Leaving Turkey

just in case you were wondering, i am still alive.

Portugal was lovely. Turkey has been eye-opening to say the least. My flight back to spain is in less than 12 hours, and then back to Cordoba to retreive my luggage and return to the beautiful USA.

I havent had my computer, hence the lack of updates, but I promise I am alive and well.

Everyone has been planning my social life for me, since UCLA graduation is this week as is two of my best friends birthdays on the same day.

PLAN:

tuesday -- home pass out

wednesday -- UCLA and traditional wednesday-of-finals undie run

thursday -- unpack and see katie ollis, since she leaves on saturday for all of summer SAD

friday -- giant graduation party for all of my seniors at a hotel in LA

saturday -- say goodbye to katie ollis EVEN SADDER and finish unpacking, talk to work

sunday -- huntington beach during the day, then stephanie (roomie for next year) and danielle (bff from sorority) joint 21st birthday parties. I will be going to dinner and joining the legals in the party bus... while they are in the clubs, jaqui and i will probably do something for the underage... like go to chuck e cheese since we are babies.

monday -- Dana point? hopefully this works out, i miss my family!

tuesday -- day to actually interact with valencia family.

wednesday - friday/saturday -- going up to San Luis Obispo with Travis and probably Jess for a reggae concert

and then i start work and/or summer school.

june 28th is the big concert in ventura, so i'm looking forward to that.


If there are summer functions, let me know so I can plan for them. I love you all so much and can't wait to see your shining faces!

portugal

dear goodness it has been a long time. i didnt realize and i apologize.

had finals from may 18th on... thursday the 21st we had our goodbye dinner, and of course i was nominated to give the goodbye and thank you speech in spanish. gave the teachers their gifts and went on my merry way to party with friends. salsa danced with one of the guys in our program and had a fabulous time.

friday night went to goodbye dinner with friends who were still in town and went to jennys roof to watch the fireworks at midnight because FERIA started. FERIA is a GIANT carnival that makes cordoba famous every year. me, mason, chris, and chris' girlfriend suzy went to FERIA in the pouring rain with our umbrellas, walked around the booths and the clubs and got a baked potato with all the fillings. this is wonderfully fabulous because it was me, ilana, jenny, mason, and chris who got those exact same potatos the first time we traveled together to malaga. it was the perfect way to say goodbye.

saturday jenny and i packed up (epic fail on my part, of course, no idea where ANYTHING is), met the gang in the park to say goodbye, and mason and chris walked us back to my casa to say goodbye before we left for the train. i dont think i have ever loved two boys as my best friends more than those two. you spend literally EVERY DAY for 4 months with the same 4 people, you grow to wonder how you think on your own without them. i keep reaching for my phone to text them things, and then realize i have 2 more weeks of not being able to do that.

jenny and i met up with ilana, caught the train to seville then the lovely 6 hour bus to lisbon. i woke up disoriented and actually continued a phone cnversation i was having in my dream OUT LOUD once i woke up. embarrassing. went to our AMAZINGLY FABULOUS hostel called BLACK AND WHITE and the guy was nice enough to let us in early at 6am. started up again around 10 and took the double decker bus tour around the city to see the sights. and THANK GOODNESS we did because itw ould have been SO much walking, exhausting, and we really only needed to drive by the statues, not touch them. we went inside the famous monastery and at night made a DELICIOUS meal of macaroni and cheese, spinach, and hotdogs with a bottle of white wine. we are CLASSY.

monday i put on my TOUR GUIDE hat and we took off to sintra, about 30 minutes and only 3.50 euro roundtrip on a train. we saw the pena palace, the moorish castle, and then ilana took off back to town to meet her boyfriend who was flying in. jenny and i stayed and went to the most AMAZING PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE. its called quinta de regaleria or something like that. it is magical. seriously. only true word to describe it. magical. its a giant mansion and the grounds and everything is being restored. theres fountains, a chapel, grottos, waterfalls, caves, stepping stones across lakes, waterless wells that are basically a crazy spiral staircase with REVOLVING STONE DOORS and dear goodness. i want to get married there. start saving up family, youre goin to portugal.

yesterday jenny and i went to the castle, dealt with her getting her wallet stolen on the trolley, and ate portuguese creme custard tarts, which are the specialty there. stuck her and ilana on the bus and went back to the hostel to sleep early for today!

i met 3 people from canada and new zealand who are teaching outside of london so i hopped in the car with them and drove down to lagos today to go to the beach. the first beach was small but amazingly pretty. its called dona ana and it had coves and caves, i found some beach glass and its currently in my purse. then we went to meia praia for more sun and i got sunburnt and shells. had dinner, found the bus schedule, and i ended up here, at a hostel called THE MONKEY HOUSE. ill be on a bus to faro tomorrow to catch another bus to seville and then a train or bus to cordoba to get to madrid to fly to istanbul. very excited.

love you all, home in 2 weeks.

jamee

PROM

This week as been crazy. Returned from Morocco which was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and has really changed my view on things. My plans have changed. Well, they've been solidified I suppose. I'll post pictures. I had my Literature presentation on a play by Frederico García Lorca and I spoke for literally 45 minutes in Spanish and I think I did rather decently. My friend Chris was sick so I spent most of my time helping him with notes that he missed, and went out Wednesday night with my brother, Sergio. I had so much fun, we ended up meeting up with some of his and my friends and dancing to American music until daybreak. Thursday we went to see a Flamenco show, which was equally fun, and PBS happened to be shooting the show for a documentary, and well, you know me, of course I became friends with them. After the show, the program kids went to the bars and clubs yet again, and Friday morning we all met up to walk around see LOS PATIOS -- which are these houses out here that put a lot of bright colorful flowers (geraniums usually) in pots and hang them all over their courtyard walls -- Cordoba is famous for it. Afterwards we met up to play ultimate frisbee (thanks mom, it changed our lives) and then I watched a movie and some OFFICE episodes with Chris. Didn't go out due to being completely exhausted from the week and wanting to save up for tonight!

One of my good friends here, Jenny, is 18 and graduated high school early to take her gap semester here in Spain. While this is fabulous and amazing, she is missing her high school prom, which, rather devastates me.

So, Jamee being Jamee, I sat in the park with her the other day, construction paper, scissors, glue, and markers, and made invitations to the prom we are throwing in her honor tonight.

That's right. We're having PROM. For everyone in the program and they can bring dates. I am making pasta and brownies, Jenny is making quesadillas, goodness knows what the boys are bringing if they remember anything. Jenny, me, Mason, Chris, Steph, and probably Mark are eating on Jenny's roof and drinking the cava I got from the nice man in Jorba. Then we'll meet up with the entire program to club hop and party and have a grand time.

Updates to come later, when I finally put all my pictures on my computer!

congratulations to ME!

oh and hey guess what?

I scored almost perfect on my literature-film test. CELEBRATE!

oops

so I sent out a bunch of postcards from sevilla the day i left for morocco.

problem. i forgot some people's addresses and didn't realize i hadn't finished writing them until i was on the train to morocco.

so... uncle ted and grandma ellie.... there is a postcard somewhere in the spanish post office with your name on it... but you will never see it because i didnt put the address. will write you a new one. sorry i fail at life.

in other news.... valencia, dana point, aunt diane, grandpa ray, and grandma pat -- you should be getting post cards soon. YAY!


the program has requested that you do not send me any letters or packages after may 10th so that nothing arrives after the program has ended. so, if you want to send me anything else, please do so before next monday at the latest. please keep in mind that i am going to have to pack up and leave soon, so food is no longer necessary nor is anything heavy or any kind of clothing. toiletries are no longer needed either. really, just pictures and letters would be ideal because they are light and i can constantly look over them.

love you lots.

meeee

Swine Flu

I have returned from Morocco. Joyous of joys. I returned to find out that there are 3 cases of Swine Flu in my cute quaint wonderful city of Córdoba.....

FABULOUS.

Also, today the weather man said it would be 84 degree high... so I put on leggings, a big tshirt, and my flip flops... and then proceeded to slip and fall down 3 small flights of stairs, about 6 steps to each. Best part? I fell THREE SEPARATE TIMES. I fell the first time, went WOW, BE CAREFUL, YOUR FLIP FLOPS ARE SLIPPERY ON THE MARBLE, got up, took a step and POW! Back on my butt.... just down at the NEXT landing. And then AGAIN a third time... I swear my flip flops are taking revenge and trying to kill me since I didn't wear them for 3 months. I'M SORRY. However, I painted my toes last night, so at least my feet look decent.

I have a presenation tomorrow about a really famous play called YERMA by the famous crazy poet LORCA. Get excited, people, get excited.

Also, I took on a new student for English, and he's not NEARLY as dysfunctional as the first student. Thank goodness. 5euro in the bank for Jamee. WOO HOOOO!

So let me finish this presentation and I'll return to blogging far too much about my life WITH PICTURES. I know I have a lot to catch you all up on.

But for now, I am alive and do NOT have swine flu. YAY!

Heading to Seville for the night to catch a flight tomorrow to Barcelona. It's exciting!

Wells Fargo is officially the worst bank ever for traveling abroad, as they have now frozen my account a grand total of 3 times in the past month, maybe four. If you count each time they freeze each individual card, I think those idiots are about up to 7. and for once in my life, IT IS NOT MY FAULT. its totally theirs and their inability to keep anything straight.

i hate them.

Love you all, be back this weekend.

Just Visual Proof that I Still Exist

Had trouble with the internet this past week, more or less, so I suppose I should give you some photo evidence that I am alive.

Here is Seville. I am in front of the fountain at the PLAZA DE ESPAÑA with Mason and Chris, two of my closest friends here, and definitely the best guys on the program.


Here is proof that Katie came to visit, we are seated in the CORDOBA area of the PLAZA DE ESPAÑA, they have an area for each major city in Spain.


MONKEY ON MY HEAD IN GIBRALTAR DURING SPRING BREAK!

Here I am in Cádiz with friends in a tree being goofy.


This is me trying sea urchin... it was disgusting.


And last but not least, here I am, alive and playing Chris' guitar in the park today adorned in daisy chains.


I am very happy here. My mom arrives in Córdoba today, and we're going to head to Barcelona. She'll be here till next Tuesday, and I'm sure I'll have more adventures for you then.

easter sunday

Happy Easter everyone! I love you all so much, and holidays of course, make me miss you (and American food and traditional egg dishes) that much more.

Woke up to go to Mass today with my family, but when I asked them ARE YOU GOING TO MASS? They said, ehhhh we don’t know, but not right now. So I put my pjs back on and went to bed. And then I woke up 4 hours later at noon and my family was gone. Lovely.

Lunch was a traditional Córdobesan-Spanish dish, which is usually an appetizer, but they made it a first course. It’s tomato pureed with something else and its light coral in color, with tiny ham pieces and hard boiled egg on top. It’s kind of like eating cold pasta sauce... not my favorite, but I’ve gotten used to it. Although, usually it comes in a small bowl and you share with friends.... not an entire plate to yourself. We all know how much I love tomato... false.

Mason got home from his amazing journey today so Jenny Chris and I met him in the park with Kayla... we all hung out on my sheet (best idea EVER to bring a sheet to spain with me) in the sun and had a great time. Then we grabbed some icecream, I changed my clothes, and we went to mass at 8pm.

Apparently they dont dress up to go to church here, which is so weird because they are wearing jeans and sweaters inside a giant gorgeous stone carved, gold laced church and it seems so weird to NOT be dressed up. I followed the general structure but had trouble with the words AND its really hard reciting the creeds I have memorized in English when everyone around you is doing them in SPANISH. Ugh. Also went to confession for the first time in YEARS and it was nearly impossible to do in Spanish. The priest knew some English, so that was somewhat helpful, but mostly awkward. He said that even if he doesn't fully understand me, that God does and as long as I am trying to improve myself, that's all that matters to God. Cool.

I hope all of your easters are going well... or your seders or your rain god dances or whatever it may be. I realized that last year for Easter, I was in CHINA. My life is so blessed, it is unbelievable. Thank you to everyone who has ever helped me in life, whether it has been the smallest things like a smile or words of encouragement and love, to helping me financially on this trip. Your help doesn’t go unnoticed and I am eternally grateful for it.

In other news, the Spanish ATM ate my secondary bank card. Fabulous. I am SO grateful it wasn’t my primary one. Called up Wellsfargo, told them Spain ate my card and I needed a new one, hopefully it will arrive in time for my Mom to bring it over with her. OH! And I can definitely last a week with the remaining deodorant. Am having mom bring me over my favorite, so never fear, I will not turn into a smelly European. I know, I know, you are so grateful for my wonderful personal hygiene.

I MISS PEOPLE WHO SHOWER EVERYDAY AND USE DEODORANT. THANK YOU AMERICA, FOR MAKING US SELF CONSCIOUS OF OUR BODIES. Spain isn’t too bad, but some places seriously lack that simple pleasure of not smelling like trash.

Speaking of which, Katie Ollis wasn’t in Italy when the earthquake hit, she was off in Eastern Europe or something, so she’s fine, and Wiggin slept through it. No worries. Katie’s program lets her travel far more than mine does, and she’s seen so much. I can’t help but feel like its more like just trying to cram in a thousand places without really experiencing it, but I guess you do what you can, because who knows when you’ll get back or what you’ll be able to do if you do come back.

Slightly bummed I didn’t get to go to Greece, especially since I won’t be able to go after the program with Mason since he went in January. But I’m starting to chat with people about their favorite places, and I know I have a place to stay in Slovakia and maybe Vienna too, so that’s all good. Working on that couch surfing profile too, so wish me luck!

first half of semana santa

so spring break started out very interestingly....

cancelled greece, packed my bags, and at 2.45 on friday i decided to catch the 3.15 to algeciras, stay the night (no hostel planned), and get on a bus to tarifa the next day to meet up with aliyah, toni, graham, dani, and chris.

6 hours bus ride. hour 2 a CRAZY lady comes on. and thats when I realize I forgot my camera in my other purse sitting on my bed in my piso in Córdoba. typical.

shes dark, like super tanned.... bright red injected lips, a wig but i can see her real hair under it, a baseball cap. she starts talking nonsense... the guy sitting next to her changes seats, but she continues to talk... and its at this point you realize she has an imaginary friend. about hour 4 she starts smacking this imaginary person... pulls out a bag of potato chips and a beer, cracks them open, and goes to town. hour 5 she's yelling at her mother about french fries and broken shampoo..... and the younger crowd around me starts cracking up laughing....

keep in mind, this is all in spanish. so if the people around me are laughing hysterically, you can only imagine that i am only getting a small part of the craziness... aka broken shampoo and french fries.

made it to algeciras at like 930, checked into the first hostal i saw... the woman looked at me like i was nuts for going on my own, gave me my own room for 20euro, and excellent price. the shower room was a bit grungy, but i was happy to have a shower. got directions to a kebab place around the corner, met up with an american girl, chatted a bit. she was on her way to morocco. returned home and slept.

next morning, the gang came up to algeciras and we went to GIBRALTAR! yes, i went to GREAT BRITAIN! walked around, ate fish and chips at a place called LORD NELSONS. got in a van, saw all the sights, st michael's cave which is just a cave filled with stalagmites and stalagtites, and they were playing beethoven. loved it. and the MONKEYS! i had a monkey climb on my head, slap me in the face when i ran out of peanuts, and sit in my arms like a small child. one got in our van even and tried to drive away with us. amazing.

went to tarifa, made breakfast burritos for dinner, went to the beach, trespassed into an old castle tower and then down onto the beach. next morning we went to the beach and frolicked in the strait of gibraltar. my back is sunburned BUT I PROMISE I USED SUNBLOCK!

i met a lot of nice people in the hostel. i was in a different one than the group, but because i had requested a female dorm, i ended up by myself in a 3 person room. NICE. i went to make myself pasta and instead some australian girls gave me some of their stir fry dinner since they had made too much. met up with the gang and went to a place called the CIRCUS -- watched american TV, played ping pong, and then the locals bought us games of pool and we played together and spoke in spanish. we stayed there until like 2 or 3 am... ridiculous.

the next day we caught the bus to cádiz, walked around the city (we'd been there for one night only before to celebrate CARNAVAL in february), saw the castle and went to the beach again. We saw a man selling sea urchins on the street and people eating them just like that... raw and straight out of the spiny shell. the man gave me one for free, opened it for me, and showed me how to eat it.

it was like eating slightly thick freezing cold salt water. i do not reccommend it. but i was in cádiz and living up the experience. we saw a procession and were amazed, then headed to the bus station.


the idea was for chris and i to catch a bus to algeciras and then head on to ronda. we got there 30 minutes early and yet SOMEHOW missed the bus... how, you ask? BECAUSE IT WASNT LABELED that it was going to Algeciras. so we didnt get on it. so we missed it. ended up begging the woman to give us the last two seats to seville with the rest of the gang. she finally caved and chris and i squeezed on.

Seville is KNOWN for its semana santa processions. It is also known that it is EXPENSIVE during the time and IMPOSSIBLE to find lodging on short notice. However, since I am Jamee, OCD, and incredibly lucky... i had written down the numbers of the hostels we had stayed in LAST week and called up... thank goodness they had a room. We made our way to the italian place i had eaten at with katie and jenny and then on to the hostel.

next morning, we went to the bus station to learn that the bus to ronda wasnt running on its normal schedule due to the traffic and the next one wasnt leaving until late in the afternoon, effectively blowing the whole day, so we opted for a quick lunch and then the trip home to córdoba, where i am now.

i got home around 4, helped a guy from san diego find a hostel, and passed out around 5.... woke up at midnight to hear the procession in the plaza, but was too exhausted. i woke up this morning at 9... effectively 16 hours in my bed completely asleep.

looking at other day trips for the rest of the week. madrid or valencia maybe.



love you all, miss you. if i had internet in my house, this would be easier. i had no electricity apparently, so thank goodness i slept for 16 hours.

Package and Aunt Di's Birthday!

Thank you for my package! I TOLD YOU ID NEED THOSE THINGS YOU WOULDNT LET ME BRING.

Why do I not own a normal pair of shorts? This is a problem. Thank you for my girlscout cookies. Thank goodness I got the box after class so I only had to share with Katie and Stephanie. Delicious, I think I'll have one now. I especially enjoyed the addition to the box. Wonderful. Katie and I laughed SO hard. Very creative.

Ooooh and my jewelry. Far too excited for my own good to have some of my own necklaces here. You should be SO proud... 2 months and I only bought 2 rings and some basic headbands.



And not to be greedy or sound incredibly ungrateful... but is anyone sending me another package any time soon? Because I am running out of deodorant and do not trust the ones here because I cannot read the label. I will give you money and tell you exactly which one I want... I won't even complain about the scent if you pick something different. If I am being extreme, it's okay... I'll have my mom bring me some and hope that I can squeeze three weeks out of this thing. I won't be able to. But I need deodorant for Morroco. Fact. Morroco is hot.



In other news... I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY AUNT DIANE! I called you and spoke to you for 0.6 seconds, but I hope you know I love you and miss you. My internet is so spotty lately that I've missed out on a lot of family time. But I love you all.

spring break.

greece fell through within the last day or so... mostly the last 5 hours at school. so im getting on a train and crashing with aliyah, chris, toni, dani, and graham for a few days at the beach in tarifa.

this isn't what i planned, but that's what i get for not planning. i know better.

well, at least now ill save money and explore spain some more.

planning for after-school begins next monday. fact.

home from sevilla, the weather kind of killed it saturday and sunday.

KATIE OLLIS IS HERE! she got in saturday night... and brought bad weather.

bullfight sunday. in the pouring rain. not my favorite.

katie leaves this afternoon. rather sad.


spring break at the end of this week.

sevilla

we leave in the morning for sevilla, which is a city about 2 hours away by bus. we are going with our program, and a few of my friends and i are staying the weekend in hostels there. ill be back midday sunday your time.

the best part is that katie ollis is flying in from rome to visit me in sevilla and then return to cordoba with me... where she will eat with my family on monday and go to school with me.

my mom is coming out the last week of april right before i leave for morroco.

i packed lightly for ireland, i should probably start looking at packing for sevilla, seeing as i leave in a matter of hours.

a man thought i was italian tonight. must have been my sweet dance moves. its really easy to ignore creepy people when you speak english and they have no idea you understand spanish. really easy and quick way to end a conversation.

a few friends have had family or friends pass away while we are here. its really sad and it makes me worried. i hope you are all okay and doing well. i miss you very much.

i found a mexican food aisle at the grocery store. and POMEGRANATES. in spanish, they are called GRANADA... which is the city I was in last month. fate. i love pomegranates. I figure when I get a good grade on a test I will reward myself with one as they are still imported here from India, but a bit expensive. I DID cave and get burgerking today... I just missed american food.

marie carmen has been stressed lately as her students all had 2 major tests this week in math and thus she has had class from 930-2 and 4-10 every night this past week and a half, INCLUDING the weekend... i think ill bring her flowers to hopefully cheer her up.

sergio picked out my outfit for me the other day... and people were like 'hey jamee, you actually got dressed today' and all i can say is that i can barely keep up with american fashion, i am so lucky to have sergio so i dont stand out completely like an american.

by the way, i miss my dogs way too much. when we go to the park we play with puppies and it makes me so happy. there are a lot of 'american' things i miss.... like not having to carry toilet paper with me everywhere... or coffee to go... or english...


the orange trees (which are EVERYWHERE here) are starting to blossom, and the smell brightens my day. you dont realize how much you miss somethign until you stumble upon it here. like mexican food and pita bread.

oh. and i found REAL tortillas. but here they are called tortillitas mejicanas. or somethign like that. because a tortilla here is a weird potato onion omelet. its delicious, but i was tired of asking for AMERICAN TORTILLAS and being given pancakes... MEJICANA TORTILLITAS only come in corn flavor... so glad i like it.

AND I FOUND BROWNIE MIX and it says on the package PRODUCT OF THE UNITED STATES. i have never been more proud.

home from ireland

let me sum up my last 36 or so hours for you.

9pm -- met up with our irish friend PADDY O'TOOLE (yes, his real name) went to PORTERHOUSE, a 3 story irish pub with a live irish band, bagpipes and all. i joined in on irish dancing and had a blast, whilst probably looking absolutely batty.

8am -- woke up and went adventuring on my own in Dublin, visiting the last of the sites I had missed while Steph and Geoff slept (they needed it)... St. Stephens Green, St. Patricks Cathedral, James Joyce statue et al.

11am -- went to the DUBLIN ZOO. yes i did. amazing. love zoos.

3pm -- nearly missed shuttle to airport because i was using the restroom

6pm -- flight delayed an hour, waiter in cafeteria gave me double food for half the price... dont know if thats a good thing or not.

10pm -- arrive in madrid

11.30pm -- get off metro at train station instead of bus station

12am -- arrive at bus station to find out that the 1am bus to Córdoba is full. SERIOUSLY? ITS 1AM PEOPLE, I NEED THE BUS!

1245am -- sweet talk my way onto bus despite the fact that I have a ticket for the 9am bus.

4am -- eat for the first time in 19 hours

6am -- arrive in Córdoba, get Geoff into his hotel.

6.30am -- sleep... for in 2 hours, i have to get up for school.



OH! and the best part? 2 of our 3 classes were cancelled yesterday because my teacher had a problem with her eye... and while that is sad and terrible and such, that means that I didn't really miss my first two classes since they were non existant SO if I ever end up stuck somewhere and cant get back until 1pm one day, THAT IS OKAY!

if thats too difficult to understand, just think of it this way. I didnt miss class because there wasnt any to miss. I still have wonderful attendance.


aaaaaaaaaand i may have bronchitis. blame ireland, the cold, and the slight drizzle of doom i suffered through this morning.

must sleep. am exhausted.

ireland while im here

ireland is amazing. time is about to run out, but i love you all. heres the email i sent out earlier.

HELLO!
I arrived in Ireland after an AWESOME train ride (somehow we ended up in first class with a meal and drinks and everything with a MOVIE!) the flight was delayed and a mess, thank goodness i can sleep ANYWHERE. the irish taxi driver = my new best friend. the hostel the first night was called PADDYS PALACE. wonderful, i tell you, coming in at 2am into a room of 10 snoring people.

yesterday we went and explored trinity college (watch out parents, i may want to go to graduate school out here!), the book of kells, dublin castle (not really a castle), the tax museum (so weird), the liffey river, this beautiful park and giant monument, AMAZING vegetarian food which finally curbed my craving for thai food -- got curry or something. BUT there is a thai restaurant right near our new hostel which is SMACK DAB in the middle of temple bar district which is bar haven and the center of night life. our hostel is the upper floors of a famous bar or something. we met up with stephanies sorority sisters who are studying in rome... her brother is staying with us and hes a cool guy. fun group im with.

as you all know, im not much of a drinker, but how can i come to ireland and not drink guiness? what a weird thick drink. i ended up watching the rugby game (leeds v st helens) at a bar with some people, and the main game IRELAND V WALES is today but its an away game, so we'll be going to the pubs. Today is the guinness factory and the jameson distillery, and st patricks cathedral. tomorrow we want to journey to somewhere out of dublin an dsee the country. steph really wants to see sheep.

there is a woman a few computer stations down SCREAMING in some asian language. is that necessary? no. its not. AND the keyboard here is different than either USA or spain keyboards. im going batty. and im listening to a band called ekolu on youtube to drown her out -- its hawaiian and wonderful and i like it. listen to it. just imagine the american who keeps trying to speak to people in spanish WHILE IN IRELAND listening to hawaiian music. im a whole mix of cultures.

the people here are SO nice, their accents are SO weird, and I met a guy in the bar last night who was at least 6foot 6 or 7 and we became friends based on our height. People are normal height here, minus a few leprechauns. However, just where we are in the city I feel like we have met a lot of English people -- apparently STAG and HEN parties are really popular. Theyre basically crazy bachelor and bachelorette parties where groups of people from England wearing matching shirts or costumes, getting drunk and singing loudly to the american songs. EVERYONE SINGS HERE in the pubs, and you know, that makes me SO happy. Or, we saw a KERRY IS 40 AND NAUGHTY party as well... very interesting to say the least. Steph keeps introducing me as Wonderwoman, which is slightly awkward, but it makes us new friends. It is interesting to see how I immediately go into speaking Spanish with people, forgetting that I am in an English Speaking country. Im hoping that means that my spanish is improving.

PACKAGE AND IRELAND!

I have been so busy studying and worrying about Ireland that today was a welcome relief.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for my package. Everyone was SUPER jealous of my easy mac. I tried on my shirt during lunch, it's sparkly and fun, thank you!

George got girl scout cookies today and everyone went BERSERK. thank goodness it was the kind i dont like or I would have been extremely jealous.

Everyone wants to have a family as awesome as mine, so thank you.

Tomorrow is a GIANT history test. That I feel pretty well prepared for. I was talking to the teacher today and I went over something and he stopped and told me that I knew it very well and that I should teach the class next time. I explained I was a euro history major with a spanish minor and the inquisition was kind of the love of my life. he laughed.

Just had a wonderful rice lunch and now am off to study with Chris in the park, followed by a heavy review session with Steph, Mason, and Chris. I'm grateful I have trained myself to focus anywhere, because I love being outside in the park studying. If I locked myself up in my room like my friends, I'd go crazy.


My test is at noon, should be out by 2. Train to Madrid is at 4, should get there by 6, meeting Steph's brother Geoff at the airport, my flight is at 9pm.

Dublin until Monday, my flight is at 6, I get in at like 8 or 9, and then I am taking the 1am bus back to Cordoba where I will arive by 6am and then proceed to go to class Tuesday at 9am. I am a WINNER. It is a lot of work, but it will be worth it.

I am very sad the Spanish don't celebrate St. Patricks Day.

SAD SAD SAD.

its okay, ill make up for it with lots of green and leprechaun jokes this weekend.

HECTOR!

I got to hold baby Hector today!

Granted, he was sitting on Marie Carmens lap and then threw up everywhere so then I took him so she could go clean herself and the couch up, but YAY I HELD THE BABY!

7 weeks and i finally get to hold the kid.

off to the park.

I'm wearing greeeeeeeeeen.

Internet back AND I MADE A JOKE

HELLO! I have internet back in my house! GLORY!

It's so weird not to talk to family every day.

Just wanted to inform you I made a joke in spanish yesterday and thus feel super cool.

There is this King, Carlos II, and because of incest, he was born deformed and mentally retarded BUT he was the only official male son (the previous king, his father, had a whole bunch of illegitimate children, but of course, the one that really counts ended up 'special') so the Spanish had to have a retarded king for a couple of decades. Then our teacher went on to explain that he was sterile and thus couldnt have children or heirs, and this was a problem.

I said 'no es un problema, es un MILAGRO!'

which translates into, ITS NOT A PROBLEM ITS A MIRACLE.

The teacher laughed at me, told me that was very true, and continued on.

I MADE A JOKE! IT MADE SENSE! EVERYONE UNDERSTOOD!

do you know how rare it is that I can make an actual joke in spanish, even if its only a one liner? I MISS BEING FUNNY. Now all I can do is bop around with expressions on my face and try to do charades to explain what I'm doing.

Stephanie says I dance while I talk and think that my hand gestures help my spanish. We have combined the words DANCE and TALK and I now have my own actions -- I DALK.

lovely.

Maybe I'm a little like Carlos II. Let's hope not.

Package AGAIN! The park, and test numero uno

I am officially the coolest person on the program. Why? BECAUSE I GET MAIL AND PACKAGES!

YOU HAVE MADE ME THE COOLEST PERSON EVER. There is no way I could have done this on my own. Thank you.

I got a package from gammy last week, a card yesterday, and another package today. SO EXCITED.

everyone here is jealous. I am so happy to have a giant family who loves me. THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME AND SENDING ME THINGS!

In other news, I opened up the package to find a few things of instant oatmeal AND I ATE IT RIGHT THEN AND THERE. Pretty sure the cafeteria guys think I'm crazy for wanting a mug of hot water, but I was PSYCHED. way cool.

I'm off to lay out in the park with my friends and buy some french bread and brie cheese and have a picnic. Its become my daily routine.

School, walk home, lunch, grab my sheet and homework or my journal, and meet Jenny and Steph in the park around 4. We lay there chatting and get stared at by the few people in the park, and when 5 or so rolls around children and grandparents and people galore come out of the woodworks to play in the park. We get stared at even more.

Yesterday we watched some old men make a game out of hitting bottles and cans with their canes. We attempt to avoid dog poop when we put our blankets down (usually, this is successful), but yesterday the CUTEST puppy came running up to us. Here, they have really furry long haired dogs and I just dont find them attractive. I like the tiny dogs and the big dogs, but the really dirty messy long haired ones SMELL. ew.

Got around average on my grammar test, we got it back today. Not going to attempt to explain the grading system here to you all, its impossible. BUT I talked with the teacher and I completely messed up one section because I am retarded, and the other were just mistakes. There were quite a few times I had the correct answer and crossed it out for a wrong answer. She says I'm really good with participation and the homework, I just have to have some more faith in myself when it comes to the tests and speaking in class. However, she said I've also become better at speaking spanish, which is nice to hear.

Jamee Loves Spanish History

Got a letter from Tammy today. I put the card up so the super hilighter bright sun she drew for me is on my collage board. it makes me smile. THANK YOU!

One of my friends from home asked how the trip was, said shed hate to have to study and would only want to travel. I mentioned how Katie in Rome only has 2 days of classes and is traveling EVERYWHERE (honestly, WHO GOES TO SWEDEN IN MARCH? silly girl) and i would have really liked that.

BUT... I also then explained that I am a European History major. With a Spanish minor. And how I am probably the one person who gets up every morning and cannot WAIT to get to class. Granted, my first one is grammar which I am not really a fan of, BUT then I get to do literature and history. Yes, it helps that my history professor is a totally gorgeous man. But in all honesty, the time frame right around the 16th century is absolutely amazing. Favorite thing EVER.

So thank you. Thank you for sending me here. Thank you for helping me hone in on what I actually really like. I know I can't do theater. And I despised the math requisites for Biology. I like Euro History... but I LOVE Spanish history. This experience is perfect. Not only am I living in an amazing place having the time of my life, but I am LEARNING exactly what I want. For the first time in a long time I am HAPPY to get up and go to school and learn something.

Por ejemplo, yesterday the teacher said he was letting us out a bit early because he didn't want us to get ahead of the other class. I was BUMMED and was like NO ITS OKAY JUST KEEP GOING and he looked at me like I was crazy. But I wanted to know more. I am so happy here.

Thank you!

my internet died today so i cleaned my room. in the process i found a way to hang a giant calendar that i dont need and have started taping pictures to it since i cant tape them to the walls.

mail me pictures of you and you can go on my wall too!

yay!

PACKAGE FROM GAMMY!

hello all!

GRANDMA PAT! I got your package! Thank you so much! I was in dire need of lotion, especially since the weather has been so cold and now is suddenly fabulously hot. Gotta start wearing skirts and showing those legs!

I am sorry I've been busy, I had my first major grammar-language exam on Thursday and another huge Literature-Film test yesterday. I think I'll get my grammar one back today... I'll let you know.

I've been trying to figure out a schedule for myself. I tend to wake up at 7am here to talk to people, leave for school by 9 (ok, ok, im a little late on that part), school until 2, walking home i arrive by 3, lunch until 4, and then my friends and i meet up in the park to do homework or run (they run, i read) while the sun is out, then we go to an internet cafe or go find an art exhibit, when i return home around 8 or 9, shower, dinner, bed.

good schedule, no? my spanish is getting better.

bought a ticket for sergio's play he's in on friday. then i might go out with him and his friends. i've been talking to a few more locals lately, some of them slow down for me and some of them frankly don't care. oh well. im trying!

DREAM IN SPANISH!

I had my first dream in Spanish last night!

Okay, half english, half spanish. Someone from home was here in spain and talking to my spanish family at the dinner table and he kept responding in english, so I translated everything into Spanish.

IN MY DREAM!

I know this probably sounds stupid to you all, because dreaming in Spanish doesn't even sound like a good idea to me, but it's apparently a big milestone or something, as I was told by previous study abroaders. I'm excited.

Hopefully next time it will be more thrilling.

Today is a beautiful day. Going out with mark and studying and such. Test tomorrow!

and for the record...

I fixed my shower.

It's been 3 weeks but I finally figured it out. There are these two knobs (blue and red... i figured cold and hot) way up high on the wall above the door in my bathroom. I got on my tip toes and twisted the red one.

Shower fixed.

I feel really proud of myself. Is that silly? I don't care.

Granada - Warning really long and LOTS of photos

Hello all! This blog is REALLY long with a lot of photos, but it gives you my weekend in Granada. Here is a photo at La Alhambra showing you that I am healthy and alive and obviously incredibly happy to be here. I love you all and hope you enjoy my updates. I'm sorry theyre so long.

Granada was an interesting weekend. Friday morning, bright and early, at 7.50AM (okay, okay, i got there at 7.53 but COME ON, that's really good for me!) I met up with everyone at the hotel near my house to get on the bus. The guys carried backpacks, the girls carried either multiple bags and/or (i found the / sign on my keyboard. YAY!) a backpacking bag like mine. Yes, I had both. Although I would like to make this disclaimer that my bag was so full because I brought 3 tubs of pasta, 2 towels because I knew someone would forget (my hostel room was so lucky to have me, turns out a towel isnt something you remember to pack usually), and my wonderful amazing fleece blanket. Drove three hours on the bus to Granada... PHOTO - steph sleeping on the bus (I actually have one of her on the way back to Cordoba too.. pretty sure Im going to start keeping a log of STEPH SLEEPING ON THE BUS photos and present it as a gift to her back in the states... hahaha)

Got to Granada because our class trip was to La Alhambra (see photo of me standing out front of the sign)... La Alhambra was the Muslim fortress/palace whilst the Muslims lived in Spain. They survived centuries without falling to the Catholic reconquest because Granada is in a great area as far as defensive tactics... lots of mountains, communication system, as well as the snow from the mountains giving them a constant water supply when other areas of the country were in drought... AND heres a few fun facts as to why the Muslim people were not affected by the Black Plague that destroyed so much of Europe. Muslims have to bathe regularly, and at the time, it was considered a Christian sin to see a woman naked, and hence, Catholics did not bathe (lovely, I know... we smell. YAY!)... so the hygiene was a LOT better. Secondly, since they were Muslim people, they were excluded from trading with other European countries and ports... they instead traded with North Africa. WELL, lucky for them, because the plague was spread by rats who were infested with fleas who would bite people and give them the plague. These rats were stow-aways on ships sailing from the Middle East to Europe for trading. As you can imagine, the 4 major port cities in Spain got DESTROYED population-wise from the plague while the Muslims were just fine and dandy. When the Catholics DID reconquer Granada, they said they would keep the palace, and are restoring it to this day. In relation to those fabulous Catholic Monarchs I love SO much (totally serious, this is the reason I became a European History major... Isabel I and Ferdinand II), their grandson Carlos V (Charles, to you non-Spanish history people) honeymooned there with his wife, and they built a palace there. Sweet deal. Here that is... well, here is my awesome photo from the inside of it. We wandered around the Al Hambra with our guide, who spoke SPANGLISH to us. There were two groups, the I SPEAK SPANISH REALLY WELL and the I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU THE TOUR IN SPANGLISH SO YOU ACTUALLY KNOW WHATS GOING ON tour.... While I have been placed in the higher spanish class, I'm wasn't about to miss out on actually understanding the history of this place, so we went with the SPANGLISH version. Steph and I in front of the relection pool, being ADPi. Another fun fact, the piping in the Al Hambra is all based off of gravity, no mechanical pumps or anything like that, so that was really cool. The fountain of the 12 lions is currently being restored, so that was out of commission, but I remember what it looked like from my trip there before. Heres the reflection pool WITHOUT steph's and my giant bodies in front of it. And no, this is not a postcard. These are my excellent photography skills. I actually have no idea WHAT I am doing, but I put my camera on manual and started playing with the settings. It's nice to have a film major on the trip who can show me a little about basic settings on my camera. I have no clue as to what they MEAN, but I feel oh-so-talented when I see my photos. I really enjoy photography and wish I had taken a class about it in high school. Sorry guys, I still don't wish I had taken the AUTO class, although I'm sure that would have been helpful.



Here's a fun story about Jamee and La Alhambra. As we all know, I am rather tall. Roughly 5'10 (no, I am not converting that to meters). Jenny here is probably my height if not a smidge taller. As I've said before, everything here in Spain is on the smaller side... so when Jenny and I find doors that are smaller than we are tall, we take pictures in front of them. When you go to a museum or a castle or anything historic and important, you would imagine that the doors to all areas NOT on the tour would be locked or at least closed properly. False. This was not the case. I went to stand in front of the door, grabbed a hold of the handle to get into a typical JAMEE THUMBS UP IM A GIANT IN SPAIN pose, and the door gave way and I fell into the room, in front of a lot of my program and a large group of asian tourists, many who found this hilarious. A very awkward moment in my book. I stumbled out of the room back into the courtyard, and Jenny and I took a photo. Here it is. I look a little frightened. Silly things like that make trips memorable. We ambled along some more, and it's weird the things you remember when you return to a place... when we walked along the corridor with windows of the garden, I was immediately reminded of being there the first time with my parents in 2000. I even remember the conversation we were having at the time, and was really kind of shocked and yet proud of myself that I would remember something that, in reality was only 8 or 9 years ago, but that I was so much younger and didn't really grasp how absolutely amazing this was. Maybe that trip is what started the seed for my liking the Inquisition and Spain so much... like, we've all learned about Napoleon or Musolini, but Spain won its spot in my heart.

Theres this tree in another courtyard that is said to be the Tree of Eternal Love... that if you touch it, you are bound to find your eternal love. Please believe I not only touched it, I took a photoshoot with it, climbed up behind it, and then got stuck trying to escape from it. From there we walked to other areas of La Alhambra (by the way, the word translated into Arabic means RED CASTLE, because the bricks are reddish). There's this one building (granted, its part of a castle so it really isnt a BUILDING, but you get the idea...) that has these grand windows and THESE I REMEMBER those when I was here the last time. Like, you say the Alhambra and my mind goes RED CASTLE, gets a vision of the postcard-esque photo, and then goes IMMEDIATELY to these. I have NO idea what they are. This is not a door, this a stone wall, so they aren't door knockers. But I can recall LOVING them when I was 12 and apparently that weird quirk stayed with me. I was so excited about them at the time I wanted to call up Terry and yell GUESS WHAT I FOUND!?!? but alas, my cell phone is not for those purposes. side note -- I MISS MY CELLPHONE PLAN BACK HOME. So we then are guided to the GENERALIFE... which no, is not pronounced GENERAL LIFE. Its hen er ah lee fee. Heres a picture of the water fountain and garden from it. again, more excellent photography skills.

It really was gorgeous. My favorite is this what I assume to be a cherry blossom tree, and you can see the snow-capped Sierra Mountains in the background. Amazing. I'm simply grateful it didn't snow or rain while we were there... I mean, it did at night, but nothing else. After La Alhambra, the entire program went to this lunch buffet at the hotel, and this girl Ana and I sat with Ramon and his wife Kathleen. Ramon is the program director. He works from UCSD but is here for a year directing the southern spain programs -- Granada and Cordoba during the year and Cadiz in the summer. Wonderful people who have lead such amazing lives together. You know me, I'm a sucker for old couples' romance stories, so I learned all about how they met and got engaged a month later, they have like 10 or 12 kids and have lived in the US and some European countries with them. I think one of their sons is named Jaime, actually. After all their kids had grown up, they became emergency foster parents, and listening to them talk about that was really interesting. Last summer I started reading some books about foster kids and the system, and I really feel like its something I could do later on in my life. But we're not talking about that now, we're talking about Spain.

After this we trekked (literally, the program guides and such left to go back to Cordoba on the bus and we all grabbed our bags from beneath the bus and started walking) down the MOUNTAIN from La Alhambra and into town. Roughly 15 people or so from our program happened to have booked the same hostel, so we declared AMAZING RACE status and started going... except none of us knew where it was and we all went together. I have a video of Steph and I stumbling down the hill. So of course, we got lost. Trekking up this MOUNTAIN into the middle of town and the streets are old and they intertwine and its just bad news. It took us like a good 45 minutes and almost being run over by a car in a small alley but we found it. I also took a video of me being very Jamee-like and whining a bit about the hike. We found it, it is AMAZING.



1) It has free wireless internet. Granted, I have internet at home, so I wasn't all that concerned, but Stephanie doesn'thave internet in her house here and was absolutely delighted and brought her laptop just for this purpose.

2) It had a communal kitchen. Breakfast was included, and I had brought 3 tubs of pasta, which we ended up eating each night instead of spending money. One night Chris made this fabulous cheese and herb tub and the next night Ilana made a garlic, onion, tomato sauce, spinach tub. Pasta is a wonderful idea.
3) It had HAMMOCKS. Please believe the Americans were all OVER this. Plus it had this little alcove under the stairs to our room which had like a mini diarama of SPACE or something. Photo is necessary to explain.

4) It had a TV room, but we never used it.
5) The bathroom (co-ed) was clean, had ample lighting and one plus, a heater, and 3 showers... all which provided fabulous hot water and came with at least one of the usual 3 soaps you would use... for instance, stephanie had shampoo in her stall and i had shampoo and soap in mine. Don't worry, I brought my own stuff of course.... can't be too trusting of what is actually in those bottles!
6) Linens were included
7) some of the staff spoke fabulous english!
8) it actually WAS really close to the center of town... we eventually found the right path to take.


Mason, Jenny, Chris, Ilana, Steph, and I were in this 6 person room. The hostel had the main building and then this two story building... the bottom floor was the kitchen and the second floor was... our room! We had a little balcony overlooking the courtyard meeting place, the hammocks were right there, it was literally the best spot. It was called THE STAR ROOM because of the lights hanging inside. The bunks weren't your usual 2 bunk beds, it was 3 bunks vertical, and I claimed top bunk on the one WITHOUT the giant beam going across it. Survival of the fittest. Mason, stuck on the bottom bunk, eventually just pulled his mattress out onto the floor and slept there, quite comfortably.



Despite my giant bag of glory, I happened to forget boots for the rain or really, any other shoes besides my converse. And any clothes besides jeans and long sleeve shirts for the weather. So I forgot an outfit for going out clubbing. I'm still learning, I'm not used to a party life. But stephanie was sick (we later found out shes got gastroenteritis or something that sounds really funny when you say it in spanish) so I stayed in with her the first night... here is a photo of her in her middle bunk on her computer with wireless wearing MY PANTS because she forgot. Yes, I brought sweatpants AND pj pants. Like I've mentioned, my friends tend to call me MOM because Im always prepared for things (except clubbing, apparently) and checking on people, and they joke, but they're thankful for it and thats all that matters. I caught up on my journal and I read and talked with people returning from the night.


Next morning I rounded up the troops (yes I did, whether they liked it or not), made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (another brilliant idea to bring a loaf of bread and condiments, between the pasta and sandwiches we were set all weekend), and we took off for the cathedral. Another fun fact -- the streets are all cobblestone and no one cleans up after their dog. It had rained the night before and so walking conditions were less than prime. AKA Jamee's pants are really long because I have to buy tall people pants and they ended up in dog poop and I RAN back to the hostel, put on my jeans that i can tuck into my shoes (yes, just IMAGINE how cool I looked) and ran back down. We went to the Cathedral, which is the 2nd largest in all of spain and its gorgeous. Attached was a museum with some cool artifacts in it and a statue of the head of St. John the Baptist.

Then we were accosted by gypsies time and time again, hence my previous post. The Capilla Real was closed for siesta so we walked up another MOUNTAIN and found this amazing view. I really like graffiti, when done as art, and granada is covered in both kinds. After this we went to grab food and we ended up at this DELICIOUS kebob place. I got chicken and it was quite literally the tastiest thing I have eaten since arriving in Spain. Do you see how happy I am in this photo? I am SO happy. And then I spilled some of the amazing sauce on my pants, which made me very not happy. Anyway... after this we still had time to kill so we went to a hookah bar where we ordered tea and coffee and the melon flavored hookah. I attempted smoking this (it is legal in the states, it is not a crazy drug, its flavored tobacco), and ended up coughing and not feeling good... I had a headache that made me want to vomit. I don't like smoking in general, so being in a bar specifically catered to smoking was probably not my wisest decision. Not doing that again.

We ended back at the Capilla Real, which is a smaller church that Isabel and Ferdinand spent a quarter of their fortune building, and it's beautiful. Photos were not allowed, but I am Jamee and do not care because this is where my two of my three favorite historical figures are allegedly buried. Here's the deal. The church was ransacked by Napoleon's troops back in the day, and word has it that they vandalized the tombs and the bodies... so if there ARE bodies in the actual coffins, they may or may not actually be the correct ones. But for sake of my heart and my history love, I am going to say that they are in there. The flags represent the different areas. The green and white flag is for Andalucia, the area that Isabel reigned on her own, and the Green and red is for Ferdinand and Aragon, the area HE reigned. When they married, they made the first modern state in europe, the yellow and red SPAIN. The tombs from left to right are Felipe THE HANDSOME of Austria (married to Ferd and Isabel's second oldest, Juana THE CRAZY), Ferdinand, Isabel, Juana, and the smallest casket (you cant see it in this photo, sorry!) is that of Miguel, the firstborn grandchild of F-I... however, Miguel died and shortly thereafter his father Juan (F-I's oldest son) died. Basically, I won't get into the history, but F-I had a HORRIBLE time with the death of their 5 children and their grandchildren, literally like everyone died before a proper heir could be born, and it was left up to Juana La Loca to take over Spain (I'll explain about her when I talk about friday's movie) and she finally bore Carlos V who would end up being a GIANT player in Europe's history. But her husband Felipe was a cheating BUTTHEAD. Here is the top tomb thing... One bed for FandI (pictured), another for FandJ... Isabel's head is said to rest deeper in the stone pillow because her head weighed more because she was smarter than Ferdinand.... which is somewhat true because she was the brains behind everything.



We all felt absolutely horrible at this point, we assume from the food, and went back to rest for a few hours at the hostel. I spoke to Stephanie's parents while they were on skype, steph's mom was an ADPi too! I may go to Greece with them for spring break. Back in the room, what started out as a nap turned into 3 hours of us all talking and getting to know each other. It was amazing. We realized that due to Spanish customs and our agreemtne with the program, that the only time we could all just hang out and be together were these weekend sleepovers in hostels, eating together and getting ready together. The ability to invite people to your own home is something we take for granted and I will NOT do that ever again. Jenny had a difficult time in her middle bunk (shes all bruised from getting in and out of it) and at one point ended up on my bed (the most comfortable!) and we fell asleep... weird to fall asleep next to someone after all this time. At home, I have the dogs or I go crawl in bed with my sister some mornings... but here, you can tend to feel isolated really easily, which makes you super grateful for your friends.

Next morning we packed up and headed to the bus station. Here we are saying goodbye outside the plaza, with a statue of Isabel granting her consent and giving money to Cristobal Colon, or better known as Christopher Columbus. THATS RIGHT. My favorite woman in history gave consent to the trip that would end up finding the Americas. Left to right, Ilana, Mason, Stephanie, all from Berkeley, Steph's in my sorority up there, and Jenny from Chicago who graduated HS early and is studying on a different progam but they are all Chinese and dont speak english so we adopted her.



I would just like to show you this photo... when preparing for the trip, I went and bought forks and cups to survive with. The forks are labeled horribly and it made us laugh. Firstly, the brand (I assume its a brand) is called DOLPHIN, and the package is labeled KNIFE KNIFE, but it is a package of forks, and then on the front it says FORKS -- CREAT FOR PARTIES. I can only assume they meant GREAT for parties... not CREAT.

Packages from family!

hahaha, oh fate, you silly thing. I write a post about sending me things, including saying EVEN IF THE ENVELOPE IS HOT PINK SEND IT! and then this....

Grandma Pat -- thank you for the card. I received it today and love that the envelope was, in fact, hot pink. I love irony.

Grandma Ellie and Sam -- thank you for the package. The apricots traveled incredibly well and my friends and I enjoyed them... so much so that I have barred myself from eating anymore today.

Your cards are going on my wall. I even bought tape. I am sorry that my phone quality here is not very good, but I hope you know how much your efforts mean to me. Thank you!

Love you LOTS!

Gypsies

Gypsies annoy me. They are not nearly as cool as was depicted by animated cartoon THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTREDAME, where esmerelda is this pretty 20-something with a really cool outfit who dances around.

Most of them are 40 or older, larger, worn, hair-in-not-ok-places on their faces, and they can be MEAN when you either walk past them or nicely tell them you are not interested in their rosemary. Believe me, the snappy comments running through my mind in English would make their heads spin, but alas, I am not nearly as witty in Spanish as I am in English. Sarcasm does not translate well. When continually accosted in Granada (Yes, I will update about that later, promise) by the same three gypsies who had each tried to seduce me to their wizardry at least twice, I just figured out a very simple saying --- NO. SIEMPRE NO. which equates to NO ALWAYS NO. I probaly sound like I have no brain, but oh well. They left me alone for roughly 5 minutes. I do NOT want this false REGALO (gift) of rosemary you try to give me and then you grab my hand in an iron grip and try to tell me my fortune and my attempt to wriggle out of your witch-like grasp usually ends in you yelling at me, demanding money for NOTHING, or me fracturing a bone.

HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO ACTUALLY MAKE A DECENT AMOUNT OF MONEY TO LIVE OFF OF DOING THIS? I watch them STAND there and get denied time after time and I don't see the productivity or even the LOGIC behind thinking this is a good idea.

Granted, I realize I say these things while temporarily studying and living in one of the countries with the roughest economy at the present time, but COME ON. There is a difference between your everyday paro (unemployed) and your gypsy. The gypsy doesn't TRY to find a job or work. They are in their same corner every day shoving rosemary or their child at you, going OH WE NEED HELP. I'm sorry, but I see that giant package of foodstuffs or diapers or whatnot you just bought and are currently hiding under a pile of clothes and are monitoring out of the corner of your eye while harassing people on the street saying you need clothes and food. Stop teaching your crying child to use the plaza or a tree as a restroom and then use it as a display so people give you money.

I think that is what frustrates me more. It frustrated me in China too. DO NOT HAVE A CHILD if you cannot take care of him or her in a safe and decent manner. A child is not a prop in your giant con or scheme. Why is your child not in SCHOOL and instead sitting on the corner with you doing NOTHING but staring and holding her hand out? Again, perhaps there is absolutely no place your child can get an education for free. You may not have paperwork or the ability to sign your child up for shcool. But I feel like that should be a goal. Not a swanky job or a fabulous car or anything, but to support your child so they can go to school and be more than a drifter on the streets. There is so much potential to cultivate in a child, and I feel like its being wasted on rosemary and begging.

It is a lifestyle, and I realize that. You grow up in it, just like I grow up thinking that if you have put no effort towards bettering your life, than I will put no effort into helping you further that lifepath. I probably sound heinous now, and family, I want you to know I do have a heart and I am not a bad person. I just wish these people would help THEMSELVES more when they appear capable, just unwilling.

Who knows.

My address, for those of you who want it

Hello. Below is my address here. It does not go to my house, it goes to my school where my program director hands it out to me a few times a week. I look REALLY cool in front of my friends when I get stuff in the mail. REALLY COOL. Packages are fabulous, but not necessary as they cost an arm and a leg, I'm pretty sure.

HOWEVER, if you would like to send me a letter or something, please consider my situation- I live in a small white rectangle lacking art. PLEASE decorate your letters, envelopes, draw me a picture, send me a photo. Whatever you can do to jazz up that white piece of paper and these white walls, I am ALL FOR IT. Stickers, markers, heck, spray your perfume on it because goodness knows my room is starting to smell like the bananas I bought last week and haven't finished (don't worry grandma, I won't waste them. They are going to be delicious banana and peanut butter sandwiches).

I do not care if it is a comic from the paper, you drew me a picture, or you chose a hot pink envelope instead of a white one. I will appreciate anything. And none of this typed-up stuff. I want to see your handwriting. No wite-out. I want to see mistakes, cross-outs, scribbles, human grammar and punctuation. Write me in english or spanish, I do not care. Heck, write me in French and I will find a way to translate it. I want evidence that my loved ones at home are alive, thriving, and haven't changed too horribly much from when I left you a month ago.

Here you go --

first -- send it to this address:

Centro de Estudios de la Universidad de California
Universidad de Cordoba
Jamee Hawn
Avda. Menendez Pidal s/n
Edificio Servicios Multiples, Planta 5a
14004 Cordoba Espana


second -- write NO COMMERCIAL VALUE on the object where they can see it so they don't charge you taxes or something of that nature.

third -- please attach your return address and inside whatever you send me please let me know what number to reach you at. I will call you and squeal loudly into your ear how happy I am to have received proof of american life. thank you.


oh... and i set up the voicemail on my skype so if you call me and i am asleep or at school, you can leave me a voicemail for me to check when I get back, just like a normal phone. AAAAND it has my voice recording on it so you can hear me be my idiotic self as I tell you to leave me a message.

Okay. Way too much writing for the moment. LOVE YOU!

Ramblings going on in my head.

I need a break from studying so I'm writing in this.

I am sitting here watching BRIDGET JONES' DIARY for the second time in a row. I AM attempting to be Spanish, as I keep the subtitles in Spanish (I looked, Spanish language dub is not an option), however, I just wanted it as background noise to drown out the sound of the tutoring session going on in the next room, so I'm not even WATCHING it I'm only LISTENING. and only partly.

I am also incredibly proud of myself that I have gone an entire month in a foreign country whilst having bouts of homesickness without watching it.

I veto'd the GO TO BARCELONA FOR THE LONG WEEKEND idea because that's where my mom will want to go if she comes out. However, she's slacking on her end of picking dates, and it is seriously messing up my travel plans. I want to go to Ireland with Stephanie for the weekend with 2 other ADPis and her brother, but the ticket price has literally tripled in a week. I can get there without a problem, it's getting back that is proving an issue. And I'm not about to book a flight and not know if I can get home. So I'm figuring it out. I'm looking at money and I just had to pay my EAP tuition bill and am starting to really think over my trips and stuff.

OH and UCLA, in all their genius wonder, double billed me. I got a bill for being abroad (just under 4000) and another bill (just over 3000) for spring tuition at UCLA. I AM NOT AT UCLA. I called them and they were like WELL ITS NOT OUR FAULT, but alas, it was. Silly people.

There's an opportunity to stay in Barcelona for the month of July and teach English to kids, and I've sent in my CV for it. One guy was already offered one of the 15 spots, and it's really exciting. Teaching English as a foreign language is what I want to do.... but how can I expect myself to last that long on a 1000euro salary paying rent and living a month beforehand? I have friends in Slovakia I know I can crash with and apparently I have family in Austria. Plus there's couch surfing. Who knows.

But then there's also the fact that I need to work so I can pay for the sorority and housing next year. I was bouncing back and forth between the house and an apartment, and the house has apparently already filled up for the year, minus a few open spots during the fall quarter. So that is apparently a giant FAIL. I'm a senior, it's my last year, and I should probably figure out how to live on my own at some point. Do that whole grown up independent self reliable thing. I will probably snag food from the house like all the other live-outs before me, and I'm okay with that.

HOWEVER there is always the possibility that I won't be re-approved to work at six flags and I can kiss my fabulous-paying job goodbye. and THEN i'd have to look for summer work half way through june. I am not a fan of that idea either. I mean, heck, I'm HERE, why not STAY?


Needed to put thoughts down. If this is terribly depressing I'll delete it later. Any input on places I can visit here? I swear I'm monitoring my quickly dwindling money (stupid morocco final payment is still 220euro more and its driving me nuts trying to convert money in my head). Granted, paying a multi-grand bill can make you feel like you will soon be living in a cardboard box with the gypsies.

oh, and isn't this a kicker

newest weather report for granda ---

SNOW on Sunday. SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY?

it will be in the high 60s here in Cordoba.

grrrrrr.