So today was nice and laid backish. We had a small breakfast, mostly croissants, toast, that sort of thing. They have this amazing chocolate and white chocolate spread that rivals nutella for amazingness. We had a short walking tour of where we had to go tomorrow morning to take our placement exam, and where the Colegio de Espana is. They're very old buildings, and the building that the college is in was built in the 16th century. Then we walked to the plaza mayor and they told us which ways to go for certain things. Then we went for lunch and I had my first paella (no meat for me though) and it was incredibly delicious. Very rich. Most of the food at the restaurant that we're eating at is very salty, however.
Then we went back to the hostel and a few of us went back to the mall where we had watched the game and went shopping. I bought a few simple shirts since I couldn't really find anything that fit me nicely. Usually we'd have much more shopping options in the streets surrounding the hostel, but on Sunday's most everything is closed. We did find a supermarket that was in the basement of the mall and I got some fruit and little things to eat while I'm here. The mall wasn't really like a usual mall, it was almost like a gigantic macy's with different designers having different sections all around the five or six floors of the building.
Now I'm back, after sitting out eating strawberries and reading on the balcony. We're eating around 8, and have a meeting to talk about information we need to know (buses, stamps, etc) and the plan for tomorrow, and then i'm pretty sure i'm just going to relax. Last night we went out and had a few drinks. One of the girls who was with us even won a booty dancing contest and got 30 euros!
7.04.2010
7.03.2010
Here and GOAL
So after we arrived in Madrid, we went to get our baggage and I was one of the lucky ones whose got rained on because they obviously weren't smart enough to put a tarp over the luggage when they transported it through the rain to the other airplane. All of my important informational papers, new notebook, journal, towel and jacket got wet. Thankfully nothing's fully damaged, and if I can't get a new notebook I can use the one I have. And one girl got her luggage lost, poor thing.
Then we take a two hour bus ride to get to the hostel. I got to claim my room (the biggest single of the bunch) and as I was talking to my fam for the first time since I got here, the power goes out, and the internet with it. Apparently this is the first time that has happened. I have a feeling we might be cursed.
but we got the power fixed. Went to dinner and I found out on the bus ride to the airport that there's another girl whose also a vegetarian. They really didn't have much for us to eat, however. Rice, pasta, peas and corn, and salad. After that I changed and we went to watch the soccer, or futbol, game with a huge crowd of people. They had this massive screen set up and a bar for drinks, soda, and food. there were hundreds of people there and it was an incredible experience not only watching the game with them, but celebrating their score and the win. After wards walking back there were tons of people in the stretes, horns honking, flags waving, people singing and shouting, it was crazy. We got to walk through the plaza mayor and it was absolutely beautiful. It really did look like the buildings were made of gold.
Well, that's it for now. I'm here, unpacked, got power and drying off!
Then we take a two hour bus ride to get to the hostel. I got to claim my room (the biggest single of the bunch) and as I was talking to my fam for the first time since I got here, the power goes out, and the internet with it. Apparently this is the first time that has happened. I have a feeling we might be cursed.
but we got the power fixed. Went to dinner and I found out on the bus ride to the airport that there's another girl whose also a vegetarian. They really didn't have much for us to eat, however. Rice, pasta, peas and corn, and salad. After that I changed and we went to watch the soccer, or futbol, game with a huge crowd of people. They had this massive screen set up and a bar for drinks, soda, and food. there were hundreds of people there and it was an incredible experience not only watching the game with them, but celebrating their score and the win. After wards walking back there were tons of people in the stretes, horns honking, flags waving, people singing and shouting, it was crazy. We got to walk through the plaza mayor and it was absolutely beautiful. It really did look like the buildings were made of gold.
Well, that's it for now. I'm here, unpacked, got power and drying off!
Delayed Flight
Well, I'm delayed right now in Charles de Guarde airport, so I thought I'd take the time to write about my trip so far.
The ride here did not go very smoothly. THANK GOD FOR DRAMAMINE cause I wouldn't have made it here without throwing up without it. The turbulance going up and especially landing was really bad, and even during the flight I kept getting woken up by our plane shaking and going up and down. There was also a couple with a small child that refused to stop crying almost the entire ride. As well, there was a large group of people who are mentally challenged, and although they did behave, they constantly were using my seat as an armrest, kept getting up during the first few hours to talk to each other and bumping into me (i'm seated now as well) and they could not stop talking and yelling over to each other from different aisles. OY VEY!
but despite all that I was able to get some sleep. The airline food was good, I had yellow curry with long grain rice, tofu and peas, with a fruit platter, a fruit cup, a salad with lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes, water crackers, and a roll with butter. For breakfast as well I got a vegetarian meal of mostly fruit, which is right up my alley since I'm trying to eat only fruit for breakfast.
However, i'm starving and eating sour cream and onion pringles that I bought for six dollars at JFK. The prices were so astronomically high. When I got to JFK and went through security, we got something to eat and my small salad and water bottle cost me $11.40. yeah, i know. ridiculous.
Thank goodness I brought my earplugs, blanket and neck pillow because if it wasn't for that I wouldn't've gotten any sleep. the seats were not very comfortable and there was very little leg room. I had an aisle seat that was in the middle of the plane, so I did have a little more room since I could put my legs out a bit into the aisle, but other than that it was very cramped.
Out flight was delayed out of the gate since the runway was so backed up; we had to let four planes go ahead of us and one plane land before we could take off. So it's a good thing our connecting flight was delayed because we definitely wouldn't've made it, we walked through the airport for at least a half an hour to get to the terminal and go through security again.
I guess that's it for now, I'll update again when I get to Spain.
The ride here did not go very smoothly. THANK GOD FOR DRAMAMINE cause I wouldn't have made it here without throwing up without it. The turbulance going up and especially landing was really bad, and even during the flight I kept getting woken up by our plane shaking and going up and down. There was also a couple with a small child that refused to stop crying almost the entire ride. As well, there was a large group of people who are mentally challenged, and although they did behave, they constantly were using my seat as an armrest, kept getting up during the first few hours to talk to each other and bumping into me (i'm seated now as well) and they could not stop talking and yelling over to each other from different aisles. OY VEY!
but despite all that I was able to get some sleep. The airline food was good, I had yellow curry with long grain rice, tofu and peas, with a fruit platter, a fruit cup, a salad with lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes, water crackers, and a roll with butter. For breakfast as well I got a vegetarian meal of mostly fruit, which is right up my alley since I'm trying to eat only fruit for breakfast.
However, i'm starving and eating sour cream and onion pringles that I bought for six dollars at JFK. The prices were so astronomically high. When I got to JFK and went through security, we got something to eat and my small salad and water bottle cost me $11.40. yeah, i know. ridiculous.
Thank goodness I brought my earplugs, blanket and neck pillow because if it wasn't for that I wouldn't've gotten any sleep. the seats were not very comfortable and there was very little leg room. I had an aisle seat that was in the middle of the plane, so I did have a little more room since I could put my legs out a bit into the aisle, but other than that it was very cramped.
Out flight was delayed out of the gate since the runway was so backed up; we had to let four planes go ahead of us and one plane land before we could take off. So it's a good thing our connecting flight was delayed because we definitely wouldn't've made it, we walked through the airport for at least a half an hour to get to the terminal and go through security again.
I guess that's it for now, I'll update again when I get to Spain.
7.01.2010
Leaving Tomorrow
So tomorrow I leave for Spain. My flight leaves at 7pm and I should be in Salamanca by 9am tomorrow morning US time, about 2pm Spain time. I'm incredibly excited and I hope that I remember everything, cause knowing my track record I'll forget something and I can't go back and get it this time around. Everyone wish me luck!!
6.11.2010
Vegetarianism
So I haven't updated in a really long time, and I apologize for that. I stopped having things to talk about and got incredibly busy with schoolwork for the past semester.
I could recap everything that happened in my life but I don't really feel like it.
Right now I recently finished reading a book entitled Eating Animals by my favorite author Jonathan Safran Foer. This book is his only non-fiction piece and it's about his discovery of what exactly we're eating when we eat animals, along with the way that these animals are treated when they live on factory farms. So, I decided to become a vegetarian. So far I'm doing well, it's been about two weeks and there has been no meat consumption. I did eat a piece of cake at a graduation party before I realized that cake has eggs in it and I can no longer eat non-vegan cake. I haven't cut out dairy from my diet yet, just because it's so prevalent in everything that I eat. I'm hoping that eventually I'll either be able to cut it out or only buy products from places that treat their cows humanely. 
I am also currently in a production of three one-act plays in New Haven. The plays go up this upcoming week, on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of June. I'm hoping that whomever would like to go will come. Tickets can be bought here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/114112
or at the door.
I have also started exercising at the gym. I got a gym membership for the summer at Southern's fitness center. I went Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of this week and it wasn't that bad. I'm hoping to get to about 135 pounds by the time the semester starts up again, and continuing to get back to my old weight of 120. I would be happy if I stayed at 125, however.
As well, in July I will be studying abroad for the entire month in Spain. I'm incredibly excited and I hope to use this blog to keep everyone back home updated on what I'm up to overseas.
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