actually pretty decent looking, but they whole creepiness factor totally eclipsed the cuteness. After he left we walked around the block a bit just to make sure he didn´t see where we lived...lot´s of girls here seem to be having problems of boys following them home... no bueno.

BOOBIES:
Women always lay out topless here! Not just at the beach...Courtney and I walk through a park to get home everyday and we just see tons of ta-tas everyday!

Meow...A Bit About Oviedo

So, turns out Oviedo is gorgeous...In case anyone´s jealous.

Life here is so laid back...I mean I know it´s summer and I´m just kicking it in another country, but I feel like that´s everyone´s attitude. Work and school aren´t causes of stress here. People just live.

Today was Martes de Campo, a holiday only celebrated in Oviedo where families are supposed to spend time outside en el campo and eat these really nasty sandwiches called bollas. They´re stuffed with chorizo, I´ve had enough chorizo to last me a lifetime. Courtney, Ashley, and I went to the beach today and I had about two bites of my sandwich before I had to throw it out...no bueno. For the most part I really enjoy my mom´s cooking, but this traditional cuisine was a shoot and a miss para mi. Here´s a picture of Courtney´s sandwich...mine was homemade so it didn´t look quite so...provacative.

It´s a little nuts here, but after being here for less than a week, I feel completely at home and have slipped into my little schedule.

I get up in the morning and go to class at 9:30. I´m in the Intermediate III class which surprised me--I wasn´t expecting to be placed in the highest level after I took my crappy placement test. My teacher is Pablo...I love him...I´m stealing a picture from Courtney to put up of him. He comes out to the same bar we do sometimes and sings and plays Beatles songs on the guitar...AWESOME.

I have class until 2:00 and after that I´ll either walk around with people or head home for lunch and a siesta....I love the siesta thing FANTASTIC idea.

Then we´ll all usually meet up at around 10:30 in front La Catedral to go out and drink sidra among other things :). Sidra is AMAZING. It´s the famous drink in Asturias...which is the part of Spain Oviedo is located in. It´s just fermented apple cider. Anyway we went to a traditional party on Friday night called an espicha that was originally to celebrate the first sidra of the year. The coolest thing about sidra is the way it has to be served. Either it´s poured from a barrel to a cup some three feet away or a waiter pours it from a bottle and catches it in the cup...but the trick is they´re not allowed to look where they´re aiming. At the party we listened to traditional music and ate delicious food and hung out with our professors. I tried to join in on a little traditional dance...Prof. Rubio tried to tell me I did well...I think he was just being nice. On the way back Pablo taught us some drinking songs on the bus. Here´s a picture of me pouring sidra...with help...I did it like four times...Sidra man was a hottie...Alberto :)

I´ve only stayed in two nights so far. The nightlife here is crazy...people really don´t come out until 2 in the morning...crazy Spaniards. Our friendly neighborhood barman has been acting like our guide around town. His friend Victi tried to teach me to dance the other night...I just shook my hips a lot :P.

We also went to watch the Manchester United v Barcelona game at a bar one night. Super fun. Barcelona is so good! First team in España to win the Spanish League, the European Championships, and the Champion´s League...Sweet.

On Saturday we went on our first class excursion to an old monestary that was built in 893...crazy old, I couldn´t believe that some of the paint was still visible on the inside. After that we went and hung out at the beach at Playa de Rodiles...can´t ever get enough beach time ;).

Okay, so this was a pretty condensed version of what I´ve been up to up until meow. I´ll seriously try to keep it up to date from meow on out...scout´s honor. Pee.Ess. Check facebook for more pictures.

Mi Familia

Wow, I´m terrible at this whole blogging on time thing... Oh well here comes a bit for all my super fantastic fans out there :P.

So anywho, the next morning we had to take the Metro to the bus station and take our bus to Oviedo. At the bus station we ran into a bunch of other Utah kids, so that was nice. It wasn´t a super eventful bus ride...just five hours long so I´m not going to bother recounting it. The countryside as we drove further north was gorgeous though.

When we got to Oviedo it was raining, but of course I had forgotten my umbrella...on my bed...back in Casper...did me a whole lot of good. We had an interesting little excursion trying to find La Catedral for the first time from the bus station. We eventually got there...even if we were a bit soggy. We met up with the rest of our class and waited for our host families to come pick us up. I was soooo nervous to meet my family that first day...really not in good shape. When my mom, Virtudes, came up and gave me my dos besos I barely understood a word she said. She asked me the EASIEST question ever and I could NOT understand her....she really must have thought I was an idiot at first because I didn´t know that she asked me if I could speak any Spanish until she repeated it 5 times. By the way, I´m totally used to the dos besos thing meow, I´m gonna be coming back to the U.S. and kissing people everytime I meet them....

So, my new mom grabbed me by the arm and ran me to her son who was waiting with the car. His name is Manuel and he´s 33, he polices the French/Spanish border. He had a break my first week here though so he was staying with us. He just left yesterday, and I´m slightly bummed because he was definitely the easiest to understand. Here´s a weird, fun fact about Spain. The birth rate here is extremely low because kids live with their parents into their 30s. When I told my mom that I lived by myself when I was at University she flipped out. In the U.S. if you live with your parents past your early twenties, you´re a freak, here it´s completely normal...no thanks on that cultural experience.

My host father is also named Manuel, and I STILL can´t understand what he says when he speaks. I´ve adapted to the accent a bit here, but it´s still really strange and he slurs his words so much that I always have to have him repeat questions. My entire family is very nice though, and now that I´m not so nervous I talk to my host mom about lots of things... I still feel slightly awkward around my dad. My mom and I were joking around yesterday though and she calls me her cariña and chiquitina which basically is what you call your kids...really cute :)

The one thing that I CANNOT get used to though is the meals. My mom piles SO much food in front of me at every meal, and then even if I don´t finish it she starts offering me everything else she has in the house too. I´ve tried to explain to her that I just CANNOT eat that much, but she just doesn´t seem to get it.

I just realized that I haven´t taken a picture of my family or house yet....I´ll post that up here as soon as I take one; but anyway, at least the part that I was most worried about on this trip has worked out well. I love my host mom!

Una Experiencia Española (2)

En mi primera semana en Oviedo yo conocí muchas personas diferentes. Probablemente la persona más rara que he encontrado se llama Antony. Courtney y yo caminábamos por el parque un día después de nuestras clases cuando vimos un hombre caminando en la dirección opuesto. Él paró y empezó a seguirnos. Él nos dijo que necesitó seguirnos porque yo era la chica más bonita que él había visto. Él me dijo también que yo era su ángel y él no quería abandonarme.

La situación era incómoda para mí, pero Courtney creía que la era muy cómico y ella se rió mientras caminábamos. Sin embargo, yo no tuve ninguna idea que hacer. Él andaba casi a nuestras casas y no quería salir. Entonces, nosotros paramos porque no queríamos que él supiera donde vivimos. Pero él no salió hasta me dio su numero de teléfono. Después de prometí que yo llamaré con mis dedos cruzados, él salió. Courtney y yo caminábamos más allá de nuestras casas por si acaso él estaba nos mirando.

Ahora nosotros llamamos Antony mi Príncipe de Nigeria y yo no le llamaba nunca.

Foto Tarea (1)

La Catedral Por la Noche

La Catedral es en el centro de Oviedo. Todos los noches mis compañeros y yo encontramos en frente de la iglesia hermosa antes de nosotros salimos para explorar la ciudad o vamos a las bares. También esta catedral es donde yo conocí mi madre nueva por la primera vez. Siempre recuerdo la Catedral cuando yo pienso sobre Oviedo.