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!