Avoiding Homework to Update You Guys :)

Daniella & I at the festival!

With the LMFAO crew

 I really should be reading for my culture class right now but blogging seems more interesting. And since I haven’t blogged in a while, AND Mom is anxious for me to write more, I figured I’d blog about the past two weeks. The roommates and I went to a festival here in Madrid, where everyone dresses up and just parties together in the center of Madrid. We didn’t exactly plan for this so we didn’t have costumes but Daniella did my make-up and we went with some really cool designs on our faces. It was SO fun to see all of the people dressed up! A group of people was dressed up as the band LMFAO, and another group was dressed as the Scooby-Doo gang, I, of course, was IN LOVE with that group! (As a little side note, as I’m typing this I am snacking on part of a baguette with olive oil, man I love Spain!) Any who, the carnival was really fun. I think the funniest part was that it was really common for guys to dress as girl things, like nurses and maids. They had the dresses, tights, fake boobs, and everything. It was quite hilarious!

The Scooby-Doo Crew

We put them to work!

The BBQ was for this little lady's 24th!

This past weekend was my roommate, Carolina’s, 24^th birthday so we got together with some of the guys from another house that my landlord’s own and we had a BBQ then a party for her. It was SO nice for the guys to do all of the cooking for a change while us girls just sat back and had some beers, and of course marveled in their tan skin and muscles glowing in the sun as they cooked. I have my little group of people I hang out with and it’s really nice, like my group of friends from home.  And the great thing is that they want to practice their English and I want to practice my Spanish so we talk to each other that way.

These boys know how to cook!

FIESTA FOR CAROLINA

Classes have been going really well. This past Monday I got to help teach in one of my classes because I am the only English speaker in the class, that is taught in English…pointless, I know. But it was fun because I got to practice the ESL aspect of my degree, and man am I glad that I already speak English because the girls in my class are studying to teach English to kindergarten students and they are trying to learn English themselves. English is such a hard language, for instance we have 19 vowels where in Spanish they only have 5, and I definitely feel for these girls. I’m doing pretty well in my other classes too, the professors are really nice and I understand their Spanish pretty well. There was one instance last week when my ethics professor was talking about “películas thumby” (for English speakers películas means movies). And I was like “WHAT THE HECK ARE THUMBY MOVIES????” so I tried to Google search it in class so I could follow along and as he kept talking I noted that he was talking about death and other gruesome things and I later had a light-bulb moment when I realized that his Spanish accent was EXTREMELY strong and that “películas thumby” were actually “películas ZOMBIE”. I absolutely adore the lisp that native Spanish speakers have but sometimes I have to really concentrate to know what they are saying. But I am starting to pick it up, and only my Spanish speaking friends will appreciate this but I’ve started saying simple things like “gracias, cerveza, sí, and esta” with a lisp. I’m SO excited to continue to speak like this when I get back to the states.

I got a care package from home yesterday and it really made my day! I have never been happier to see a package of Roman Noodles in my life! My parents sent me all kinds of American foods and the notes from my sisters were SO sweet! I miss them all so much but I know that this opportunity is a GREAT one and that I won’t get it again, so I’m making the most of it and having fun for the 7 of us!

Hernán and I :)

And as most of you know, I met a boy. I figured I might as well just write it all on here instead of telling each of you separately. His name is Hernán and he is 24, he is a law student here at UEM and from Chile. We met because he lives in one of the other houses that my landlords own, so we all hang out a lot. We are just getting to know each other and getting closer, he is a really sweet guy and cares for me a lot. But the downside is I am only here until June, so I am keeping that in mind as I spend more and more time with him. But it can’t hurt to make new friends J

Me and my old school phone!

I finally got a Spanish cell phone and man, does it take me back! It’s a flip phone and I feel like I’m in middle school again. Sadly, I was really excited to have a flip phone again. Opening and closing it has got to be the MOST fun! Of course, I still LOVE my iPhone but let’s be honest, it’s kind of useless while I’m over here so my new phone is the bees knees!