Week of Ups and Downs

When I last wrote on Monday, I was tired after a frustrating day at work. Today I write to you tired after a good day at work with much to tell you about my roller coaster of a week. Tuesday I attended classes and went home. It was nice to have an afternoon off. I did my homework, took a short nap, and took care of some things for this summer. Maren, Maddie and I then got ready for a St. Patty's day celebration. It was fun to explain it to our host mom because they don't really celebrate it here. We headed to eat at a cafe. After we ate we went to Oxigeno. I hadn't been feeling good the whole evening and after about 20 minutes at the bar, I decided to go home. The next morning i didn't feel any better and missed my internship. I slept all day in an effort to be somewhat healthy for my trip to portugal. Thursday morning i still felt pretty crappy but I went to class with my packed bags because i had already spent money on the trip and wasn't going to miss it. Because i hadn't really eaten anything, I was very weak moving around, but by the time we got on the bus to Badajoz I was starting to feel better. I sipped on a 7up (which by the way is much better here cuz they use real sugar) on the bus to Badajoz. In badajoz, I ate part of my sandwich which gave me some energy. The bus to Lisbon was actually very roomy and comfortable. I slept a bit and watched the scenary.

We arrived in Lisboa at the Oriente station which apparently is famous for the architecture. It was pretty cool. We got in a half hour early which was a nice surprise. We made our way to our hostel in the cleanest metro I've ever seen. The hostel was a little hidden but we found it with little trouble. The receptionist spoke portugese, a little english, and a little spanish. Between the three languages we were able to communicate. It was a very clean hostel. After we got all settled in, we took a walk around the area of our hostel. We stopped at a bakery and got Pastel de Nata which is like a cream pastry that's very famous in Portugal. We were all pretty tired so we hit the hay pretty early.

In the morning, we hit the beach for some fun in the sun. It was fantastic weather, water, and sand. Lisa, Matt, and I were the only ones brave enough to get in the water. Again i was like a little kid on the beach jumping into the waves. The water was chilly but i got used to it. I then laid out for a little bit and took a walk out onto the dock. I climbed on the rocks to get hit by the waves which was fun. I now have a nice bruise on the top of my foot from misjudging the distance i needed to move it on the rocks. We then were starving and hit up a seafood restaurant on the beach. I had grilled cod which is the most famous dish here. It was a little salty but still very good. After our 2 hour lunch we took the train back to the hostel. After a little rest, we headed to do some sightseeing. We went to the oldest building in Lisboa, the cathedral first. It was build in the 12th century. It resembled a mini notre dame cathedral. Then we headed to the castle probably my favorite besides the beach. We could scale the ramparts and towers. It at the highest point in Lisboa so you can see the whole city. We also got to see the sunset which was incredible. I was surprised by the lack of safety features though. It would be very easy to fall off the walls. Not a good place for small children. I had a blast though. We got separated because matt, lisa, andrew and i had to climb every little wall and tower. On the way back we heard this obnoxious screeching coming from a tree. It turned out to be a peacock in a tree. There were some girls that i would guess were from canada that were just fascinated by this bird and couldn't figure out how it got up there. Andrew told them that they had opposable thumbs and climbed up. One of them actually believed him. Then they decided they wanted to see it fly. So they were looking for something to throw at it. All they had was one of the girls flip flops. She tried 4 times to throw it and couldn't get it high enough. Then I yelled "put your body into it!" and she did...but let go to late and it went behind her and landed on the umbrella of a cafe table. Almost unable to stand from laughing we left. I don't know if she ever got it back but she had a flight that night i believe so that would have not been fun if she couldn't get it back. But it wasn't the brightest idea in the first place. Then we were starving and craving pasta. We found this italian restaurant. It was very good considering everyone that worked there was indian. They were very nice and very interested in why we were in europe. Again we were very tired and went to bed pretty early.

Saturday we got up early and headed to the part called Belem. There we went to the top of the monument of two discoveries. There you get a nice few of the river tajo headed to the atlantic. We accidently got caught up into a tour group in one of the exhibitions and noticed that there we refreshments. The exhibition wasn't very interesting so we took some treats and went back up and it was chained off. Apparently we weren't supposed to go to that exhibition. Oh well. No one noticed. Then we went to the Tower of Belem which was built in the 1500s to guard the port of Lisboa. It was the last sight the conquestors would see before they sailed away. Again Lisa, Matt and I had to climb everything we could. The interesting thing was there was the skinniest spiral staircase ever to get up the tower. And with people going up and down it was a little scary. We managed to only get stuck a few times. There was the coolest little corridor on one of the levels that you could barely walk through that led to a little room. I want a house like that. I'd never get bored. So then we went to the Berardo museum of contemporary art. There were some...how should i put it...interesting paintings and videos. There were some that i liked, some that i didn't and some that looked like a 2 year old rubbed their fingers in paint and then on paper and others...i don't want to know what goes on in their mind. We then ate some foods. I had swordfish. It had just arrived that day. I loved it. It was much better than the cod i had had the day before. Then Matt, Lisa, and I headed to the Monastery. It was built to commemorate Vasco de Gama's journey around the African coast to India. It is on the sight that he and his crew prayed before sailing away. It was built right after he returned with great success. The cathedral inside had very detailed architecure and had the caskets of Vasco de Gama and famous poets. The actual monastery had a very nice garden and some magnificent art. After the monastery we went to the coach museum that had a collection of royal. In addition there was an exhibit about the king that was murdered with his first born son. It was very interesting. Then with some convencing from Matt we went back to the museum because he wanted to watch some of the videos again and see some of the other exhibits. Two of the other exhibits were just as wierd. The one about photography was interesting but there were so many pictures that it got old fast. And it was like a maze and i was very confused because all the rooms looked the same. With the help of Lisa I made it out alive. We then headed back to the hostel and met the others. We went to a traditional portuguese restaurant with Fado music. One of the singers was an 8 year old boy with an amazing voice. He was so adorable. We gave him 2 euros for a tip. I had a whole golden fish. It was also ridiculously good. After our meal and show we headed to check out the night life in Lisbon. We headed back not too late because we had to leave pretty early in the morning.

The next morning I got up and got ready. I headed to breakfast and had a conversation with an australian surfer. then a german man came in and was eating with us as well. Half way through eating he said "is that the washing machine?" and i realized he was talking about the table shaking. and i responded "no that's my leg". He laughed and said "your leg can shake the whole building? I thought there was an earthquake or something" Andrew got a big kick out of that one. I then got a cup of coffee that was luke warm so i put it in the microwave. When i opened the door after i had heated it i learned the glass tray was not on properly when the whole thing slid out. And as smart as i am i decided to try to catch a scalding cup of coffee. guess what? you can't catch a liquid. So then i burned my hand on the coffee and everything still fell on the floor. Good news is that nothing broke but i did embarass myself in front of everyone there. Andrew also enjoyed that one. We headed the the bus station and got on our bus to badajoz. We had a couple hours in badajoz to eat and we had a nice lunch at a restaurant. The rest of the trip was good. When i got home, i skyped my parents, ate, and went to bed.

Today 6 am came way to soon but i got to my internship and continued my translations. It sounds like they are trying to get the things i need to finish my titrator project. So hopefully all will turn out well if they get them. It was a pretty relaxing day but i'm still pretty tired because it was long. I think that so far lisbon is definitely my favorite place i've visited. I would love to go back some day. The ocean air is great, and it's a very relaxed atmosphere with amazing food. Below is a slide show of my weekend. Enjoy!

Lisbon!

Beach, Sun, and the Mediterranean

Hola! I'm not quite as tired as usual after my long Mondays. That might be because I did nothing but lay around on the beach all weekend. I'll give you a detailed account of my relaxing weekend so you can feel even more jealous.

Thursday I went to class with my luggage. I took my first exam here in Spain. It went very well. I found out my grade today, and I did great. Immediately after class, I headed to the train station. I ate some dried apricots from Sanchez Cortez (quite possibly the best store ever. the whole thing is just dried fruit and candy), and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. We got on the train and not long after we got going we were stopping. We started again and stopped again. The last time we stopped we were on the edge of a cliff. I thought it was cool but i was a tad concerned at the same time. It turned out the problem was the door wouldn't shut all the way and was beeping obnoxiously. They got it fixed, and we had an uneventful ride to Madrid. Once in Madrid, we made our way to a hostel near the train station. It was an old palace from the 18th century. The architecture and art was incredible. We then got a light dinner at a cafe. We returned to the hostel, and we were all very tired. We hung out in the courtyard for awhile, and went to bed. Maren and I entertained everyone by bickering like 10 year old sisters for a half hour before we went to sleep. We actually been asked by a group member if we even like each other cuz we make fun of each other all the time. We always respond that it's a sisterly kind of love. Apparently people who don't know us very well don't understand our relationship.

We woke up bright and early on Friday and had to leave before breakfast opened :( I had some cookies I had brought for a snack for breakfast along with the rest of my dried apricots. We made it to the airport and got on the plane. I was dozing off for the first part of the trip but one thing I have noticed about ryanair (the airline we took) is that though it is cheap, they talk on the intercom the whole time trying to get you to buy food, drinks, lottery tickets, perfumes, you name it. It made it quite difficult to sleep. Luckily it was only an hour flight. Since I was awake, I got some great pictures of us leaving the peninsula and entering the Mediterranean and then the coastline of the island of Mallorca. When we arrived in Mallorca, it took us awhile to figure out where the public bus was. We eventually found it and made it to the main bus station. We then had an hour bus ride to the other side of the island where we stayed. It was a beautiful ride through mountains and approaching the coast was an unforgettable view. My dad would have barely been able to contain himself with the sight of all the boats. We made it to our hostal and got checked in. The people that owned the hostal were british. So they were confused when Erica called them to tell them we would be late in Spanish. They don't know much spanish. They had the cutest british accents though.

As soon as we got into our rooms we through our stuff down and headed to the beach. We looked crazy in our bikinis laying out on the beach because there wasn't really anyone else there and it was a bit chilly. We took in a couple hours of sun and then headed back to the hostal to relax. We then took a walk. Monica, Ginny, Maren, Maddie and I walked the entire beach. We found 3 dead jellyfish and a mussel. We also found some seashells. The water was pretty chilly but considering it's March it wasn't bad. After our walk we headed back for some more relaxation. We then went to an italian restaurant where I had lasagna. It was very good. I was impressed. After dinner we headed back to the hostal. We went to the bar downstairs because there was a band playing. The guitar player has played for the rolling stones. He was very good. It was really funny because everyone there was either british or german. There were very few spanish people. After the band finished, we headed to bed so we could get up and catch all the sun we could. I really didn't sleep all night because it was so cold. I slept with my beach towel on top in my sweatshirt and I was still shivering. One time in the night i scooted my butt under Maddie's covers to warm it up cuz our beds were next to each other.

By 10AM Saturday we were on the beach laying on our towels. After an hour of laying out (i'm impressed I made it that long), i had to get up and do something. So i tested out the water which was pretty cold. I then crawled on my hands and knees looking for baby shells. I was like a five year old. I entertained everyone. Erica, Monica, and I then walked along the beach looking for the perfect place for our sand castle. On the way we looked for sea shells. In doing so, I ended up belly button deep in the water. It was chilly but after awhile you get used to it. We then were approached by a lady who had a bunch of shells in her arms. She gave them to us because they are unique to the island. As she handed us the shells, I noticed she was topless. She wasn't the only one. It was my first topless beach experience. I didn't enjoy it but it could have been worse. Monica, Erica, and I proceeded to build our sand castle. We were pretty impressed considering we did have any sand toys. We took a lunch break from the castle. I ate my ham sandwich i made and laid out for a bit. Erica and I then finished our sand castle with shell decorations. After we finished our castle, we took pictures of each other jumping in the sand. Then we climbed the sand mountain! (a mound of sand on the beach). We also spent some more time in the water.

By 4 it was getting a little windy so we decided to head back to the hostal. We went and bought some dinner foods at Eroski and brought them back to the hostal. As we began to eat we realized we didn't have any utensils or cups or plates. So we used the same spoon from earlier that morning for 4 people for corn, tuna, and ice cream. Don't worry we washed it in between each food. Then because we had no cups Maren and Erica washed out their corn cans and drank out of them. We felt like homeless people. I just used my hands except for the ice cream. I just had bread cheese and salami. It was quite a sight. Later everyone came up to our room and we had a little bash. I played music on my computer and we sat around talking. it was fun since it was a big group of girls. I slept much better that night because we all three (Maren, Maddie and I) slept together in the 2 beds next to each other and combined all of our blankets. We put Maren in the middle cuz we call her "the heat factory" cuz she's always warm.

Again, bright and early we got up and caught the bus back to palma. We cut it a little close getting on the plane but we made it with time to spare. Again I couldn't really sleep on the plane. The train was another story. I slept for the first 2 hours and then watched 3:10 to Yuma in Spanish. I actually understood most of it which was cool. We arrived back in Caceres around 8. I ate, took a shower, and went to bed since i had my internship this morning.

At my internship, I had quite the disappointment. I have been working on this titrator for weeks, and I was finally ready to start testing. I go to run a sample and it says the Method ID isn't valid. After some tinkering we discovered that the memory card is missing. They dont' know where it is. I couldn't find it. I dont' know if they ever had it. On top of this they dont have all the equipment or chemicals i need. It must have been an important project because the boss came down and talked to my mentor about how we have to work with what we have and there's no other option. So she's going to try to get ahold of the rest of the stuff but it's not looking good. They dont' have an excess of money to spend. It's not my fault but it's disappointing. Technologically, Spain is a lot farther behind the US and other parts of europe than you would think. It's a little frustrating but they always have work for me so I'm not concerned. I feel good that they had me working on such an important project.

Below is another slideshow. Click on it and then click the slide show button in the upper left hand corner to watch the slide show.

Mallorca

Same Routine with a New Friend Mixed in

It's wednesday evening, and once again, I can barely keep my eyes open. The rest of my weekend consisted of meeting the majority of the group at Manometro on Saturday night. Afterwards a smaller group of us went to another bar, and an even smaller group of us hit the disco Cameron. The music wasn't spectacular and the average age was a little higher than we like, so maren and I left at 4 leaving the last four girls at Cameron.

Sunday was a perfect day weather wise. After we finally got out of bed at 2 and ate lunch, we walked down to the bus station so Maren could purchase her bus ticket to Madrid to pick up her friend, and I bought my bus tickets to portugal a week from tomorrow. I also spent much of the day planning my parents' europe excursion.

Monday I was gone for 13 hours. I left as the sun came up for my internship and returned after the sun had set. At my internship, I tied things up the the titrator so that we can start doing trials and helped with some procedures in the lab. After I headed back from my internship, I met some girls to buy train/bus tickets to madrid tomorrow for our trip to the Spanish island of Mallorca. Dead tired I got home and met Maren's best friend, Maddie. She will be here for almost 2 weeks and is going to Mallorca with us this weekend. Maren is staying with her in her hostal to calm Maddie's parents a bit about their baby in Spain. So I've got the room to myself :D Regina had to play tennis so Maren and i cooked hamburgers for supper. Speaking of which, there is a hamburger sauce here that we always put on our sandwiches that supposedly is american style. It even says "made the american way" on the bottle. I'm going to be honest: i've never tasted anything like it in my life. Not that I'm complaining. It's very good but i wouldn't call it an american sauce.

Yesterday I went to class and my internship. At the internship, I continued a lab procedure, and began translating another magazine article. The funny thing about this arcticle is that i'm 90% sure that it was originally written in Spanish, translated to English and French, and then published in English and French. My reason for thinking this is the author is Spanish and there are sentences that don't make sense and words used in a different way than we use them in english. So basically I'm translating it back to it's original language. I would be very interested to compare the original work with my translation. It would be like the game phone. See how much it changes after it goes through so many people. I could really discover what gets "lost in translation" hehe. Maren wanted to take Maddie to Big House so she sent a message to the group saying we were going. Guess how many came? 14 in total! Good thing we didn't go to the massage place THIS time on accident. They pulled tables together so we all fit. I had Lomo de Pato con Verduras Salteados. Which basically means the back meat of duck with sauteed vegetables. It was amazing. It had a sweet sauce on top as well that was fantastic. I am now a fan of duck. I then went to Maren and Maddie's room and hung out for a while. I went to bed pretty late so I didn't get much sleep.

Today, my alarm went off way too early but I managed to roll out of bed and make it to class. I came home for lunch since I had a 3 hours break and had fried fish and soup. Both were delicious. I then packed for Mallorca because I plan on taking my things with me to class tomorrow and going straight to the train station. I then headed to my internship where I continued translating the article. I then met Maren and Maddie at the mall to go to Eroski (kind of like Hyvee) to by some snacks for the train tomorrow. Our mom is also making us all sandwiches as well for tomorrow. Tomorrow I also have my first exam here. I'm not too concerned after the review today. And in reality, i'm an engineering major; I'm not worried about a 10 question exam in spanish. The 3 classes here combined are easier than one engineering class. I will definitely do some reviewing just to be sure.

So when it gets to be friday around, oh, 9am in the US, just picture me laying on a beach towel in the sand soaking up the sun. And yes mom, I will wear sunscreen.

Weekend back in Caceres

Hola!

It's saturday afternoon and I cannot believe how fast this week flew by. My week was fairly uneventful. I went to class, and my internship. At my internship, I translated a couple magazine articles. I also finished programming and dinking around with the titrator. This week it sounds like I going to start doing trials to fix any problems still in existence.

This weekend it feels nice to be back in Caceres. All the travelling takes it out of you, so this has been a good time for recuperation. Thursday evening we went to Oxigeno, our favorite place if you couldn't tell. The bartender took pictures of the whole group of girls. We stayed there for a few hours, and then we headed to my friend Juanca's apartment to play some cards. Maren then went home because she had her internship the next morning. I went to the discos with Juanca and his friends. We stayed out very late even though I would have preferred to go home earlier.

Yesterday, I slept most of the day. Maren and I then met up with some of the group (most of the group took the night off) and headed to oxigeno again. After about 45 minutes we went to the apartment of one of Erica's friends she met here. We played cards and a spanish board game. At about 2:30, Maren and I were ready for bed so Anavel (Erica's friend) took us home. We feel much more rested today and will be ready for another night out.

Slide Show

I figured out how to embed a slide show of my pictures from Paris onto my blog. Hope they're fun to look at! If you click on it, it will take you to my Picasa Web Album. To view a large slide show, click the slide show button in the upper left hand corner.

Slide Show?

Train Trip to Madrid

Janelle, Me, and Alex

There is water in Spain!

Janelle and I

Mountains in the distance

Paris!!!

Hi all! I'm still recuperating from an exhausting but fun-filled trip to Paris this weekend. On thursday, Maren and I rushed home from class at 1 to make it to the train station by 2:15 (our train left at 2:30). We were running around packing last minute things, and our host grandma was home! she offered us a ride! It saved us because otherwise we would have practically been running to the station with all of our stuff. Our mom also made us fried chicken sandwiches for lunch. They were very good. She's so cute. She gave us chocolates too :D

The train trip was great. I definitely prefer the train to the bus. It doesn't even seem like a long trip. Alex, Lisa, Janelle, and I played cards pretty much the whole way. We played hearts, and then go fish. Which Alex some how missed out on in her childhood and we had to teach her to play it. She was pretty confused through the whole thing. I think it was too simple for her...if that makes any sense.

Once we got to Madrid we began our first adventure which basically consisted of running from metro to metro to get to the airport. We made it with time to spare and started to check in. We flew air france so we went to the air france desk and this guy with a heavy french accent asked if we were going to paris...or so we thought. We said yes and so he sent us to the aireuropa desk because that airfrance flight was being run by that airline. Well apparently he said Paris-Orly which is the other airport in Paris. We were going to Charles de Gaulle. So we had to be sent back to where we started. After all that confusion i managed to get checked in, and made it onto the plane without any hiccups.

During the flight we got a fantastic surprise. There was a meal!! I devoured it. Besides the two raisens i had picked out of the dessert, you would have thought that the platter had gone through a dish washer. We arrived in Paris just after 11pm. It was time for our first experience with the parisian public transportation system. We had to take an RER train to a metro station, and then had to take 3 metro lines to get close to our hostel. We were all exhausted and irritable by this point because many of us had been up since 7 that morning. We finally made it to our hostel around 1am. We weren't the only ones. We had to wait in line for quite a while, and then trying to get 12 people checked in is fun thing. We got to our rooms, and I changed and went to bed. I slept fantasticly. I was very impressed with the quality of the mattresses.

We woke up bright and early at 7:00. And guess what i had for breakfast? COCOA KRISPIES!!!! I have been craving them for forever. I took a baguette and stuck it in my purse for lunch. We were out the door around 8:30 and headed to our first site, Trocadero. It was a palace built in the 1800's to celebrate the conquering of the spanish fort Trocadero. It was destroyed in the 1930's and replaced with a new palace. It is across the Seine river from the Eiffel Tower so you can take sensational pictures from the stairs. You also are likely to be attacked by the many people selling souvenirs.

We then of course crossed the bridge to the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up it because we didn't feel like waiting in like and spending money. It was cloudy anyway and we wouldn't have been able to see anything. We continued towards the military school on the other side of the tower.

From there we headed to the Hotel of the Invalids. No offense mom but guess who i thought of when i heard the name...hehe love you! It was build by Louis XIV to honor and help the soldiers that had been injured in the French wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. We were able to go inside parts for free, and they were having some type of ceremony so we got to see some of the french army.

Next we went to the bridge dedicated to Alexander X. It had very ornate gold decoration. It was built in the 1800s. We then walked past the Gran Palace and Small Palace. They are across the street from each other. One was from the Byzantine Empire and the other was newer.

We then swung around to the Plaza de la Concordia. It was the plaza where during the french revolution Louis XVI killed thousands of people with the guillotine he had installed. Now there is a monument created in Egypt that stands there.

We were all starving by this point and found a nice little cafe. I had a panini with ham and cheese as well as a chocolate tart. It was also the first time we had sat down since we left so it felt good to rest a bit.

After lunch we trekked down to the Arc d' Triomphe. Again we didn't go up it to save money but I took plenty of pictures, and got to go under the streets that go out from the Arc. They had a fire burning commemorating the soldiers lost in the WWI.

Next we headed to the Magadelene. It was a cathedral build by Napolean. It looks like a greek temple and has i believe 50 some pillars around the outside. Nearby was the Opera House. The art inside the opera house was incredible. My favorite part of buildings to look at here in Europe are the ceilings. They always have the most fabulous art and it's even more impressive because its on the ceiling.

We had a little time to kill before we were going to the Louvre so we headed to a cafe for a little pick-me-up. I had a Cafe Latte and the most massive chocolate croissant. It filled me up. We mosied over to the Louvre. It's free for people under the age of 26 on Friday nights so we took advantage of that and some of us spend the full 4 hours there. The Mona Lisa was everything I had hoped it would be, and i took a picture with a 4000 year old pharoah. Some of the art we saw was 8,000 years old. I definitely now have a totally different perspective on time.

By the time we left at 9:45 I could barely walk after being on my feet since 8:30. We stopped at a cafe for some crepes to allow us to rest a bit before the trek back to the hostel. I got laughed at when I walked into our room because I apparently looked on the brink of death. Again, I slept like a baby.

I got up at 7 again but we didn't quite get the early start we wanted. We started out with Notre Dame cathedral. It was here that it finally hit me that I was in Paris. As I walked through the church I was just in awe with the simplicity of the art and yet how powerful it really was. I sat in the pews for a while just taking it all in. It was so peaceful. I think I could have easily sat there for hours.

Alex, Erin, and I crossed town to the highest point in Paris, Sacre Coeur. We could see the entire city from there. We also went inside the basilica where we were not allowed to take pictures but i couldn't have captured the feeling in a picture anyway.

Erin and I then crossed town again to the highlight of the weekend. The paleontology museum!!!! I saw dinosaur skeletons. I can now die a happy woman. I look like a little kid on christmas morning. They also had skeletons of mammals and birds and humans as well as all their ancestors. The even had real brains of animals in jars. It was so sweet!

Erin and I then had some time to kill so we wandered around. And when i say wander that's exactly what i mean. We found a couple dead ends, one of which was the police station. We got out of there quickly. We eventually found what we were looking for: a cafe with affordable crepes and wine.

So we had some crepes and wine and chit-chatted until we met the group by the river for our cruise. We took a night cruise down the Seine river. It was the most unrealy experience. We basically got to see all the sights again except at night when the lights are on. And in case you didn't know, not only does the tower light up at night, but it also sparkles every hour. I took a couple videos. You know how I love shiny things.

After the cruise, we stopped a store for snacks and drinks and headed back to our hostel. We chilled in our room til about 12:30 then headed down to the bar in the hostel. We stayed there til it closed and then went to the lounge room where we met people from New Jersey studying in Barcelona. Only one of them kind of knew spanish. No wonder they looked so confused when I started talking away to them in spanish.

I don't know when this occured but it needs to be shared. We were making on of our several metro trips this weekend, and I got through no problem and I'm standing waiting for everyone else. All of a sudden I notice that maren somehow got her self stuck between the little turnstile and the gate. So another girl in the metro tried to put her ticket in to get her out but then they both got stuck. It was hilarious.

I planned on getting up early and taking one more walk but i couldn't find my phone to set an alarm. So i got up around 9, and yes, had more cocoa krispies. And don't worry mom i found my phone in the morning.

Around 11 we started our trek home. We got to the airport with much more time this time and didn't have any confusion about the desk. I however kept pressing the button that i was carrying weapons, fireworks, knives etc. I kept pressing no because to me it made sense "no i don't" but i guess your supposed to answer "yes i don't". I eventually got my tickets after Lisa practically did it for me.

We didn't get a meal on this flight but I did sit next to a girl from Minnesota. She is studying at a study abroad university in Toledo where all the students are foreign. We got to Madrid and made our way to the train station. I was about to drop from exhaustion and lack of food but I made it. When I got there, I got a hot bocadillo with bacon and cheese. I also bought some yummy cookies.

The train ride home was interesting. At first I sat by a guy with dreadlocks and he always had his sunglasses on even though it was night outside. Then he got off and this kid gets on. I doze off right after he sits down. He must of had to go to the bathroom or somethingin because he stood up and hit his knee on the table. It startled me and I jumped a foot. Of course Janelle and Alex just cracked up for the next 5 minutes. The kid felt so bad. After that none of us slept and we were so tired that everything was funny. We laughed so much. We played cards with the spanish boy. He was 16 and had been visiting his girlfriend. He was very intrigued by the american coins so when he left we gave him a quarter, dime, nickel, and penny. One of the things that cracked people up was i had just woken up from my nap and i turned my head and looked in the window. I turned back to Alex and said "I look so attractive right now" Now if you could see me you would be laughing too. i had on no makeup, my hair was everywhere, i my eyes were have open. Alex almsot fell out of her seat. We played hearts and I finally won!! We arrived back in Caceres around 11:10. Then maren and I had to walk home. We got home around 11:35. Our mom made us pizza and then I had to do homework :(

I got only 3 hours of sleep last night due to my internship at 8:00 this morning. So tonight I will be going to bed very early and I don't have class til 11 tomorrow. Tomorrow I will add photos!