Carnaval!

This past weekend in Spain was Carnaval! It's the weekend before Holy Week and basically it's a weekend of parades, concerts, parties and costumes. Thursday during our grammar class our professor María took us to a costume shop outside the casco. I bought wings (alas) and a headband for antennae (antena) to dress up as a butterfly (mariposa)!

The festivities don't really start until Saturday so I went to a bar on Thursday night for a few hours and came home pretty early. Friday during the day I ate lunch with my family, went to the mall, bought a new shirt and ate pizza for dinner! I just really wish I had ranch dressing... I went out to a bar again Friday night and had a lot of fun! It's those nights when you have no expectations that turn into the most fun. I slept late on Saturday to rest up for the big night! I got lunch with some friends during the day and walked around Toledo a bit because the weather was so nice. I only had to wear a sweater. Around 5 p.m. we walked to Avda. Reconquista to watch the parade.

The parade was awesome! The children running around had the cutest costumes. My favorite were two little boys dressed as princes. The parade was a little over an hour long (actually longer but there was a break in the middle and we had left already) and it was so much fun. The best part was this 20-minute period of ancient Egypt. The dancers looked exhausted though! Their costumes were amazing, their choreography was fun and their floats were massive. They did not throw candy into the crowd like in America but we did get covered in quite a bit of confetti. And now I'm deaf because the music they played was so loud.

After the parade I went home to get dressed quickly. I wore a blue dress to match my butterfly costume. Shannon, Liz and I ate doner kepab (the best food ever) on the street and drank tinto de verano (red wine with lemon juice, it's similar to sangria). There was a concert in the middle of Zocodover and so we spent the night dancing and enjoying the creative Spanish costumes. It's much more popular here to wear costumes in a group. I don't know how many groups of 5-10 girls I saw wearing the same exact costume! We went to O'Brien's, of course, for a few drinks and I grabbed a taxi home around 3 a.m. It was a really fun night! Carnaval was a blast.

Yesterday they had the burning of sardines in the river and fireworks but I didn't make it down to the river. I could see some of the fireworks from my window though. Nothing too exciting has happened since my weekend in Barcelona until now. Classes are going fine, maybe a little boring at times and sometimes we're given a lot of homework, but they're manageable. We were supposed to watch a movie last week called "Nueve Reinas" but the movie did not have subtitles (in Spanish nor in English) so we couldn't understand most of the words being said. Hopefully ESTO will find a copy that has subtitles because it seemed really funny. We have another tour of Toledo this week and the group is going to Segovia on Friday. My good friend Kristin (who goes to Miami and is studying in Luxembourg) is coming to visit me tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm excited to hang out with her and show off my Spanish skills to a French speaker!

Everyone is starting to mentally prepare to leave (in three weeks) but I'm getting excited for the new group of students and a new experience in Toledo - the spring! I can't wait for Spring Break with my mom and then I'm excited for new Spanish classes and a new family. Lots of new things to come! This evening I'm having intercambio with Brian and Halle and I think Ángel is bring the Spanish version of Taboo and we're going to teach him how to play American card games. Should be fun! Hasta luego!

Things I Miss

Free refills
Though it’s probably better that I consume less sugar and caffeine here, I get very thirsty while eating at restaurants. The first beverage served (whether it be water, coke or whatever) is smaller than drinks at home and then I am are not offered [free] refills once finished with my first.
Separate checks/paying with credit cards at restaurants
Even if you ask for separate checks ahead of time the waiters are not likely to offer this comfort offered in the states. Therefore I pay with cash 9 times out of 10 and then I have go to the ATM more than I would like.
Driving/riding in a car
The busses (that I take four times a day) can get crowded, they are starting to get hotter as the weather is getting warmer and it’s impossible to keep your balance if you’re standing. I miss driving in my car, singing along with the radio and not having to pretend that I can speak Spanish perfectly when the person next to me starts to speak to me.
Ranch dressing
It is nowhere to be found! I only just had barbeque sauce for the first time at McDonalds on Saturday but I cannot find ranch anywhere! I just want to dip my French fries in ranch!!
Censored television
I know it sounds weird that one would miss censored television but now everyday during lunch I’m bombarded with images of bloody, dead bodies and naked women. I guess I’m getting used to it now but I think I will always be disgusted when I see a pig being slaughtered on screen.
Cold milk
The milk here is not refrigerated. Someone told me the milk has a special additive that allows it to stay fresh outside of the refrigerator. Even though my family refrigerates milk after they bring it home, the taste is not the same and they don’t keep their refrigerators at a very cold temperature. I would love to eat cereal for breakfast one morning but not with warm milk.
Smoke free restaurants and buildings
Everyone smokes in Spain. It sucks when I’m eating in a restaurant or having coffee in a café and someone is blowing their cigarette smoke right into my face. It is something I won’t ever get used to.
My friends, family and cats
It’s so unbelievable hard to be away from my friends and family this long. I can’t count how many times I’ve wanted to call or text my friends to tell them something simple and then remembering that it costs too much money. I’m lucky that I’m able to iChat with my family but I’m constantly sad that I’m so far away from everyone that I love at home. And of course I miss my cats. I am excited because next quarter I’m living with a new family that has a cat named Tomás!

Things I Do Everyday

There are quite a few things that I find myself doing or seeing every day. I decided that because I find it interesting you might as well! So here is my list:

• Eat at least three oranges (or "mandarinas") a day
• Eat bread (or "pan" which resembles a baguette) with every meal
  
• Drink café con leche with milk that is not refrigerated
• Cough because someone is smoking inside a building (the one thing I absolutely hate)
• Watch "Cuatro" (a popular news channel) that is not censored
  
• Watch a T.V. show with Carlos, a singing chef, during lunch at 2 p.m.
  
• Ride the bus into the casco at least four times a day
  
• See a sign that says "Rebajas" (sales) in every three out of four stores
• Take a siesta
• Tell our dog, Tusca, to "chissss" because she never stops barking
  
• Say "sí" at least ten times a day even when I actually don't understand what's being said
• Refer to my Spanish/English dictionary (a lot)
• Listen to lovely chirping that isn't from birds but the sound at the crosswalks
  
• Accidentally misspell an English word or write it in Spanish if I'm not concentrating
  
• Say "qué," "cómo" or "repite" at least ten times a day when I really don't understand
• Complain about the homework load that isn't even that terrible but sometimes speaking and hearing Spanish 24/7 really gets to you!

If I think of more things I'll add to this post. Of course something new happens every day and I write everything my personal journal. I truly love Spain, I should say it more, and I was smiling the entire time I made this list. It's nice to have continuity in a place that you don't feel 100% comfortable in (yet). I swear I'm getting there! I should start working on some homework before dinner in an hour. However I'll probably watch more T.V. on surfthechannel.com! Hasta luego!

Routine, Barcelona, Relax

Whoops, I have been bad about updating! Nothing too interesting had been happening which finally means I have settled into my routine. Every Tuesday I have community service (I speak English with students at a language school), we usually have a ruta of Toledo or a Spanish movie to watch during the week and we have intercambios. So there was really nothing out of the ordinary to report until now!

Last Friday we visited two palaces in Aranjuez and Escorial. Both were beautiful but it was a long day. We met at 9:00 in the morning and drove to both locations (all in all about 2 hours away from Toledo). The first palace in Aranjuez was exactly what I thought a palace would look like. Extravagant rooms (and a lot of them) decorated with many paintings and a lot of gold. I did find the decorations a bit tacky though, but who am I to judge the decorations of the king's summer palace! We then drove to Escorial (in the mountains so it was foggy and beautiful) and had a pretty fantastic lunch. The palace in Escorial was not as elaborate as Aranjuez but it had amazing tombs on the bottom floor and huge marble rooms. The gardens at each palace were breath taking! We returned home that night and I had a pretty normal weekend of watching TV on surfthechannel.com, spending time with friends and finishing homework.

This past weekend some of the group and I went to Barcelona! It was absolutely amazing, I love it there. We took an overnight bus on Thursday so we arrived at our hostel at 7:30 in the morning on Friday. Though we were technically not supposed to check in until "midday" (as the man at the counter kept saying) he let us move into our 14 person room. The room reminded me of an orphanage. Each bed had it's own walls and a curtain for privacy which was nice in the end. Though some people snored and I didn't have a blanket, I passed out. Overnight driving does not offer the best sleeping conditions...

We took a brief nap and woke up and got ready around noon. We ate a quick lunch and walked around Barcelona to the ocean, through the streets and eventually to a mall on the water. Theresa, Liz and I shopped for a bit and continued to walk around Barcelona until that night. We got chinese food (sooo good!) and hung out in our hostel with three Austrailian girls we met who were so much fun. After dinner we went to a bar for Liz's birthday and got home pretty late.

Saturday morning Thresea took a bus tour with Christina, so Liz and I walked around with Bridget and Isabel in the Gothic Center, Las Ramblas and around some old cathedrals. Since I had been to Barcelona before I wasn't too disappointed that we didn't see the major sites and it was nice to walk around the city and enjoy it like I hadn't had the chance before.

Liz and I finally found the last two Twilight books in English and since we were pretty tired from our days of walking around, we went to dinner and came back and read for a bit and watched Twilight on Bridget's iPod. Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and took our bus back to Madrid and then to Toledo!

I didn't get home until about 10:30 p.m. and had to work on homework, blech. It wasn't too much but I stayed up really late and I'm tired today. Right now I'm about to finish up my Literature homework and finish more of our online class, AVE. We have a ruta of Toledo this week and I'll finally get to spend another weekend in Toledo. It's so much more releaxing and less expensive than traveling. Plus I continue to love Toledo more and more! I don't have any more trips planned until the second weekend in March when I'm going to Rome with Shannon and Liz. And then my mom is coming to visit for about 11 days over Spring Break and we're planning on traveling to London and Paris (plus Madrid and Toledo). I can't wait!

I'm starting to get e-mails about the second session I'll be in Toledo which is making me more excited about Spain in Spring. I need to start choosing classes and packing up my winter clothes. It really does get warmer and warmer as the days go by. I need to finish homework now so hasta luego!