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.
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| Mallorca |
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