"finals week"

I made it. All the way to finals week. I can't believe how fast this semester went! I feel like it was just last week that I skyped my mom for the first time freaking out because I didn't want to be here anymore. Keep in mind that that was the first day in Spain, I hadn't slept in 2 days, and I was both physically and mentally exhausted. Now, almost four months later, I know I am going to miss Spain so much and I am going to be so sad to leave. I am going to miss my host mom, her cooking, and our talks about Twilight, Edward, and Jacob. Buuuttt, I am SO FREAKING EXCITED to see my family, hang out with them, and be able to talk to them in person!

I am finally in "finals week", which is NOTHING like finals week at Bethel. I always get so stressed out around finals time, but this time is so much different. I am still nervous and stressed out, but not nearly as stressed out and nervous as last year. I had a presentation today in my photography class about my own photos and it was so easy and actually fun! Tomorrow, I have an "entrevista" for my Advanced Communication class. All that is, is talking to Ricardo. Just talking. It is just to show that our Spanish has improved and our communication has gotten better. Then I have "trabajos" due on Friday ( they are basically 1 1/2 page papers about an article that our professor gave us and we had to do 5) for Art and Civilization and a test for that class on Monday. Also due Monday is my final paper for Modern Literature. I am really stressed, but I am pretty sure I will do just fine.

I have 4 days that I am looking forward to! First, tomorrow I get to go to Breaking Dawn with my host mom. Second, Monday I am going to be done with all of my finals and just get to relax my last 3 days in Spain. Third, Wednesday we all have our goodbye dinner with all of the students and their host mom's. Lastly, Friday I GET TO COME HOME AND SEE EVERYONE!!! There is a downside to having 3 free days because we will not have anything to distract us from being so close to being home. I still have a ton of shopping to do for Andrea, Dad, and Mom so maybe I will be able to do that this weekend and next week.

Everyone here is so ready to come home because we all miss our family a ton! I feel like it was a good thing that no one from my family visited me because I feel like I would have missed them more when they left. I was a little sad when a ton of people had their parents and friends visit, but now I think that this was probably the best situation for me because I wouldn't have wanted them to go. I am more than ready to come home, see my family, go to Caribou and Big Bowl, then go to bed! I am so excited to see you all! Love you all tons!

Thankful...

I thought that I should probably post something on this fine Turkey Day... It is definitely not gonna be the same, but I know that it will be a ton of fun with all of the people on this trip.

I am thankful for....

• My parents, who always support me
• My sisters and Mike, who are always looking out for me
• Grandma and Grandpa Kramer, who are ALWAYS at sporting events, choir concerts, and big events in everyone's lives, and for just being there whenever. Also, for being the best grandparents someone could ask for :)
• My friends, who are always there if I need to talk (or text)
• My host family, who make living in a country far far away feel more like home
• My AMAZING sister Andrea, for always saying something positive to me when I am complaining about not being home
• My OTHER amazing sister Amanda, for always talking through things with me

I can't wait to come home TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW!!! I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving and I can't wait to talk to you all today! (p.s. remind mom to skype!). I love you guys and I can't imagine what my life would be like without you! Thank you for everything you guys have done for me!

Love you a lot! Happy Thanksgiving!

BOTHERED!

I know that I am SO incredibly lucky to have this opportunity to be in Spain for close to four months, with my meals provided, a somewhat comfortable bed, a great host family (with amazing food when it isn't fish), but I can't help but be a little depressed right now. I realized at the beginning of the trip that I am going to miss everyone's birthdays, but I just realized about a month ago that I am going to miss Thanksgiving for the first time in my entire life. AND it's the first holiday that Andrea and Mike are home for good! BOTHERED! I don't get to spend it with my crazy family, eating until I am so full that I don't want to smell any food anymore then eating dessert. However, I do get to spend Thanksgiving with 21 other students who are in the same situation. We apparently have someone "growing" our turkey (exact words) and a couple people are making pumpkin pie for us, but it most definitely will not be the same without Dad, Andrea, Amanda, Mike, and Kyle's sarcastic comments. And I am going to miss hearing Dad and Uncle Kyle laughing at the same time. Best. Part. of the holidays. EVER! DOUBLE BOTHERED! I miss you all so much and I can't wait to get home and see you all in 16 days! (Yes, I am counting down)

Amanda- You better be proud! This is the second day in a row that I have posted something!
Mom- You were right. I am most definitely happy that you told me I couldn't stay for j-term.


*If you haven't seen the YouTube videos "Robert is bothered" you probably won't get the reference. The videos are great so go watch them.

two and a half weeks, say whatttt????

So, I am writing this while watching 300 in Spanish! So gross. Anyway, I ran in the rain all the way to and from a little grocery store kind of thing for ice cream, Propel-like water, and chocolate chip cookies for the movie. I was soaking wet for about an hour... Super fun.
In other news, I have been having an interesting couple of days! I have been strangely motivated to do my homework since Saturday. It is such a strange feeling. I have gotten so much done and I have been so much less stressed the past couple of days too! I still have so much to do by the end of the semester though!
To Do:

1. 2 page paper about Spanish Inquisition for Dec. 2
2. 2 page paper about "tumbaollas y hambrientos" for Dec. 2
3. 2 page paper about Roman Churches in Segovia for Dec. 2
4. 2 page paper about Art (hispano-visigodo) for Dec. 2
5. 2 page paper about muslum art in Andalucia for Dec. 2
6. Project about Antoni Gaudi for Nov. 25
7. Project for Photography for Nov. 30
8. Read story and answer questions for Modern Lit for Nov. 22 and 28
9. Write a summary about a news story from a Spanish newspaper for Nov. 22
10. Study for Art and Civilization test on Dec. 5th
11. Write final paper for Modern Lit Dec. 5th

I get to go take pictures on Wednesday with a friend who was awesome enough to agree to be my model for a portrait picture. But other than that I think that that is it for the rest of the semester! I am getting so excited to get home and get back to normal food and be able to hang out with my family! SO excited! But I am also trying to live up Spain while I still get to live here for the next 2 and a half weeks! I am loving that I get to be here and have gotten to live here for the past almost 4 months, but I hate that I am missing EVERYONES birthdays. Mike in September, Mom and Dad in October, and Andrea and Amanda on Tuesday next week. I miss you all a ton and I hope you have a great couple of weeks! I am sure it will fly by as fast as the rest of this semester has!

pensamientos de españa

I have been thinking a lot the past couple of days about how much I have learned here and how much I miss home. I absolutely love it here. I love the culture and the language and most of the food but I miss being able to make my own food, to-go coffee, and hanging out with my family and friends. I have learned so much here about myself, Spanish, and how much I actually talk to my family. I realized that before I came here, I talked to my family so much through texts, phone calls, and in person. Now if I have a question or funny story, I have to write it down and attempt to find it when I Skype them about once or twice a week. I have been counting down the days (20) and weeks (3) until I get to come home and hang out with my family. I know for a fact that I am gonna miss being here and having Spanish be a part of my everyday life. And I know I am going to miss my host mom a lot! But I also know that I am gonna be so happy to be home and be able to work (cause I actually miss working a ton!) and be able to hang out with my friends and family. I miss you all so much and I can't wait to see you again! Especially Mom, Dad, Amanda, Andrea, Mike and yes... Trevor (I know you aren't technically a part of the family, but you know.... oh well.). OH! And of course Sammy and Bosco! I hope you all have a great couple of weeks and I can't wait to see you! LOVE

Andalucia!

11.10.2011 ANDALUCIA
Cordoba and Sevilla
Today was a very early day for everyone! I woke up at 5 so that I could get ready, eat and be at our bus by 5:45. We all got on the bus at about 5:50 and headed for Andalucia which is about a 6 hour bus ride from Segovia. We stopped at 9:45 to eat a little but and then headed out at 10:30. We got to Cordoba at about 12:30 and we got to visit the Mosque that had been converted into a Cathedral. It was so cool to see the architecture and colors in there, and it was so different from the Cathedrals that we have seen. I really liked it, but if I don't see another Catholic Church in my life I will be just fine with that! After the Mosque/Cathedral we got back on the bus and headed for Sevilla. Right when we got here, we went to the hotel and got settled and then all met out front of the hotel to go on a walk around the city. It is so beautiful here! I love how the old is mixed with the new and there is a LOT of shopping to be done here! When we started our walk, Ricardo stopped and showed us an ice cream shop that is his favorite in the city and he bought everyone some! After our walk, we had free time we looked at some stores and got food from the grocery store for dinner. I took a shower at around 8:30 and have been just chilling in my room reading a book since then and accidentally fell asleep. I think tonight is gonna be an early. I hope. Anyways, I am going to read some more and see if I can stay awake! Goodnight! Love you!

11.11.2011
Sevilla
I had so much fun today! I woke up at about 9 to get ready and eat breakfast. After breakfast, me and the girls that I am rooming with here went downstairs to meet everyone and get our day started. First thing we did was go to the Cathedral in Sevilla. Before we went into the Cathedral we all made our wishes at 11:11am on 11/11/11. It was so funny! This Cathedral is the largest Cathedral in Spain and the 3rd largest in the world. It was so cool! It also used to be a mosque so there are certain things that give that away, like the tower that has the bells in it now. Anywho, it is a HUGE Cathedral and I really liked getting to see it. It seemed very cold and impersonal though, even more so than the other Catholic churches we have been to. In this Cathedral are the remains of a King and Queen -AND- some of the remains of Christopher Columbus. It was interesting, but creepy. There are 5 aisles in the church and it is so big that I am pretty sure you could get lost in there. Seriously. There are so many extra rooms and "secret" hallways that it actually is a little difficult to get around. So, there is a tower from the mosque that was about 36 floors tall and we all climbed up that to see the AMAZING view at the top! It was so cool because you could basically see all of Sevilla.

view from the bottom

view from the top

After we all finished looking at the church, we walked to a restaurant and ate there as a group. We all were seated at tables of 3-5 people and each table got a bunch of appetizers including pizza, some sort of meat mush stuff that you put on crackers (typical Spanish dish), and a salad. The pizza was the best! For my main course, I had Spaghetti Carbonara (basically alfredo) which was super good! There was so much though so I couldn't eat it all... For dessert we got Tiramisu!!! SO GOOD! After lunch we we all walked to our bus and started our tour of the city. We got off at random places to look around too, like Plaza de Espana where there are really cool tiled walls with the names of provinces and cities of Spain. We also stopped at a place called Parque de las Palomas (Park of the Pigeons) because there are hundreds of pigeons, hence the name.

I was taking a picture of all of the pigeons that were there (really soon after this picture actually) and as I was taking the picture, a pigeon LANDED ON MY HEAD! Of course, I screamed like a little girl, pushed it off my head and speed walked out of the park, so fast that I may have accidentally kicked a couple pigeons on my way out (oops...). GROSS NASTY PIGEONS! After I got out of the park, I got on the bus and waited for everyone. When everyone was back on the bus, we drove around ta bit longer, sang some Karaoke and a bunch of random songs. We got back to the hotel and got to have some free time. During free time, Jen and I went shopping (I got a cute scarf, 2 shirts, and some shoes), then went to McDonalds for dinner and Starbucks for dessert! Every time I have gone to Starbucks in Spain, hey have spelled my name wrong! Madrid- Liss, Barcelona-Chris, Sevilla- Elizzabeth. They have yet to get it right. After free time, we all met at 9:30 and walked through the city to go to a Flamenco show. It. was. so. cool! I relaly liked it a lot! It is so impressive how fast they can move their feet... The Flamenco show ended at about 12:15 and as we were walking back to the hotel, the whole group (all 22 of us) sang Hakuna Matata, The Star-Spangled Banner (I hit the high Soprano note at the end of it! Amanda-be proud cause I am an Alto 2), Don't Stop Believin', and a couple of other songs. We got some weird stares but that's okay... When we finally got back to the hotel, we all got into our PJ's and gathered to watch Remember Me, but they didn't start it for a while so I went into the guys room to play cards with a bunch of other people. I started to feel really sick after about an hour, so I went into my room and fell asleep. I woke up a little bit later and let the other girls in my room in. Now I am going to bed for real! Goodnight! (ONLY FOUR MORE WEEKS!)

11.12.2011

Granada

Today was long. I woke up at 9 to shower, get ready, eat breakfast, and pack up the rest of my stuff to get ready to leave Sevilla. We all met at 10:30 to get on the bus and left for Granada. We drove for about 3 hours and then stopped at a beach for an hour to get food and some crazies went swimming (in their swimsuits instead of fully clothed this time!). I got Nutella!!! And yes, it is so much better here than in the States. Anyways, after an hour we all got back on the bus and drove and hour and a half to Granada. Once we got here, we got settled into our rooms and then met downstairs for a walk around the city a bit. We got to see some awesome views of the mountains and cities and a couple of the mountains had snow! 

So cool! We walked around for about 2 hours and then got back to our hotel. A group of us went to Burger King for dinner and I ate a WHOLE Whopper! They also had self-serve pop which was really exciting to all of us! After BK wee came back and talked and listened to music, then they left and I read a bit. Now I am going to read again and I don't know what after... homework? Probably not. Goodnight! I love you all!

11.13.2011

Granada

I am so tired! Today we got free time in the morning until 1pm and that means that I woke up at 9:15 so that I could go to breakfast (they had chocolate cake! for breakfast! but sadly there was no grapefruit juice so OBVIOUSLY I could not eat the chocolate cake.). After breakfast me and some other girls went shopping for a little bit and I got  scarf and some presents for people! After shopping, I came back to the room and read until we all had to meet. When we were all ready, we got on the bus and headed to La Alhambra. It has 3 sites, the old Royal Summerhouse, Alcazaba, and one other building that I can't remember the name of. 

This is part of the 3rd building

Anywho, that took 3 hours! I was just so tired and all I wanted to do the whole time was sit. After La Alhambra, we got more free time and I ended up going to Burger King...again. On the way back to the hotel, Jen and I stopped at a shop and I ended up buying the BEST present for Amanda (and no, Manda, I will not give you hints no matter what!). I also got a Flamenco scarf that can be used as a shirt or skirt or scarf. It is super cute if I do say so myself. After shopping I came to my room and read and accidentally fell asleep til 9:30pm. It was so relaxing and just what I needed. After my nap I went to the lobby area and talked with some girls. One of the girls and I decided to watch Grey's but it ended up not working cause the internet here sucks! So we ended up getting a huge group of people together and went Salsa dancing! It was so much fun! But I can't decide if we had more fun dancing, or if the Spaniards had more fun watching us attempt to dance.. We were there for about 2 hours and then decided to come back to the hotel and sleep! Tomorrow we go back to Segovia for the last 3.5 weeks of the semester :(

Avila Salamanca

Today was so great! We left at 8am to go to Avila Salamanca for the day. The bus ride was not the best because lately I have been feeling really sick so needless to say, it was no picnic. We drove for about an hour to get to Avila and once we got there, we looked at the wall that was put up to keep some people out a long time ago, blah, blah, blah...

We were at the wall for all of about 10 minutes and then we went to a cafe and had coffee and churros. After we all finished our coffee and whatnot, we got back on the bus to drive an hour or so to Salamanca. We got to see the first University that was built in Spain which was kind of interesting to me how different they look today and how different the architecture and choice of art was. I really liked it. After the school, we got to go to the Catedral de Salamanca, and surprise surprise, it is like EVERY other cathedral that we have seen in Spain. However, the outside was SO gorgeous and unique. It had a bunch of sculptures around the doors as a part of the outside wall of the building.

When we left the Catedral, we looked at the back of the building where there were more carvings/sculptures. If you look hard enough you can see the "signature" of the guy who restored the wall. He made an astronaut out of stone and now it is on the wall for everyone to see. I thought it was really funny because you are looking at a story through sculptures on a Catholic church and you randomly see an astronaut just chillin on the wall.

After everyone was done looking and taking pictures, we went to La Plaza Mayor de Salamanca for a bit and then we had free time to eat our lunches (I got pooped on by a bird during lunch. so gross), and then we all walked around the city for about 2 and a half hours. I bought a book in Spanish and I can't wait to read it! And I found out that the book I ordered about a month ago came in so I get to get that on Monday!!! Yay! After free time we all met back at La Plaza Mayor and headed to the bus to come back to Segovia. On the way back, it rained a ton and the windows looked so cool! 

I think I got a few good pictures today (almost all of them in back and white cause it just felt like that kind of day). Anyways, we leave on Thursday for Andalucia and we are going to be there for 5 days (we come back on Monday night I believe). I love these 3 day weeks! Actually this week I only have 2 classes because I don't have classes on Wednesdays!

I can't wait to see you all when I get back in 4 weeks and 5 days! (...not that I am counting down or anything...)

barcelona, que guay

Well, I have been back in Segovia for two days now so I thought it was about time to put up a new blog... so here it goes!

10.29.2011
Well, today was kind of a long day but it was SO awesome! I woke up at 5am (after 2 hours of sleep) and we left Segovia at 6. I basically slept the whole way here except for when we stopped to eat. When we got here, which was an hour earlier than we expected, we settled into our hotel rooms (which were all nauseatingly pink. pepto bismol pink.) and just hung out for an hour and ate some food. We all met at 3:30 and started walking around the city and ended up at the beach. It was so beautiful! We were at the beach for a while, and a few crazies in our group decided to jump into the Mediterranean fully clothed and swim for a bit.

Then we walked back to the hotel and hung out. For dinner, a bunch of us went to Hard Rock Cafe!!! I got a charm bracelet from there too! I am so excited! After we all ate, we came back here (the hotel) and just hung out and talked for a couple of hours. It was so nice to get to know some of the people better! I can't wait to go shopping tomorrow! Woo! So freakin' excited!

10.30.2011
Today was so great! We started out by taking a tour of the city by bus and we got off at random places to walk a bit and see some cool stuff. We saw a couple of houses that Antoni Gaudi designed (so cool!) and they were very controversial because he was SO modern for his time. Our first stop was to see the outside of La Sagrada Familia, a church designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was so cool and I can not wait for tomorrow when we get to go inside!

This church was Gaudi's final project because while he was working on it, he fell to the street and died. He is buried in the basement of the church which is called the Crypt. I think that's super creepy. The church still isn't finished because they had financial issues and had to stop construction for a while but now it is started again. The approximate date for the end of the construction is in about 10 or 15 years. After that we drove around for a while and saw where the Olympic athletes of 1992 stay (which is now regular housing) and started driving up Montjuix (pronounced Mount Witch basically) and we stopped to see an amazing view of Barcelona. It was so cool! I could see for miles and miles.

We got back on the bus and made our way to the Olympic stadiums for Track, Gymnastics, and the water sports minus diving. We got out at the Track and Field stadium and went inside. It was being used for a meet of some sort and we got to see a bit of it. I thought it was boring cause it was just people running around in circles. Then came the awesome part. We got to see the Olympic Gymnastics stadium of 1992 where Kerry Strug had her first Olympics. We couldn't go in so I decided that I needed to do a handstand right in front of it! :) It was so great! That was so exciting for me because I DID GYMNASTICS OUTSIDE OF THE FREAKING OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS STADIUM!!!

Then we saw the pool. It is so much smaller than it looks on TV. After we saw the stadiums, we walked around and got to see the outside of a very pretty museum that used to be the Palacio Nacional de Catalunia. After walking for a bit we got back on the bus and headed towards a very cool park where Antoni Gaudi lived.

After lunch we got back on the bus and went to the Picasso Museum. It was so cool to see his artwork progress from amazing realistic portraits to the abstract paintings which we all know him for. His artwork was so fascinating. It was a great experience We got free time right after that and me and some other people went to some shops by the beach and then we went to a Chinese place for dinner! It wasn't as good as the Chinese food in the States but it was still good cause I have been craving it for so long!!! After dinner we walked back to the hotel and just hung out and ate ice cream for a bit and now I am in my room. I think I might find something on TV and go to sleep early. Goodnight all! Sleep tight!

10.31.2011
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! There were so many freaky people out tonight but let's start at the beginning. We woke up early and got to see the inside of La Sagrada Familia!

It was so cool! Gaudi wanted the pillars on the inside of the church to look like a forest, so there are a lot of them and instead of being completely straight, they are all tilted a little bit in one direction or another.

I absolutely LOVE this place! I loved how modern it was and how unique everything in it was. I took so many pictures there its ridiculous! We spent a little over an hour there and then headed back to our hotel for about an hour of free time before we had our group lunch. I got to go into H&M for a bit and then we all met at the pizza place! I got to get garlic bread (amazing!) and then some pizza (ehhh) and tiramisu! The waiter accidentally brought out an extra and just gave it to me for free! It was so good! After lunch a TON of people went to the beach and we played beach volleyball until it got dark out. I had so much fun but my legs and arms are gonna hurt tomorrow! We walked back to the hotel after the beach and ate dinner there. On our walk back, there were about six guys with masks on (like the guys with the white masks that are super creepy but theirs were gold and sparkley) who stopped right in front of me and wouldn't let me pass them so I just moved one of them with my hand cause I was sick of it and went on my way. When we all got back to the hotel, I went to my room and took a brief nap (oops). When my roommates got back, I took a shower and then Jen braided my hair and we went out to the patio and played card games for a while and talked. And now, it is bed time. Night!

11.1.2011
Today was SO LONG! We drove back to Segovia today and my whole body hurts from Volleyball so sleeping on the bus was interesting. Basically all I did today was sleep, eat lunch, watch part of Runaway Bride, fall asleep in the middle of it, listen to music, and climb the aqueduct stairs and go to my house. We got back at 8 so about 2 hours before dinner so I just changed into my pajamas and watched some shows online, then had dinner, talked to Mom and Dad, and now I am going to bed!

So that was my trip to Barcelona... it doesn't sound all that exciting but it was so much fun! I love it there! I miss home though and being able to talk to my family and friends whenever I want... Only 5 weeks left til I come home! I am getting excited to come home but I know I am going to miss it here a TON!

Love you all! I hope I get to talk to you guys soon!