Goodbye February!

Today I was in a good mood going to class. The sun was out and my walk was nice, and I only have 3 classes on Thursdays. After Literature, I had my first day in the elementary school. I signed up to volunteer in the elementary school across the street from the university, and my job is to help teach the little kiddos English. I am in a second grade classroom, which is perfect because that is the age I want to teach! I got there before the class got back from lunch and I was nervous because I didn't really know what I was doing. I stood around in the classroom for about 10 minutes feeling like a creep, until finally the class showed up. The kids ran in and looked up to see me, and without hesitating they all started smiling and crowding around me. They asked my name and introduced themselves. They all wanted to be the one to get to talk to me, which was so adorable. A few of the kids even gave me hugs right away! Some of them read my name tag, so I guess I will be called Samanta Yansen from now on, since that is how they pronounce my name. I'm totally okay with that haha. The teacher, Lourdes, introduced me and had each of the kids say their name and one of their favorites in English. Some are pretty good at English, and some need a bit more help, but they are all adorable. Whenever one of the kids with a name that translates in English (Eduardo=Edward, Maria=Mary, Carlos=Carl (or Chaz, which is how he introduced himself haha)) introduced themselves, the other kids all thought it was hilarious that they had a different name. After this, Lourdes had me take 5 of the kids upstairs to work on English clothing vocabulary. Before I left, one little girl gave me her bracelet to wear :) We went upstairs and I told them a clothing item and had them draw it. Some of the girls weren't as good as Eduardo, so he helped them out. I tried to discourage the Spanish but these kids are very rambunctious and are hard to control! The teachers know this and thankfully don't blame me haha. Also, David's son is in this class and was overjoyed to see me since I am a familiar face. Him and his brother are attending this Spanish school, and they are very young-I can't imagine trying to make friends, adjust to a new country, and not know how to speak to anyone at that age. It's hard enough for me now! haha. Overall, the first day was wonderful and I cannot wait to be back in the classroom. Every time I get an opportunity like this, even in The States, it reminds me how much I want to teach and how much fun I have working with the kids!

Classroom rules (sorry for the glare!)

And as a bonus: pictures of my favorite feral cat outside of the AHA office! 

I asked Silvia if we could have him as a pet, and she said I'm welcome to take him in May when I leave haha.  Dang it!

After the school, I hurried back to the university to go to Silvia's class. Now, there is a Silvia who works for AHA and I love very dearly. And then there is my teacher Silvia. Silvia the teacher, Silv, is awful. I'm sure she's a very nice person, but she absolutely drives me nuts. I can't tell you why cause I'm not sure myself. But she talks in a very low, slow voice and it's draining trying to pay attention to her. Usually I don't and just go on Facebook (only classroom that I get wifi in!), but I've been trying harder lately because I don't want a terrible grade and Emily sits next to me and is a very good student, so I feel like I should maybe get on her level haha. Anyways, I made it through that class, went to AHA to have my class with David, and then went home. I stopped at the Chino to look around, and found some stuff I plan on buying before I leave. I like looking in the Chinos cause they're super cheap and always have random stuff. I got home after a nice sunny walk, and then Chloe messaged me saying the ticket for the train for Spring Break that I have is for February 27th instead of March 27th. This made me really not happy. I checked and she was definitely right, and since it's past Feb 27th I was sure I was going to have to pay for another ticket. I emailed Reme and asked her to come with us to talk to the Train lady, and she said she would. Reme also works for AHA and only speaks Spanish, but is a great lady. She is always making jokes and giving us a hard time, but is totally a sweetheart. Chloe and I met her at the train station and she talked the lady into giving us new tickets without paying a dime! I owe her big time and I think I'm going to pick up a pastry or something for her on Monday to tell her thank you! It was 9:00 and she didn't have to give up her night to do that for us!

Also at the train station, I was outside looking for Laura when Chloe told me to come back in cause they needed me. I went back and Reme asked me to translate for another customer who was obviously frustrated because he didn't speak Spanish. I asked if he spoke English and he said a bit, and then said he just needed to go to the bus station. I told him to walk down the street and he'd run into it, and he was so thankful! I know I didn't really have to translate anything, so I shouldn't be so excited about this, but it made me so excited that Reme thought I was good enough at Spanish to be able to translate. My biggest problem is not being able to speak well, but to get the confidence to speak fluently. When I'm around people I know I am much more confident and therefore better, but I know I could be a lot better around strangers if I could just let down my guard and my need to be perfect. This is really frustrating for me, cause I know I am capable but I can't get myself to just dive in. Granted, I have made significant progress since being here and can speak way better than before I left. It's just a work in progress!

When I got home from the train station, Marisa had dinner waiting for me and there was a message from Kay. Kay is one of my good friends from Corvallis and I love her dearly. I was telling her about a recent problem I had with a friend from home, and she sent me the nicest message about how great I was. She always knows how to make someone feel better and I absolutely adore her! I also got some messages from some other friends letting me know that they miss me, and I cannot tell you guys how much this means to me! I have been having a very hard time with friends from home because I feel like I miss everything. I love Spain, but it is easy to feel like you have been forgotten, especially when some of your best friends aren't being the best of friends. Recently, one of my best friends really let me down and I've been struggling with that, as well as just having some friends that haven't been there for me as much as I would have liked them to. However, I have had some friends be absolutely amazing and I thank you guys so much! And after getting multiple messages tonight I feel much better about coming back to The States. Friendships from home are probably the hardest part of studying abroad for me, cause things and people change and there is nothing you can do about it from half a world away. I haven't really been homesick yet, but I do miss American things and my family and friends. So when my friends show me that they miss me too it really means the world to me and makes my life here a lot easier. Thank you friends, you know who you are :)

Madrid vs. Barcelona

As everyone knows, Spaniards like their soccer. However, I don't think anyone really understands how much of an obsession futbol is here, especially when Madrid and Barcelona are playing. It's like American Football, but bigger. It's almost like the superbowl, where everyone knows when it is and who is playing, even if they don't follow the NFL. People go crazy, and if you don't know who won by the next day then you might as well go dig yourself a grave. I love it!

Laura and Roberto were going to a bar to watch the game, so Chloe and I joined them a bit after the game started. We got there and there was literally no room to stand or sit, so we kind of just stood in the aisle and got pushed. Oh well. Megan, Goksu (Turkish friend) and Helen (British friend) joined shortly after, and we all had a great time hanging out and watching the game. We ordered beers and just observed everyone as they went nuts anytime the ball was near the goal. And God forbid there is a goal scored, then all hell breaks loose. There are people yelling and cheering and lifting each other up, and they're happiness is contagious. I'm not generally a huge soccer fan, but after watching the game in this atmosphere I don't know how anyone could NOT like it. There was a mixture of fans in the bar, but most of them seemed to be rooting for Madrid. When Madrid ended up winning 3-1, the room cleared out quickly and so we paid for our drinks and left. I plan on going to a local game soon, and even though Real Oviedo is not nearly as big as Real Madrid vs. Barça, I'm sure it'll be a ton of fun!

Also, Spanish soccer players are not so bad to look at. Let me just give you a few examples:

Real Madrid

Barcelona

On the field

And of course, the ever popular Cristiano Ronaldo. What a babe.

Lucia.

I love her. I wish I had more opportunities to hang out with her, but she is rarely home and has passed the age of going out with the exchange students. However, every time I actually get the chance to talk to her I like her even more. She speaks English nearly fluently and studied in London, but never speaks to me in English and always makes me work for it if I don't know how to say something. She also corrects me when I say something wrong, which I really appreciate! She is 31 and absolutely gorgeous. Sometime I'll make her take a picture, but believe me, she is adorable. And super stylish! I'm not really sure what she does (I think she goes to school), but she is always running in and out of the house, and is old enough that she takes on some of the cooking and "mother responsibilities". She is always picking fights with Marisa and telling her she is ridiculous, and then they both turn to me and shake their heads in fake frustration. She also calls Marisa by her first name, which Marisa thinks is crazy. One time she yelled at her, saying something along the lines of "Normal kids don't call their mothers Marisa. You are so strange!".

Tonight Lucia made me a delicious pizza. I was in my room checking my email and she kept coming to my door to make sure I liked certain things. They think I'm a picky eater. Maybe I am, I never thought I was but it seems like I don't like a lot of things when it comes down to it haha.  When I walked into the kitchen I saw this beautiful pizza, and she asked if I like it. I said yes, I love pizza (who doesn't?!). As I ate, she sat and talked to me. She asked how much weight I had lost and we talked about the differences in food, culture of food, and how the United States is so focused on time and productivity that we often take the easy way out with unhealthy foods and driving instead of walking. I completely support this. Especially after being here where everything is home cooked and fresh (at least in my casa), and we walk so much more. When I told her how much weight I had actually lost, she started to look concerned, and since they already think I've gone anorexic I had to explain quickly! I told her that it's simply different here and that is how we got on the topic of food differences. I also said that my pants were too big, not only cause I lost weight, but also because of the lack of dryers. She told me a story about how when she was in London they used dryers on her clothes and she couldn't even get them on at first, and had no idea why. She thought she had gained a ton of weight until she realized they use dryers rather than hang dry their clothes!

Lucia is lactose intolerant and gluten free. I have learned to like soy products since I moved here, cause that's most of what we have in the fridge haha. However, tonight after I finished she told me she wanted McDonald's, because apparently they have gluten free buns. She asked if I like McDonald's, and I said more or less, but I told her that when my friends and I go out in Oviedo, we meet at McDonald's and buy coke, then mix rum or vodka into it and drink in the middle of the restaurant. It's our pregaming spot since we aren't allowed to have friends over to our houses. In my defense, I've seen Spanish kids do this too! Lucia just laughed and thought it was hilarious haha. When I finished putting my plate in the dishwasher, she had her coat on and said she gave in and was going to Micky Ds. She asked if I wanted any ice cream and I said no. After asking another 20 times, she had made up her mind that I was going to get some no matter what, so she just started asking what flavor I wanted. I guess I'll be eating a chocolate sundae in just a minute. Dear God haha.

"Hello. I am an idiot. Please help me"

So David, our literature teacher from University of Oregon, gave us some good advice a while ago, and today I decided to actually listen to it. David told us that he studied abroad in Madrid when he was our age, and the best thing he learned to do when trying to get someone to help you (regardless of where you go) is to start off by saying "I'm sorry, my Spanish is kind of poor". Usually I have to much pride to follow this advice, as I like to be right as often as possible and I hate admitting I don't actually know what I'm doing (personal weaknesses, working on fixing those traits... haha). However, when you're in a foreign country and don't entirely understand what someone is saying to you, there isn't a lot of BSing you can do to act like you know what is going on. Therefore, today I used David's advice.

Last night we got an email from RyanAir that all flights for Spring Break have been canceled. The airports here have been having problems recently, and I believe some part of RyanAir is on strike about something. So anyways, we had to find a new way to get to Barcelona and back for Spring Break. This sucked, cause we already had all our plans made. But Laura and I spent 3 hours looking at all the other options and bugging Silvia (AHA, she speaks both English and Spanish and is one of the most adorable people ever!) to help us with some complicated things we didn't understand. Then when we finally decided on taking the train, our credit cards wouldn't work online. Silvia suggested going to the train station and doing it in person. She said my Spanish was good enough to not have any issues, but the whole thing sounded way more complicated to me than to just buy them online. However, we weren't left with a whole lot of options and Laura and I both live right by the train station anyways.

After searching the entire station for a good 10-15 minutes and completely missing the info desk right by the entrance, we made our way up to the counter. I started off by saying "I'm sorry, my Spanish isn't great, but we need tickets...". Just like David told me. Turns out he was right. The man was really nice and spoke really slow, so he was super easy to understand. We got the tickets no problem and finally went home.

Like I've said before, in Oviedo people rarely speak English. Many of the younger people are trying to learn, but most adults or people in stores will just look at you like you are an idiot if you don't speak in Spanish. And in their defense, that's fair-in the United States we do the same thing if someone doesn't speak English well. However, it makes life hard when you don't always know the vocab you need. After today, anytime I am dealing with a similar situation I will for sure claim my incompetence before trying to just act like a Spaniard (damn it) because clearly the results are better and way less frustrating.

Becoming a Spaniard?

The women on the street have stopped staring at me. At least 90 percent of them. I like to think this is because I look like I'm Spanish now. Probably not, but let's not ruin my dreams.

Update on Daily Life.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days-now I'm going to post 3 times in one day to make up for it. Makes sense, right? haha.

So after Carnaval, I had nothing to do on Sunday. The weekends that I am here in Oviedo are fun, but mostly at night. During the day everyone just stays home and watches TV, and the stores are all closed Sunday. Being a crazy American, this drives me nuts and I get so incredibly bored until it's time to go out. I mean I appreciate the emphasis on family, but I can only watch so much TV... So, Sunday a few of us decided to go to Gijon, the nearby beach city. We hoped on a bus for a mere 2.35 euros and half an hour later we were in the heart of the city. I didn't realize how big Gijon is until I got there, in my head it was a smaller town. We asked which direction the beach was and started walking. Once we were almost to the harbor, we saw a very American diner and had to stop to gawk. Every time we see anything American I feel like everyone just immediately gets attached. This one is called Tommy Mel's and is decorated as a 50s diner with aqua trim and pink decorations. And the waitresses wore little pink dresses and pink converse. So cute! We decided we had to stop for shakes on the way back, then we kept on walking. We had fun taking pictures and talking and enjoying the beach air (something I could smell everyday and never get sick of), then we came back as it started raining and enjoyed a delicious shake. Laura and I split fries cause I'm trying to be good about spending money, and it was definitely more than enough food haha. I came home and didn't eat dinner cause I was stuffed, but after skyping my lovely Little, Clare, for a couple hours Marisa made me eat a little bit (she still thinks I'm anorexic, although it is getting better).

Laura and I! (Taken by Jessica :))

Random stairway we passed with band names/songs. This "stairway to heaven" doesn't look so heavenly at the top, just saying...

The restaurant got super busy and it was really good! Definitely going back!

On the way back from Gijon there were some kids we go to school with, and one of them is named Luis. Luis is Chinese and probably the most adorable guy I have ever met. He joined our class about a week late, and the first day he was there we went up to every single student before class and said "Hola, Soy Luis. ¿Como te llamas? ¿Puedo añadirte en Facebook?" (Hi, I'm Luis, what's you're name? Can I add you on Facebook). He then proceeded to write down all of our names and that night I got a friend request from him. On the bus, I talked to him in length for the first time. He remembered my name without me reminding him, and he started asking me questions. I was sitting next to Laura and she joined the conversation. Luis speaks a little English and was telling us about China in Spanglish. I now want to be best friends with this kid, I just think he is the cutest thing ever!

On a different note, School is going fine. Boring, but fine. The classes go so slow that it is excruciating, but I also understand that they have to go slow since they are taught in Spanish and we are not native speakers. The language aspect is fine, but it is so hard for me to pay attention when we read one paragraph of a book each day for a month. I just get bored. Even in English I can't pay attention to this style of teaching-I would much rather just google it or read it on my own and be done with it. Emily and Victoria make fun of me cause I'm always playing Flow on my phone (level 145 babyyy), but I have been trying to pay attention a bit more recently. I got an A on my first test though, so no worries Mom and Dad!

Finally, I have been trying to talk to Marisa and Lucia more since I feel like I am constantly in my room by myself. I've started comparing it to a prison cell, so I'm trying to come out to the TV room more. It is always awkward in the main room with them, cause I feel like I'm imposing and I don't always know if they're talking to each other or to me, since many times they don't look at me when they talk. However, since I have made more of an attempt things have been better (crazy how logical that is, huh..). I told Marisa at the beginning of lent that I was going to work on my Spanish more, and we've been talking much more at each meal. I am trying harder to think of conversation and to volunteer information/bring up a subject. It's gotten better and I am feeling like I am improving much faster as well.

Last night, I came out and watched the Spanish version of Big Brother with Lucia and Marisa. Most TV shows I see them watching look really old school and stupid, and there are many game shows or Judge Judy type shows. I don't watch TV much at home so I'm not very up-to-date on the current US shows (although I have become obsessed with PLL and GG since coming here, guilty pleasures...), but I watched the Spanish version of Big Brother last night. Lucia and Marisa love it, and it is on every Monday. In fact, this is season 14! Last night was the 2nd episode of this season, and it lasted like 3 hours. I watched it with them and actually became kinda interested, as Lucia explained to me who was who and Marisa commented on what she thought about each thing. It was the best bonding we have had so far, and I am excited for next Monday night!

Also, I found out that Lucia had an interview this morning, and their friend Carmen came over to help her get ready. Carmen is the host mom of another student in my class, and she immediately told me I was pretty like 10 times, then whispered it again to Marisa when they left my room. So of course I immediately liked her! haha. Lucia was really nervous about the interview, and interviews are a big deal here since unemployment is really high and she is young. She didn't get the job, but I was really hoping she would cause I really like her! It was for a flight attendant position and I feel like she would have been really good at it. However, her major was economics and now she is taking health classes, and I know that ultimately she wants to go into business. Also, Lucia is absolutely gorgeous and she tells Marisa that she is ridiculous all the time, and I can't stop laughing when she makes jokes!

I am currently sitting in the main room with the 2 of them, and Marisa and I just had a long conversation over dinner about family, weekends, and what not. But enough for now, this post is long enough already!

Dramaaa

Today I was annoyed for a short period of time. I took a nap and I'm feeling better, but I'm about to vent, so if you don't want to read it you can skip this one. But it's my blog, so I feel like I have a right to complain on it every once in a while.

1. Friends from home

Studying abroad is awesome, but it is hard to be away from home and have all of your friends live life without you. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't coming back in a few months and could just start a new life here, but I am and my biggest fear is that when I get back everything will be different and people will have forgotten me. I know this seems crazy, but I also have friends who have studied abroad and felt like this when they came back. Some of my best friends have lives that are changing so drastically it is hard to keep up, and it sucks not knowing what is going on. It also drives me nuts when people don't reply to my messages or emails. These are my only modes of communication, and it sucks when I can't get ahold of someone important to me because then I feel like they don't miss me and I'm not important. I know this is self centered because people have their own busy lives, and I know I don't always respond either and I am being a hypocrite. However, it's my blog so I'm going to complain, sorry. It's hard to know that some of my best friends don't read my blog or respond to my messages or seem to show any interest in my life here, cause obviously I consider them some of my best friends. However, I do have some friends that have been exceptional friends while I've been gone, and have gone as far as harassing me until I respond-which I really appreciate because obviously you care! Shout out to Clare and Devin and a few others, without you guys I would probably be depressed and never want to come back haha. I love you guys so much and you have been such good friends, thank you :)

I know I'm a hypocrite to an extent, so sorry.


2. Friends from here

I have made some pretty great friends here. There are great people to go out with, to just talk to, and to go on adventures with. I have grown to absolutely love and appreciate the AHA girls, as you guys are always down to do something, regardless of what it is, and I can 100% be myself around you guys. No one is judgmental, and although we are very different, we are also very much the same. I also have friends outside of AHA that have been great to me, and I don't know what I would have done without them for the last month and a half. Emily and Victoria have listened to me complain and struggle with things, and they are great people to talk to! One thing that made me really appreciate Victoria was when she saw me and Laura and Chloe out one night and talking to some Spanish guys, then later called and went back to that bar to look for me cause I was really drunk and she didn't want me doing anything stupid with them. It meant a lot to me that she went out of her way to look out for me, so thank you Victoria :)

While I love all my friends here, I have become a very low key person in the last few years and I cannot handle any drama. I know, what a change from high school! haha. Even the simplest things, such as a change in someone's attitude, stress me out. I can't handle having to guess whether someone likes me or not, and if I miss one event or one night out and then it feels like I'm "out of the group" then maybe that group isn't for me. I have a busy life, and school and good morals will always be my first priorities. So if some party collides with being a good friend or the important things on my schedule, I won't go. And if exclusion is the consequence of this then so be it. I'm not going to change because I like the person I am, and honestly I don't need to party to have fun anymore. Boys are not important enough to me to fight with a friend over, and I do not need the spotlight. Granted, I love going out and having fun with friends, and I plan on continuing to do this. I just don't like being told I have to, or that if I don't I'm lame and am not a part of the group anymore. I am perfectly content with who I am and what I want out of life, and I am here to better myself and learn Spanish. So drama and friends and boys and parties are all just going to have to come second to that. If that isn't okay with someone then maybe we aren't meant to be close friends.


3. David's class

Today in David's class we walked in and he immediately gave our papers back and told us to redo them. They don't follow his exact format and therefore he won't accept them. Now, I know this makes sense and I should have followed his format exactly. He's right, I'm not arguing that he isn't. I was just extremely annoyed. And I think his format is stupid. Every higher level literature class I've been in has asked us to analyze papers concisely. You are supposed to take out all of the fluff and make your point as insightful as possible without wasting space. Since I got my IB diploma in high school, I have taken many of these classes and consider myself to be a relatively good writer of analytical papers (when I try). David has a structure that includes 1 paragraph of summary, 1 paragraph of analyzing the importance of a key passage without supporting details, and 1 paragraph of just the supporting details of the key passage. I tried to combine the last 2, cause what's the point of a paragraph without supporting details? Needless to say, he didn't like this... He told me my paper was good as far as context, but it wasn't acceptable because it didn't follow the format. I asked him what to write for the second paragraph since we can't use any details, and he told me to add more fluff. This is what I think is stupid. I can do it, but I don't think it makes the paper any better, I've always been taught it makes it worse. So next paper I will grudgingly write in his exact format, and I will show him I can write well. I just wanted to complain because I think it's stupid. Sorry you had to read this (if you got this far) haha.


Okay I'm done complaining. I still love life here. And the next post will be more positive! Hasta luego!

Carnaval en Oviedo.

Carnaval in Spain is similar to Halloween in the United States, with a little bit of County Fair mixed in as well.  Carnaval doesn't really have any religious or racial practices, but I googled it to make sure (of course). According to good old Wikipedia, it used to be the time that villages got rid of all their rich foods and party attitudes before lent started. Makes sense.

Each city has its own Carnaval, and they are not all at the same time. This works out really well cause then you can go to multiple Carnavales and party for a good week or two! For example, we went out for Carnaval twice in Portugal, and then came back and celebrated it in Oviedo the next weekend. In this sense it is kind of like a fair. There are also people in the streets with handmade "booths" set up selling toys, stuffed animals, balloons, confetti, etc. However, unlike the fair, everyone dresses up. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone-this event is not limited to children. In this way it's better than Halloween, believe it or not. There is no judgement if you have on a full, ridiculous costume and you are in your 60s. In fact, it's almost expected. For caring so much about appearance, it amazed me that these people got so into it! They all looked ridiculous, and the more ridiculous the better! I loved it! It also wasn't all about being slutty for the girls-I'm talking LEGIT costumes. Also, everyone is in a great mood and you can't help but laugh along with them since it's so contagious.

The parade for Carnaval in Oviedo started right up the street from my house, which was amazingly awesome since nothing ever happens close to my house haha. I walked up to the top and met Laura, Chloe, Megan, and Laura's new Spanish friend, Nacho. We watched the parade and took pictures, and it was SUCH a beautiful day :) We then followed the parade to the cathedral plaza, where there was a stage and fireworks set up. By this time we were getting tired of standing around, so we went to a nearby cafe and learned some slang and cuss words from Nacho, then taught him some of only the most useful phrases in English (hehe). Nacho went home cause he's from a neighboring city, and then Megan, Laura, and I went out for a bit.

Pairs of animals following Noah's Ark

Pairs of animals following Noah's Ark

More animals following Noah's Ark. These ones are full on adults haha.

Noah's Ark! This with all its animals was my favorite-so cute :)

Smurfs (my apartment building is the tan one on the left)

Turtles. On skateboards.

:)

Dia de San Valentin

So yesterday was Valentine's Day, I hope everyone had a great day! The holiday is celebrated in Spain also, but it is very different here. In general, Spainiards value family very much. I wouldn't say more than in the US cause I know plently of Americans who love their family more than anything, but definitely in a different way. Americans in general are very busy people and we are always running around, rarely leaving time for ourselves or family since not being busy is often considered being lazy. I didn't realize how true this is until I came here. In Spain, its totally acceptable to not do anything all day on Sundays, and to watch TV or talk to friends and family for hours each day. Its hard for me to get used to this cause I feel like I'm just wasting time and not being productive. The fact that Marisa and Lucia sleep til 11 and watch TV together all night, every night just amazes me. However, family time comes before all else.

So on that note, back to Valentines day... here, Valentine's day is truly  a day of appreciation for loved ones. Not just lovers, but friends and family as well. You do not have to get extravagent gifts and top all your friends in being the most romantic. In fact, I only saw one store with decorations up all day yesterday, and it was a flower store with a few hearts hanging up. There is no Fred Meyers packed with pink hearts, chocolates, stuffed animals, flowers, etc. Its more about showing the people you love that you care, not being expected to buy the best gift possible for them. This I really like :) I don't have a problem with valentines day in the states, whether I'm single or have a boyfriend. But I do think that Americans get a little carried away with the concept. Don't get me wrong, I always love getting presents, especially chocolates or flowers, but its refreshing being here and not having it be a day of competition about who received the best gift. The stores here don't capitalize on the opportunity to make money, and there is no obligation or expectation of an elaborate surprise gift. The focus is simply on loving your loved ones, and that I love :)

Lent

Portugal was fun. Look at my pictures on Facebook, I may post about it later but right now that idea just sounds way too exhausting.

Today starts lent. Every year I try to pick something to improve myself on and usually I suck at sticking to it. However, this year I actually intend on following what I pick. I have decided I am going to start studying Spanish on my own for a little bit each day, and I am also going to try to eat even healthier and stop spending money on junk.

Classes here are really easy and sometimes I feel like I am not even in college anymore. The one class I'm taking from the professor from UO, "David's class", is actually hard. But the rest are a joke. Homework is optional, and if you do bad on the few assignments that actually count, the teacher will let you redo it. I also had my first test on Friday and it was ridiculously easy. The only real requirement is that you go to class. And I have yet to skip one, even after nearly a month and a half-go me! Because classes are so easy and are full of Americans, I feel like my Spanish isn't improving as much as it could be. Don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot. But I still have more to learn and a lot of it will just take me sitting down and reviewing the basics and vocabulary myself. So for the next 40 days this is what I am going to do. Hopefully by Easter it becomes a routine and I keep it up!

Also, I eat really healthy here when Marisa cooks. Everything is based off of a Mediterranean diet and it is all fresh with very few fats and preservatives. However, when I'm with my friends it's very easy to stop on the way and get a pastry. And I mean very easy-there are cafes and pastry shops on every block and they rarely cost more than a euro or 2. I've already lost weight so it isn't that it's a huge issue or anything, but randomly spending money on pastries is not good for me, or for my bank account. I know this goal won't make a drastic difference, but it will make a little one and that's all I want. So I am going to limit the amount of money I spend on food. I'm not gonna say I won't do it, cause that's how we socialize here, but I'm going to start picking and choosing what I want to buy. And I am going to consciously try to eat as healthy as I can-when I'm craving chocolate or sweets I am going to make hot chocolate or grab a fruit rather than buying a candy bar or a pastry. However, I am not giving up coffee at the cafes. Cafe con leche is keeping me sane. And awake.

:)

Too much food.

Marisa and Lucia think I'm anorexic. They make comments about how I don't eat very much, and Marisa even asked Laura's host mom (her sister) to ask Laura why I don't eat. I swear I eat. Granted, I don't eat very much, but I do eat. The problem with Spain is that when I first got here I never knew what was going to be served or if I would like it (actually this is still a problem...). So I would never say I was terribly hungry just in case the food was disgusting, so that I could lie and say I was full and get away with not eating it. Since I lied a bunch at first, I went hungry a lot and my stomach got really small. Now I just CAN'T eat very much. Which is fine, I've lost 20 lbs already by not really doing anything haha. However, Marisa is worrying about me now.

Since Laura told me that they were worried, I have tried to take less naps and come out of my room more so that they don't think I'm depressed or something. I'm the opposite of depressed, I love it here. But they won't stop worrying and now they're forcing me to eat. Marisa gives me 2 sandwiches for lunch a day, plus 2-4 pieces of fruit. Laura and Emily always get worse food or not enough food, so I usually sneak 1 of my sandwiches and some of my fruit to them. We are like little kids in the cafeteria comparing our packed lunches haha. It's also a common joke in the AHA office at this point that I don't eat-both Reme and Silvia have joked about telling Marisa that I don't eat when they offer me seconds and I turn them down.

Today Marisa and Lucia took it to a new level. I was sitting out in the TV room with them crocheting, and Marisa asked if I wanted anything. I said no cause I was full from lunch, and she went into the kitchen and brought back 3 yogurts and told me "You always say you don't want anything and you don't eat enough. Eat this." So I ate half of it then sneakily threw the rest away. For dinner, Lucia cooked pasta with a cream sauce and ham pieces, which was delicious since it is similar to my all time favorite dish, fettuccine alfredo. As I was eating a bowl of it, she was pureeing vegetables by the sink. I finished and was about to clear my plate when she asked if I wanted more. I said no since there was absolutely no room in my stomach. However, she asked me like 5 more times if I was sure, and then proceeded to tell me that she was sure I wanted more cause I don't eat anything. She said she would give me just a little more, and then said "well actually, there's only a little left. You can finish it." Dear God, this was now 2 full bowls of pasta. Usually if I don't like something or I'm full I'll throw the rest away when Marisa leaves the room. But Lucia was not leaving, and she kept looking at me to make sure I was eating. So I ate as much as I could, then told her it was physically impossible for me to eat more and that I had a food baby. I don't know if saying "Mira a mi estómago, tengo un bebé de comida" is something they actually say in Spanish, but it seemed to do the trick and she said alright. Then proceeded to offer me fruit or yogurt for dessert....

Bowl number 2. So much pasta.....

I'm also pretty sure Lucia thought this whole thing was hilarious. She is 31 and I like her a lot. I'm sure Marisa told her to make sure I eat, and she had fun torturing me hahaha. While she was standing there I was Facebook chatting Emily and complaining, and managed to sneak the above picture haha.

Camila y sus aventuras

I bought children's books for my future classroom. They are precious and were super cheap! I am so excited  to be a teacher :) I also bought the last two of the Camila series that the bookstore had. The back of the book says there's like 10 different books, so now I'm going to stop by obsessively and see if I can snatch up the rest before I leave!

Also, I had a fiasco at the hair salon yesterday and my hair is now red with blondish highlights. Which is fine, and everyone says it looks really good. But I was going for blonde so it was a bit of a surprise... Basically the woman didn't take me seriously cause I was obviously foreign and she waited way too long to take out the dye, leaving my hair bleach blonde with some red that didn't go away from the last time I dyed it. As soon as she took off the first piece of foil she gasped and knew she had royally messed up. It was terrible. I mean I'm not super picky about hair and usually I can deal with it if it isn't exactly what I wanted, but this was BAD. Like I would not have walked outside looking like that. So I made her fix it, and after 4 hours I came out with this. Not what I wanted, but it looks fine and I wasn't about to have her ruin my hair anymore trying to fix it. It's hard to take a picture on my computer where you can actually see the color, but I'm going to Portugal this weekend so I'll post some pictures after that :)

Crazy Spaniards

Like I've said before, Spaniards stay out til absolutely ridiculous times in the morning on the regular. If I come home before 4am I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Also, they go out ALL THE TIME! If I don't go out 2 nights in a row, even if they're weeknights, Marisa asks me what's wrong and seems very concerned. Sometimes I think she thinks I'm a total newb at this whole partying thing. Let's just say they definitely know how to rage here!

On Thursday Laura and Chloe and I met a bunch of different Spanish guys. It was great because I am so sick of constantly being around Americans and I just want Spanish friends! There were some super nice older men we met who had studied in Oviedo like 20 years ago and now live in Madrid. They bought us beers and a sandwich, then proceeded to tell us that all the younger guys were looking at us and we were wasting our time talking to them. So the guy that spoke the most English would stop younger guys on the street and tell them to talk to us. SUPER EMBARRASSING. But it turned out we met a group of like 6 guys who were pretty chill and work at this club called Green. One of them spoke some English, but the rest didn't at all. Besides the one who only knew English cuss words. In fact, we stood in the street for a solid 30 minutes listening to him say Shit Mother Fucker (sorry bout the language daddy!) over and over as we giggled at his accent. Most entertaining thing ever haha.

Anyways, they invited us to Green tonight and we went. The Shit Mother Fucker guy found us and gave us shots, then we danced a little and ended up leaving around 4. Not the most exciting night, but at least they remembered us and we now can say we know some Spaniards. On the way home I took some pictures and looked like a total tourist. I was slightly intoxicated, so they aren't the best quality but we do what we can, right?

NBD, just walking past the Cathedral on the way home

The street full of people at 4am

The cathedral again. I should really be a photographer...

more people

I'm sure my friends are tired of me saying this, but I think it is the coolest thing that we party in these buildings that were originally built in the 800s. That's crazy! I'm not a huge history person, but I love thinking about things like that. I mean, these buildings were here like 1,000 years before the United States was even formed! It cracks me up to think of what the ancient people would say if they saw how we use their buildings today, sorry bout it! haha

Batalla del Vino

So for my society and culture class we  have to do a short power point on one of the fiestas in Spain. Naturally, I chose The Battle of Wine before anyone else could snatch it. As I'm sitting here making my power point, I can't help but be amazed with how cool this is. On July 29th every year the people in Haro, a city near Bilbao, go to mass early in the morning and then proceed to throw wine at each other all the way down the hill and back into town. How awesome is that?!? It's always July 29th, even if it's a weekday. The whole town gets involved and has a full fledged war, hiding and running and attacking. I so wish I could be here for this, as this is totally my type of fiesta. I mean who doesn't like endless amounts of wine and people running around without a care in the world?!

I mean seriously. How is this not the coolest thing in the world?!

Thank you.

I just want to take a moment to appreciate how blessed I am. Most people do not get an opportunity like this and it really is a shame that not everyone can experience living abroad. As much courage, strength, and hard work as it took to get here, I wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything. This is by far the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life and there are ups and Downs, but at the end of the day I just think of how lucky I am and how I cannot afford to take this life for granted.

I cannot express how much I have fallen in love with oviedo, and Spain in general. Spaniards joke that the north is no good and we need to go to the south cause that's the better part of Spain. They may be right about the last part, I've never been to southern Spain so I couldn't tell you. However, I completely disagree with oviedo being no good. At first it was hard to adjust to the stares on the street and the general attitude of the people seemed rude. But now that I've been here a month I realize that's just how they are, they aren't trying to be rude. And once I could get over that, I realized that oviedo has some of the greatest people I've met. I love going to the cafe and seeing the owner working everyday. I love it when he says hi as though we are old pals. I love that if you're lost people will go out of their way to help. I love the pride in the language, yet the eagerness of most Spaniards to learn English. I love that life isn't easy here. Its simple, but not easy. You have to put in effort if you want something, there aren't too many easy ways out. I love that time is something everyone is given equally, and saying you don't have time is just plain silly. I love walking to school each day past the same shops with the same workers and the same people on the street, making a big city seem like a small town. I love the ridiculous obsession with keeping the city clean. I love that you are expected to go out and party in buildings from the 800s and stay out til 6am like its no big deal. I love that the way you dress is a matter of personal pride and laziness is frowned upon. I love all of the statues and monuments and Parks which show that the city is important even when things are tight. I love that wifi is pronounced weefee. I love that people truly believe in things that Americans would consider ridiculous or a waste of time.

I could see myself having a life here after college, and I love that. I don't know what will happen and I'm not saying I'm going to pack up and move here, but just knowing that I would be comfortable calling this place home makes me love it even more. I can't wait for Mom and Mike to get here so that I can show them around, cause I really am proud of this city. I want to be able to share everything I love about it with my friends and family, cause I want to express as best I can with everyone just how great this place is! I know its impossible to ship everyone over here, and that just makes me appreciate everything I've been given even more. So on that note, thank you for giving me this opportunity Mom and Dad. You have literally given me the world and I don't know how I will ever be able to repay you :)