does anyone read this?

so i haven't blogged recently, and i've been to paris and portugal in that time.. but i really don't want to write a ton because frankly i'm lazy and a little tapped out mentally at the moment, literally. 

so instead of words, we'll do pictures. it'll be like show-and-tell, without the tell. cool.

PARIS

SEMANA SANTA pt.1

Mama Lundquist is in town!

She got in last friday, I picked her up at the airport with a coffee (of course) and from there we proceeded to explore Madrid until Monday. So far she has seen: Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Plaza Cibeles, (3 biggest plazas in Madrid), Museo Prado, Museo Sorolla, (2 of the best!) the royal Botanical Gardens, Cafe Gijon (old literati cafe) and Cafe Comercial (oldest cafe in Madrid). We also went to the Sunday Rastro aka outdoor flea market, the zoo!! (which i always get really excited about and then proceed to get sad once i see the caged animals), a flamenco show at Casa Patas, and churros w/chocolate.  She

 drank sangria, ate a variety of tapas, and even saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And she is now an expert on the metro system. I'm so proud.

On to Toledo...

... on Monday, we made a day trip to Toledo aka the medieval capital of Spain. Aaron would've loved it.. I begged mom to buy him a sword or a suit of chain mail or at the very least an old metal chess set. She settled on a letter opener-shaped-like-a-sword. Lame! Anyway, it was cool, very old-worldy and castle-y and Lord of the Rings-y and such. And they even had a doner kebab! 

In other news, we also went to Sevilla for a few days. I like to think of Sevilla as the bat cave of Catholicism: like the home base, the place to always return to. I think every Catholic in Spain was there this week. Not being religious myself, it was more interesting for me from a cultural viewpoint, but i know mom liked it. Small cobblestone streets, processions with big floats (floats?) of the virgin or jesus with candles, incense, men/women/children in hooded KKK-esque cloaks, crosses, the whole deal. It was especially beautiful at night when everything was lit up.

We walked along the Guadalquivir River, I translated every item from each menu even though we would just end up ordering randomly anyway, she worried about finding souvenirs for each of my 12 brothers and sisters, we both got exhausted walking hours each day. But it was well worth it and a great time all in all. I've really missed her! And i'm glad to be able to share some of what i've learned and experienced with her. Yay family :)

Aaand tomorrow.. I'm heading to Paris! I don't speak a word of french and it might rain, but i could give a shit. It's going to be me, a bottle of wine, and a good friend in front of the tower/ Versaille/ Moulin Rouge/ the Seine/ Disneyland (just kidding.. no but really)/ Notre Dame / Louvre etc. Life could be worse.

Cuento nuevo

The most recent assignment in my short story class was to apply the theory of spacialization, or making a space/place the protagonist. Essentially.

So here's my attempt, once again, in Spanish (how I wrote it) and below, translated into English:

Ok scratch that, I just realized I can't copy/paste into this stupid blog. I'll just write it in English.

--------------

     He lived his entire life within four walls. He began to become aware of the walls while sitting in a chair within his office, which sat in the middle of a commercial street in the center of the city. This building looked like all the others: tall, made of straight lines, with a grid of mirrors that reflected the grid of streets and people below.

     It was Wednesday, a day in the middle of a long and normal week. Behind one of the windows, he was seated as his desk. He had received a new project, from a habitual client. Using a calculator (although he had the ability to do the formulas in his head, his boss had imposed a work code that demanded the use of calculators), he passed the day finding and writing numbers on the pages, white squares full of numbers.

     All of a sudden, he couldn't breathe. (This had occurred before, but in recent days with more frequency.) With an effort to fight off panic, he reached for his tie, to loosen it, although he knew that the strangulation came from something different, something bigger and darker, something that he would not be able to escape. The four walls of his office, white and tall, seemed to move in on him quickly, the door disappeared...

     And suddenly, as quickly as the feeling had come, it left. With sweat on his upper lip and without a word, he returned to his work, until the day ended and he could leave with all the other workers, faceless in the darkness, the black walls of night replacing the white ones of the office.

     He drove, walked, arrived at his apartment building. From outside it looked like all the others: old, but clean, with some windows illuminated creating a grid of light and darkness. The hinges on the front door had not been oiled for some time, and emitted a strange sound when pushed, punctuated by the sharp echo of his shoes against the floor. The lights of the elevator were broken, and within their glass box, flickered.

     His wife had prepared dinner, like all the previous nights and all those that would pass, and when he entered the apartment, was already seated at the table. For the first time, he paid attention to the construction of the kitchen: small, with a very low ceiling (lower than he remembered), and only one wall had a window, also small.

     That night, his wife rejected his new suggestion to eat outside, on the balcony, and later, rejected his sexual advances in the kitchen while leaning against the oven. So they made love, without interest nor passion, in bed, surrounded by four white walls of the canopy, made of fabric but in his mind, as strong as wood.

     The daily rhythm continued, each day the same, identical and without end, like the numbered squares of the calendar that hung on the wall of his office. The attacks continued, and each time one occurred, he became aware of more and more walls that surrounded all parts of his existence: those in the movie theater, in the super market, in the hallways of the metro, each enclosed space smaller than the one before. Each night was also the same. He laid with open eyes, for many hours before falling asleep. And without time to rest his mind, began to dream, always the same. He is looking at a large space, large enough to be interminable, and at the center (if an interminable space can have a center), is a toy, like any child's toy. The toy is constructed like a square, painted with images from the city and from nature. It is playing music, squeaky and strange, and all of a sudden it opens with a "pop!", but instead of a clown jumping out, it begins to suck him in. He tries to fight it, but little by little loses, until...

     One day, a Wednesday, after dinner, while the gas continued to fill and heat the oven, he put his head inside it. Inhaling freely for the first time, he realized that his death, like his life, would occur within four walls. His last breath was laughter.

     Although he died with a smile, at the funeral (as the few attendants would later say), his open eyes seemed to be full of terror when they closed the lid of the coffin, terror for the realization that death, like life, is nothing more than an eternity within a box.

more on Valencia...

¡VALENCIA!

So after the festivities of las fallas, 3 girl friends and I stayed in Valencia to explore the city on Friday and Saturday. 

On Friday, we walked to a square to see a famous, giant (literally, HUGE) statue of the Virgin and Christ. It's made from a wooden grid, and then is covered head to toe in bouquets of flowers. The ground all around the statue is covered in a thick blanket of flowers. You could smell it (so sweet) from a block away. Really beautiful.

A little while later, we came upon a man offering horse and buggy rides through old town (i.e. the historic center) of Valencia. For 7 Euro each, he took us down tiny streets, through busy intersections (definitely got strange looks from drivers!), and alongside old bits of castle walls. It was fantastic.

After the tour, we hopped on a bus and headed to the beach. It's been too long! This was my first time seeing the Mediterranean... so blue! The sand was so fine, and I spent most of my time searching for sea shells (I'm such a kid, it's my favorite thing about the beach).

That night, the girls and I did some bonding over wine, chocolate and gouda. (yes, I love my life here in Spain.) The next day, after sleeping til noon (oops), we did a little more touring, got some fresh squeezed orange juice and gofres (waffles..so good), then headed to the train station for the 3 hour ride back to Madrid. Overall, loved this weekend.

¡Quémalo!

Or, in English, "burn it!"

This was the chant of the crowd around 1 am, as we waited in suffocating closeness, eyes on the prize, or in this case, the huge 3-4 story-tall sculpture that would soon be burned to the ground.

This, is Las Fallas.

The day started at noon, as we piled onto a bus and headed towards

 the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia. Four hours later, we disembarked into a place that can best be described as Disneyland-meets-war zone. The air was filled with smoke and the resounding 'boom' of fire crackers. Streets were blocked off, each intersection filled with one of the huge sculptures. The sculptures, which Valencian artists take all year to build, are filled with political and social satire; for instance, we saw one with America represented as a drunk bald eagle sitting on top of an egg which was the world, and another with Obama knocking George Bush out in a boxing ring.

After walking through the streets for a while, we sat down on a curb with thousands of other people to watch a parade. First came women in elegant 'vestidos,' followed by dancers and a brass band. Then came the fire throwers, i.e. people with tridents that shot out a continuous stream of sparks... pyromaniacs, all of them. It lasted over an hour, and was quite the spectacle. 

After the parade ended, we continued to walk the crowded streets. We watched a group of women doing traditional African dance to the accompaniment of drummers, ate Valencian paella (traditional rice+meat dish of the region) from a street vendor, and watched a mini-Falla (a small version of the big-burnings, done earlier in the night for the kids).

Around midnight, we headed towards one of the biggest intersections to watch the burning of one of the sculptures. First there was an elaborate fireworks show, literally right above or heads (I still do not understand how these things are legal..), which was beautiful. Then a string of firecrackers went off, leading all the way to the head of the statue, lighting it on fire. The thing immediately went up in flames, everyone was cheering and screaming, I was so close I could feel the heat on my face. Bomberos, or fire fighters, began hosing it down right away but to no avail... it burned for minutes, and for a while I was certain that the buildings surrounding it (we were literally in the middle of a city intersection, surrounded on all sides by apartment buildings) would go up in flames too. 

¡Qué guay!, no?

All in all, the coolest cultural experience of Spain thus far. ¡Viva las fallas!

Hansen & Backstreet Boys in Madrid?

...yea, that's what we heard last night at the bar. I think when the djs see a group of 10 Americans trek in, they grab some US Top 20 from the 90s and throw it on... and of course, we eat it up it. :)

In a little over 12 hours, I'll be getting on a bus with a bunch of friends and heading to Valencia (Mediterranean coast city of Spain) for Las Fallas, a HUGE celebration/festival. Basically they build huge beautiful paper mache statues/floats, parade them threw the streets while people spontaneously put off fire crackers, then at midnight they burn everything to the ground. The finale is a fireworks show, which i've heard can rival Disneyland's... which means the expectations are pretttty high. 

I learned about the Fallas a few times while studying spanish at UCLA, so I've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. I'm going to take a million pictures!

Me and a few close girl friends are going to stay Fri and Sat after Fallas, to explore Valencia, go to the beach (yes!), get authentic paella, get a tan, etc. I guess it'll be allllrigght... :)

Forgot to mention..I'm a published author!

..sorta. Another girl from the EAP program and I volunteered to write an article for the EAP blog about our program's trip to Andalucia way back when. They're supposed to post it soon, so here's the link: 

http://www.eapenmadrid.blogspot.com

It's not up yet but check back!

A few pics from my week...

The top left is el Palacio Real de Aranjuez, or the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. It's where the monarchs used to live, its about 30 minutes south of Madrid. Top right, me and my friends from UC Davis, Siera and Tanya. And to the left.. Bruin Cafe! haha yes, Madrid has a Bruin Cafe.. just can't leave UCLA behind, can I?

"cuento" = short story

So I've always been interested in creative writing, specifically short story, and I'm finally taking a class on it. It's my favorite class here, and not only because my professor.. Doomingooo.. is the Spanish George Clooney (SO CHARMING!). It's been getting easier to understand Spanish, both written and spoken, and this class has been a big part of that. Every week we write a short story, utilizing the stylistic devices that we are learning about that week. The first short story I turned in was not very good, I'll be honest. I was still thinking in English and translating into Spanish, and many of my ideas/phrases were literally lost in translation. I was super bummed because I want to marry Domingo by the end of the semester, and thus I need him to like my writing. And, I would like to improve my short story savvy. 

Thus, I was incredibly excited when I got my second short story back and I got what I think translates to an A- (their grading is very different). It was a micro cuento (very short-short story). Here it is in Spanish and in English. Thoughts?

-----

"El Miedo Viejo"

Ella tenía miedo de los dientes. Mas específicamente, ella tenía miedo que los dientes se cayeran de la boca. Como todos miedos ilógicos, como películas en blanco y negro y máquinas de escribir, no estaba segura de donde provenía.

Cuando era niña, sus padres lo usaban para disciplinarla: "¡escúchanos o llamaremos la hada de dientes para robar todos los tuyos!" Ella siempre obedecía.

Para su día de cumpleaños, su novio le dio un collar con un diente de tiburón. Ella rompió con él inmediatamente.

Una noche, ella soñó con sus dientes. Eran tan débiles como tiza. Con horror, ella frotó la lengua contra los dientes, acumulando los pedazos y escupiéndolos como huesos de olivas. Al sentir sus encías suaves la llenaron con un miedo existencial.

Mientras ella soñaba, la mano del reloj continuaba a moviéndose, incesante al captuar cada próximo segundo, y terminó el día, con el sol detrás de los edifícios creando una vista que se parecía a dientes torcidos, en una boca infinita que tragará todo.

----

"The Old Fear"

She had a fear of teeth. Specifically, she was afraid of her teeth falling out. Like all illogical fears, such as black and white movies or typewriters, she wasn't sure where it came from.

When she was a little girl, her parents would use it to discipline her. "Listen to us, or we'll call the tooth fairy to come and steal all your teeth!" She always obeyed.

For one of her birthdays, a boyfriend gave her a shark's tooth necklace. She broke up with him immediately.

One night, she dreamt about her teeth. They were as weak as chalk. With horror, she rubbed her tongue along her teeth, gathering the pieces in her mouth and spitting them out like olive pits. The feel of her soft gums filled her with an existential dread.

While she slept, the hand on the clock continued moving, relentlessly capturing each second, and the day ended, with the sun behind the buildings creating a view that looked like crooked teeth, in a mouth that would swallow everything.

------

This is the first time that I've translated it into English, and it really does lose something in translation. I really love the Spanish language.

*Also, anyone who caught the Death Cab reference in the ending.. props.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional

So I've made it a goal to do at least one thing from my list of cultural/landmark/historical sites in Madrid. This weekend I went to el Museo Arqueológico Nacional, an archeology museum of Spain, and Café Gijón, a famous 'literati' café from pre-Civil War Spain.

The museum was cool, especially because I'd read about/seen pictures of a lot of the pieces in the Spanish culture/history class I took last quarter. The museum spanned the history of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from the Egyptians to the Greeks to the Romans to the Visigoths to the Muslims to modern time. Those are a few cool photos from the exhibit.

The café was cool, pricey but neat history/ambiance. 

And tomorrow I'm gonna hit up the flea market, and the Prado museum. Excellent.

!carnavale!

So, as I said before, last weekend i went to Cádiz (southern, Atlantic coast of Spain) for Carnavale.

We left Friday morning and spent 8 hours on a bus (awful.) Our hotel-resort was gorgeous, and of course, our frat-and-sororeity-esque-American group did a pretty good job of trashing it. I thankfully was not involved in this process.. my friends and I hopped a bus into Cádiz to check it out that night. Not much was going on, we were kinda dressed up and ended up just walking around, meeting people, and checking out a bar.

Saturday morning, we walked to the beach. Unbelievable. It was beautiful, so blue, and it just felt so great to be near the ocean. I've missed it, a lot. And it was sunny!

Sat afternoon we all got decked out. Everyone dressed up, it was like Halloween + theme party but less skank and more drinking. We got into Cádiz by 5, and there were already soo many people. It's hard to describe, but just imagine the streets completely full, side to side, with people in head-to-toe costume, boozing straight from the bottle, for as far as you can see. People were congregating in the city squares, and we ended up hanging out in one for most of the night. There were lights everywhere and Marti Gras types of decorations, but not as much music or performances as I'd expected. 

By 10pm the entire ground was full of empty bottles and trash and puking people (and they say Spaniards don't binge drink!), etc. We planned on staying for the 5am bus but when 1am rolled around, we got outta there...

MY CAMERA NOW FUNCTIONS

for which i owe my mom a huge thank you!

oh and of course...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

updates about carnavale soon... in the meantime i'm going to enjoy the rest of my day! and yes, i am going to wear a tiara out for drinks tonight.

Mama Lundquist:

PLEASE COME VISIT ME IN SPAIN. I won't take no for an answer.

A few pics from Andalucia...

where do i begin??

So much has happened and I honestly don't remember my life.

Let's see..

So last weekend, the whole EAP group (i.e. all the UC kids ~60 of us) spent the weekend in the province of Andalucia, in the south of Spain. One word: gorgeous. The bus picked us up in Madrid at 8 am (I don't want to talk about it) and then we spent 5-6 hours in transit. Got to Córdoba on Friday afternoon and spent a few hours touring the town. EXACTLY how I imagined Spain to be: tiny cobble stone streets, flower pots hanging from walls, orange trees everywhere, sun, Moorish architecture (think key-hole windows and arches), ancient city walls, fountains. 

We toured the Mezquita, a famous Cathedral/Mosque. It was so cool to see the beautiful mixture of Christian and Muslim elements... and made me wonder why can't we all just get along??

Also got a chance to meet up with Jamee Hawn (friend from UCLA since 1st year) who I will also be seeing this weekend AT CARNAVAL IN CADIZ which I'm mildly excited about.

That night we had the most amazing dinner of red wine and a cheese + honey salad, then went to an authentic Flamenco dance show, with live Spanish guitar music. Yes, they use those hand-held clicky-things, the dresses are outrageous and colorful, and it is sort of like tap. Very cool experience.

Woke up Saturday morning to the sound of a real live rooster crowing (I'm telling you, I'm oddly sheltered in Madrid) and had a bomb ass breakfast. Dunno, thought it was worth mentioning.

Then another stint on the bus brought us to Granada, a larger city further north in Andalucia. Not as charming as Córdoba and not as fun-busy-loud as Madrid, so I was kind of indifferent about the city itself. BUT. We went up the hillside to the Alhambra, a famous palace/gardens in Granada. Absolutely beautiful. It was originally home to the Muslim rulers of Spain (back when Spain was called Al-Andalus, hence Andalucia) hence the Islamic architecture, but there are also Christian elements from later history. Anyway, it was great. I could just imagine being part of a harem to some ancient sultan. I'm telling you the place was gorgeous enough it would've been worth it.

By Sunday morning I was pretty burned out, but we spent a few hours touring Granada, going to various cathedrals and visiting the tombs of Isabella and Fernando, the Catholic monarchs of Spain back in the 15th century. Churros con chocolate (delicious), then another lonnngg bus ride home.

So yea, that was my past weekend. Now for the upcoming one... i.e. my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND.

Gonna be spending it in Cadiz, at Carnavale, which is pretty much European marti gras. In other words, life is good and just getting better.

Still, I can't believe I'm turning 20.. quarter life crisis. I bought a leather jacket today. Cheaper than a motorcycle..

"entiendes?" not really...

that was the catch phrase of the day at carlos tercero as i went about my classes. i had teatro and periodismo, though i'm still trying to finalize my schedule. i could take a ton of lit classes that i know will transfer back to ookla, orrr i could take a variety of ones that interest me and work a little harder to get the credit for them... oh decisions decisions. also going to sign up for una clase de fotografía digital, once a week on thursdays. good way to force conversation with spaniards/ no lack of subjects in this city/country/continent, if you will.

i think the biggest breakthrough that i had today was that i am here and i should BE here. i still want all the updates from the states, but i am making the decision to catapult myself head first into this experience. i've already been laughed at. i've already began to accept that pride is a luxury and thus the first thing to go. i've already realized that i'm not the bottom of the barrel and even if i were, the only way to go is--here comes the cliche--up. 

so here's to dinner at 9:30pm. here's to 3-sip coffees and heels and beginning to think in castilian. most importantly, here's to what is the beginning of.. well i'm not really sure. but whatever it is, i think i'm going to like it.

[not to make a break with profundity, but i did think it was worth mentioning that last night i saw a guy get his ass beat by the metro police. they were arguing outside of the metro, something about 'your mom', but anyway the guy spit on the police man and got beat to the ground for it. sorta shakes you up to see that. but, carry on!]

scrambled eggs and episodes of the office

... did i actually leave the states? doesn't feel like it today.

On a different note, i am officially moved in to the new place. My hosts, though it feels more like apartment mates, are Fernando and Paula, 30 year old arteests, specializing in theatre and photography, respectively. He owns his own acting company (I know--The King's Men, exactly what came to mind for me too!) and she travels the world taking photos and participating in exhibitions. Their apartment is cute and close to the center of the city; their friends are equal parts gorgeous, sophisticated, and successful; they are fantastically in love with each other. i know. i hate them too.

Went to the Reina Sofia today. It's one of the 3 major museums in Madrid, boasting works by Picasso, Dalí, Miró, etc. etc. I only got through the first 1.5 floors today, so much to see. Picasso's famous Guernica is there, and I couldn't take my eyes off it. Google image it, you'll know it.

Paula invited me to some sort of an artists gathering tonight, but i was too nervous to go! my spanish is so rudimentary i can barely order food, forget trying to be suave over cocktails. i made the decision right then that i need to really amp up the practice. spanish movies, music, tv, conversations, reading are on the agenda... after this episode of the office, of course.

i have never been this cold

this is the coldest i have ever been. the oregon coast in winter doesn't compare. aspen colorado is a joke. the wind chill is unbearable here today! i know it's annoying to be complaining like this but i seriously can't help it.. i mean, when you can't change your circumstances, all you can do is bitch. right? ugh.

I'm gonna move into my permanent house today. can't wait to unpack and get officially settled. the gang wants to go to kapital tonight, which is this famous club with 7 floors and tons of music. should be fun if i don't die of hypothermia on the walk over.

anyway, went to the retiro today, it was beautiful but a little too manicured for my taste. some guys tried to sell us hash. it's a great park, huge and full of different walking paths and statues and fountains and such. definitely want to go back when it's warmer, it'll be a great evening walk when spring decides to show its face.

which, at this point, couldn't be soon enough.

one-two-three-four, get yo booty on the dance floor

about to head out with friends but antes de eso, i'd throw down some thoughts about today.

(1) returned something to h&m, and what should've been a 5 minute trip became a 40 minute hunt-on-foot for the store. finally found a DIFFERENT h&m and made the return. then, done searching, i of course found the original store within.. yep, 5 minutes.

(2) met up with some girls from the program to window shop, grabbed some tapas for lunch and decided to leave with another girl early so we could make it to school on time.

deja vu-- what should have been a 30 minute trip became an hour and a half of running for trains, missing trains, getting on the wrong trains, ... you get the point. it became so ridiculous that we gave up and got cafe con leche and laughed about it.. until the train pulled up early and we had to run for it! finally got to school late but at least we found the damn place, no?

(3) got home, massaged my feet (not used to heels = blisters/bruises), ate some paella-esque rice and chicken, and now i'm gonna head out to Sol to get some drinks.

Buenas Noches!

"..I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque..

today was our first day at the university. arrived to rain and killed time in a cozy, smoky cafe with a cafe con leche. had a tour of campus, met a few more people from the program which was refreshing and definitely timely. still no luck finding other bruins but the search continues...

had trouble understanding the tour guide...and then the presenters...and then the professors... so somewhere along that line of faulty translation i'm pretty sure i missed some important information. but you can either panic or accept that you'll always be a second rate speaker.. haha no, kidding. but seriously.

i think i know which classes im going to take... looking at an art class that takes field trips to all the museums, very cool. also, colloquial spanish, which will be useful once i start making all those native-spaniard friends. then there's literatura hispanoamericana, with the study of authors like isabelle allende, etc. and lastly a spanish cultural studies class. though i may need to take another spanish literature class, since that's what's mostly likely to transfer back to ucla.

got on the metro at 7am and off at 7pm, so long but productive day. 

oh and tomorrow? definitely gonna wear socks. rain + wedges = sad, sad feet.

not a white christmas per say...

but i did wake up to snow. absolutely gorgeous, and a hell of a lot of it. it's been years since i've seen falling snow and it is making me giddy, i feel like a 5 year old right now. :)

last night i went out with danielle and some of her friends, stayed out later with a guy named joe from her program. it was fun, we went to el puerto del sol and bar hopped. drank too much, met some soccer players/mountain climbers who wanted to talk about fascism and obama... my thoughts exactly but hey when in rome... 

anyway, my host aunt is taking me shopping today, she's worried i'll freeze in the snow which is probably definitely true. even though yesterday was hard, and i know tomorrow will be hard (trying to navigate the metro alone for the first time), right now i am very happy to be here, and just trying to enjoy the moment, watching the snow fall right outside my window.

un mundo nuevo

i'm here. what a journey so far! i feel like so much has happened in the last 2 days. i arrived here yesterday, the 29th, mid-morning, and checked into my hotel. i hit up an internet cafe and then, shamefully, went to starbucks for a strong one. met a great girl, my roommate at the hotel, who coincidentally grew up in marin and played against me in basketball at drake. norcal connections make me giddy.

we had an orientation, which was really just a hey-guys-heres-a-ton-of-information-don't-forget-any-of-it-even-though-you're-all-jetlagged-and-want-to-die. got a cell phone for local calls and bought skype unlimited for the US.. so no excuses for not staying in touch!

found out who my host family is. apparently theyre a great young artsy couple, the womans a photographer, the man an actor. they couldnt pick me up because theyre in peru where the woman (paula?) is taking photos of mariposas (butterflies).. i think thats a pretty good excuse. so for the first few days im staying with her aunt. the good news is that paula and fernando live next to the parque de buen retiro, which is a gorgeous park, and pretty close to the big museums, so ill have no excuse to remain painfully uncultured.

the weirdest thing about madrid so far? the fact that i hear bad american ballads from the 90s EVERYWHERE I GO. in the hotel, it was Colors of the Wind. in the supermercado, it was Brian Adam's Everything I do. and spanish MTV has The Hills dubbed in spanish. just saying.

and the best news? danielle miller lives just a few blocks from me! just the ticket right about now.. im going to head to her place later tonight. 

thats all folks!

Killing time in Miami Int'l

I just realized there's nothing worth documenting to document about the trip so far.. a long plane ride from SFO, a desperate need for a shower and a coffee (I'll take care of the latter in a second, the first not so much), and some anxiety about getting into madrid and being completely lost. but whatever, i'll cut myself some slack since it is a foreign country and thus inherently, well, foreign.

:)

6 days til take off...

I've purchased the necessities: a power adaptor/convertor, a travel guide to Spain, a sturdy (extra-large) suitcase, and a sassy new pair of boots. I have my passport, my student visa, and my plane ticket. I've converted all my money (ok ok, mom and dad's money) into Euros, partly to finish my preparation, partly to stem my problem of shopping-as-a-result-of-boredom. In 6 days, I will be on my own on a plane to the other side of the world, with no idea of what to expect except that this will undoubtably be the biggest adventure of my life so far.

Bring. it. on.