La vida sigue...

bueno,
hace casi siete meses, volvi a los EEUU despues de cuatro meses que cambiaron mi vida para siempre. El 1 de sept 2010, fui a espana. Era la primera vez que viaje fuera de mi pais. A traves de estes cuatro meses, visite:
1. Espana: barcelona, madrid (4 veces, algunas sin querer), toledo, santander, gernika, mundaka, salamanca
2. Gran Britana: londres
3. Francia: Paris
4. Suiza: Zurich, Lucerne, Basel
5. Alemania: Friburgo

Y ahora estoy otra vez en casa, continuando mi vida como estudiante. Pero ahora tengo direccion! Tengo una via para seguir! Quiero ser ABOGADA jajajaj :) de inmigracion, creo. o de derecho humano. o simple algo internacional, para trabajar en espana o en una embajada...no se exactamente, pero esta bien :)
Y antes de ir a escuela de derecho, voy a ensenar ingles en espana con Selma. Para un ano, o mas posiblemente. Es que me encantaaa el pais. Es donde me siento la mas feliz y relajada. La cultura es bellisima. No importa si estoy tarde, o si algo no funciona, o si el metro llega tarde, o si algo rompe, o si perdio mis llaves jajajaja. NO PASA NADA. y eso, eso me encanta :)
tambien, me gusta la gente. y se echo un monton de menos. me gusta la gente en general, pero especialmente los hombre jejeje. de verdad son guapoooooos y amables y graciosos y....los hombres mas perfectos del mundo.
no quiero esperarrrr.
pues, ahora el horario para mi vida esta asi:
1. estudiar para el lsat
2. sacar una buenaa nota en el lsat
3. aplicar para espana :)
4. aplicar para escuela del derecho
5. ir a espana
6. volver a EEUU y ir a escuela
(7. posiblemente volver a espana para vivir y trabajar???)

vale....que posibilidadessss tengo :)))

a mi me encanta la vida!! y vamos a ver que yo hago, que pasa, que yo logro :)

Salamanca

Thursday
-left after class and drove 3 hours to a little pueblo outside of Salamanca
-amaaaazing Spanish country house
-went into Salamanca to party
-came home and made pork hahah

Friday
-went into city and toured
-Cathedral
-Museum
-University
-House of Conchas
-Monastery
-went home and made fajitas
-back to Salamanca to party
-house party

Saturday
-day drinking in underground cave

Sunday
-lunch
-drive home

Salamanca was so pretty! And the town we stayed in was gorgeous as well. It was exactly what I imagined Spain would look like before I came here. I loved it, although I've loved everywhere I've been in Spain so this is not a surprise hahaha.

So I really don't want to go into detail about London and Paris, we just did sooo much. So all I'm going to say is that it was soo much fun! They were two gorgeous cities and it was so nice to see los padres again!!

Well I have about a month left :( therefore, I've been trying my best to be doing things all the time, there's still so much I want to do! So this weekend was a busy one. On Friday, I went to San Sebastian, which was absolutely gorgeous! It's a small beach town, so there wasn't much to do, but we walked along the beach all day and it really was so pretty! Even though there wasn't anything to do, I would go back. Especially since I heard they had a killer aquarium that we didn't have time to visit. Then, on Saturday, I had another near death experience. Which really was more of a near death experience than the last one. Bilbao is surrounded by mountains. And these Basques are crazy. A bunch of my friends had climbed a small mountain a few weeks ago but when they told one of our professors, he said that that was nothing, and told us to go climb Pagasarri. So we did. We literally climbed it. Instead of taking the trail that winds around the mountain, eventually taking you to the top, we thought it'd be better to climb straight up the mountain and find a trail later. The first leg wasn't bad bc it didn't take us too far up. But it was definitely too steep to go back down the way we came, so we went on the hunt for a trail. And we didn't find one. The only thing we could do was keep going up, which felt wrong and I was completely against. But everyone else wanted to keep going and I wasn't going to stay alone. As we climbed, it got scarier and scarier. I literally almost cried. I would get to a point and sit down to rest and the hill would be so steep that I wasn't able to see where I had started climbing...that was not a good feeling. It was also not good when we climbed in a straight line and someone slipped ahead of you and everyone thought they were going to go tumbling down the side of a mountain to their death haha. Anyways, we eventually made it to the very top of this very large mountain, where my friend thought she saw a trail. It turned out to be a fenced off area saying "Danger, do not pass" and that wasn't very comforting haha. So we just sat on top of the hill for a while and tried to calm ourselves and enjoy the amazing view. Unfortunately, we didn't get to be very calm because a few minutes later, one of the guys found a tick on his leg. Then he found another. Then one of the other guys found some on him and so we all started to completely freak out and realized we needed to find a trail and get out of there. Luckily the other side of the mountain was less steep and we only had to go down a short ways before we hit the road. Honestly, when I saw the road, I have never been so relieved as I was in that moment. Then we all rolled up our pant legs and shirt sleeves and started checking each other for ticks. One of the girls found one on her stomach, but other than that we were all clear. So...we took some deep breaths, realized that now that we were safe we had an awesome story to tell and started to walk towards the bottom of the mountain. I still freak out a little when I think about how it was literally rock climbing at times without a harness, but I do feel pretty badass haha. And I'm still extremely sore, so at least it was an awesome workout. AND, to top it all off, when we told one of our friends that we climbed Pagasarri, he said that was a small mountain and we had to climb the Pyrenees. I swear, the basques are too strong for me. You can never make them happy....haha.
Alright, that's all I've got. This weekend off to Salamanca to stay in the vacation house of one of my Spanish friends! I'm verrrry excited!
Love you all!

Near-death experience

Ok, I guess it wasn't a legitimate near-death experience, but it sure felt like it at the time.

Last week Sunday, I was on the metro with three friends coming home from the Athletic Bilbao soccer game (we won!) when all of the sudden we started smelling what seemed like chemical gas. We commented on it, but didn't really think much of it until some Spaniards started freaking out. A few just got up and ran through the metro, others were coughing as smoke started coming from who knows where and some people were pressing emergency buttons. Ben just told us to keep walking to the front of the metro (we were originally in the very last car) and thank god that all of the cars are connected....if not, I don't know what would have happened. I was coughing from the smoke and honestly thought that I was either going to pass out or that a bomb was going to go off any second. Luckily, neither of those things happened. The front of the metro was smoke-free and we soon came to the next stop. We ran off, security ran on and the conductor walked back there as well. Eventually they must have fixed it because the metro took off again, but we figured we'd just wait for the next one. Now it feels like a dream or something that didn't really happen, but it was so scary at the time! 

Alright, I know I still have to blog about my trip to London and Paris, and I will soon!

Madrid, Toledo and Last Weekend...finally

So about two weeks ago I went on a weekend trip to Madrid and Toledo and just haven't gotten around to writing about it. Now that I'm sitting in my hotel in London, I suppose I'll catch up a little haha.

On Sept. 24th we left Bilbao by bus at 8 in the morning, suffered through a 5 hour bus ride, and finally arrived in Madrid. This was a trip through my program, so all the students went, chaperoned by two professors (one being Francisco, who's amazing). When we got to Madrid our first stop was Palacio Real. I was gorgeous and had way too many rooms. The royal family no longer lives there because the King said that when he ordered hot soup, it was never hot by the time it finally got to him. From the Palace we went to the Royal Armory. I can see how it would be cool for someone who's interested in that sort of thing, but I'm sorry, I don't care about guns, swords and armor. So we walked through, but didn't stay. And finally, we made our way to the Madrid Cathedral. It was pretty, but I honestly think Barcelona's Cathedral was much prettier.

From here we made our way to Plaza Mayor and on to Puerta del Sol. Both were very cool, but I don't really have much to say about them....After this, my friend Molly and I went off to do some shopping and we found some awesome deals! I bought a pair of shoes for 3 euros that turned out to be the most comfortable shoes ever.

That night, a big group of us went to Kapital, a seven story nightclub in downtown Madrid. We read in an old guidebook that it was free before a certain time so we rushed to get there before that time....but it was an OLD guidebook and we had to pay 18 euros to get in (which included one drink). It was so worth it. Each floor was different, decorated differently, played different music...it was awesome. We danced until 3:30 when we decided to go get McDonalds, but once we got there, it was closed. So depressing. So we just took a cab back to the hotel, where the cabdriver took off with my friends 50 euros. Also very depressing. But still a good night haha.

The next morning we woke up early and took the bus to Toledo. It was a gorgeous city! Definitely not someplace I would ever want to live, and maybe not even visit again, but I'm so glad I saw it at least once. It was absolutely beautiful. We had a guided tour throughout the city and throughout the Toledo Cathedral, but the tour guide was awful. She went 2 hours over our allotted time and we were all bored out of our minds. I would have enjoyed everything a lot more if I would have been able to go at my own pace. I really hate guided tours. Later we ate lunch and went back to Madrid, where we siesta-ed and got ready to go out again. Unfortunately, I got really sick after dinner and tried to go out, but had to turn around and go back to the hotel to try to sleep it off. Bad night.

Then, Sunday morning, I was feeling better so we went to Museo del Prado and took another guided tour. This one was much better, but I still dislike them. After a few hours at the museum, we ate a quick lunch and headed back to Bilbao. I started to feel sick again after lunch and suffered through the 5 hour bus ride, but I survived. Luckily we watched "El Bosque", which was really The Village and that took my mind off the fact that I wasn't feeling well.

It was a really fun weekend, but it wasn't nearly as busy as our weekend in Barcelona. And although Kapital definitely won over the clubs we visited in Barcelona, I think I prefer Barcelona.

Then, for another quick update, last weekend was quite eventful as well.

Thursday night we went to our first Erasmus party, which are parties in different clubs around Bilbao every Thursday for all the international students from all over the world. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, I wore a skirt so I gave my keys to my guy friend to put in his pockets. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I should've known this was a stupid idea. And of course, he decided to leave before I did and took my keys with him. Luckily I got a ride home from my friend and called my host mom to let me in. I was a littler nervous about how she'd react, but she couldn't have cared less hahaha. The next day I met up with my friend and got my keys back and everything was fine :)

Friday night we went out with Jon Franco to a bar in a bad part of town. So, we all took a taxi together, which Jon paid for. Awesome. Then, at the bar, Jon bought us drinks. Awesome. Then some friends and I moved on to a park to just chill and Jon Franco and company caught up to us later. It was so much fun. And because I made friends with some Bilbao natives, they were able to drive me home again that night so I didn't have to take a cab.

Saturday during the day, I went to the beach with Selma, Ben, Holly, Austin, Jake and Murphy. It was such a good time. On October 2nd I was laying out on the beach in the sun in Spain. I love my life :)

Saturday night we just went to Casco Viejo to celebrate two of my friends' birthdays. We hung out in the plaza until around 2 when they decided to go to a club and I decided to go home.

It was the most exhausting weekend so far in Spain. Thursday and Friday night combined I got a total of 8 hours of sleep and Saturday I got a good 10, but it still wasn't enough. On Sunday, I didn't leave my room except to eat. I just napped and did homework and facebooked all day. Although it was the most exhausting, it was also one of the best. I absolutely love Bilbao. And the more I get to know the people, get to know my way around, etc, the more I feel truly at home. I honestly never want to leave. And...maybe I won't ;)

Alright, off to do some homework so I can enjoy another day in London tomorrow. I'll update soon about this trip!

Love <3

I actually like dogs here. They are so well trained, it's ridiculous.

They don't even put their dogs on leashes. In America, we put our kids on leashes.

Moros y cristianos

I'm still not used to the lack of "politically correct" language here. Everyone, including my family and professors, has told me that certain gestures or words aren't considered racist here, just descriptive. For example, when talking about an asian person, it is common to pull on the corners of your eyes to get the point across. A common saying is "enganar como un chino" which means to trick someone like a chinese person. I don't think people even know the meaning of homosexual because they just say gays. Also, the n-word is acceptable and used often...not something I'm particularly comfortable with, but I guess it's just cultural differences.
So on Thursday, Carmen (my host mom) made this awesome lunch with black beans and white rice. As we were eating she told me that this dish was called "moros y cristianos" which, if its not already obvious, means moors and christians in english. Then she went on to say that the reason its called this is because the black beans refer to the moors and the white rice refers to the good christians. I laughed so hard I almost died.
The weird thing is that this isn't an issue here. There's little to no problem with discrimination and what I've described and we would consider racist language isn't considered racist at all. And i'm still not at all used to it hahaha.