Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias!!!

Shoot, I'm glad that spanish isn't my first language, because I would hate to have to say "Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias," every time I saw someone of Thanksgiving!!!  I got tongued tied having to invite some people to supper and I just couldn't imagine having to say it to everyone as a greeting.  

Anyways, yesterday was a huge success.  Seeing as they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, the American's were asked to put on a program for the spaniards, so that they could better understand the holiday.  It was a lot of fun and I was on the cooking team.  I volunteered to help cook BEFORE I knew it was for 200 people!!!  However, it turned out to be soooo much fun!!!  I was in charge of the desserts, which all turned out to be pretty tasty!!!  We made 8 apple pies, 14 pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, and 8 cheesecakes!!!!!  Everything looked sooo pretty!!!!  I also helped with the food, which consisted of vege meat with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, mac-n-cheese, sweet potatoes, veges, fruit, and salad!!!!  It was a mad house in the back, but everything looked presentable and turned out fantastic.  After hours and hours of preparation, the programs was hilarious and successful!!!  The school surprised all of us with packages and letters from home!!!!  To all of those who sent me stuff, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!  One of the walls on my dorm room is decorated with all the postcards, cards, and letters that people have sent me throughout this year!!!!  Thanks to you all, the wall is a lot less sparse and is getting quite colorful!!!!  Even though Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday back at home, I couldn't have had a nicer holiday away from home!!!  You guys are the best and I love you all!!!  Can't wait to see you guys in a couple of weeks...yay!!!!!

Volleyball Rally.

So....this weekend I played in a volleyball rally.  There were 7 girls teams including our team which was called, "Los Lobos."  Before each game we would chant, "Kick Butt," followed by howling....it was great!!!!  haha  In total, we played 6 games and unfortunately due to the terrible refs, we got 3rd place (the refs were spaniards rooting for the other team).  However, this was super good, considering that some of the girls on our team had never played before.  It has been since high school since I've played v-ball competitively and I was shocked how fast my competitiveness returned...I can't wait to go back to Walla Walla next year and play!!!!  Overall, the weekend was a blast, however now I feel like my life would be better if I just cut my shoulder off, because it's so sore!!  Anyways, there is another rally in the springtime, so we are going to bring it to 'em spaniards.  It's crunch time in Espana...time to get to the books!  Ciao.

Florencia.

So....Italy pretty much made me never want to come back to Spain.  Not only does my bestest friend in the whole wide world live there, but the school is right in Florence.  I got there super early Friday morning.  We decided to sleep in while the girls were in school.  After, we ate in the cafeteria and OH MY WORD....contrary to Spain, the food there was amazing!!!!  After the 5* meal, we walked into town and treated ourselves to some gelato.  BEST EVER!!!  We walked around and scoped out all the stores...there were lots of really cool stuff, but I decided to hold off making any purchases, because I knew I would be back during x-mas break!!!  We all decided that pizza was sounding mighty tasty for supper, so we went to the restaurant called "Yellow Bar."  By far the most amazing pizza I have ever had.  Pamela and I got two different kinds of pizza and split them...we might of licked our plates clean.  =)  After supper, everyone went back to the school, but Pamela and I had lots of catching up to do, so we decided to continue walking in town.  We ended up at this chocolate shop called "Hemingway's."  We ordered hot chocolate and chocolate cheesecake.  I loved the chocolate cheesecake, but the hot chocolate was a little much for me.  Let's just say you ate it, not drank it.  It was like a straight melted chocolate bar...amazing, but a little too rich for my liking.  Pamela loved it =)

Sabbath, we ate lunch again at the school and then Pamela and I walked into town.  She showed me all the major sites including the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio (the picture above).  I didn't want to do all the touristy things, because I knew I would be back during x-mas and I really just wanted to walk and talk with Pammy.  So....we did just that.  After a nice stroll around town, we met up with everyone back at school and tried to decide what to do.  We decided to walk up to this high point in Florence (not sure what it was called) where it overlooked the whole city.  A bunch of us took crazy jumping pictures and were just being silly.  After we probably burned off all the calories from supper from laughing, we decided to go salsa dancing.  The place was really really small, but it was soooo much fun.  Most of you probably already know, but Pamela and I took Salsa classes when we were at home, so it was a lot of fun to practice our moves.  The different dances were a lot of fun and most of the guys there were really cool and not to crazy... After, we went back to Hemingway's and got berry cheesecake, coffee, and milkshakes.  I got a nutella milkshake and it was the best ever.  When I go back to WWU I'm going to have to suggest that Iceberg add's NUTELLA to their shake flavors...I'll give them lots of business ;)  By this time, it was pretty early in the morning, 2 a.m. to be exact, so we returned to the school and snoozed.  We slept in Sunday, ate another amazing meal at the school, and went to the open market.  The market was super fun and different than here in Spain.  The people all speak english and try hitting on you so that you will buy stuff from there stands.  One of the famous lines were "Oh you dropped something...(when you turn around they say..) your heart."  Such a good pick up line...hahaha  I got two x-mas gifts in the market, but I will refrain from saying what those things are.  Also, Italy is known for the leather, so I'm debating whether or not to buy a bag when I go back during x-mas.  We will see.

Now I'm back at school in Spain and it's bitter sweet.  Thanksgiving is approaching and I'm super sad I'm not going to be at home, because my family is awesome and we have all these super fun traditions.  I love traditions and I'm going to miss them this year.  Oh well...I guess I will try and share that happiness here in Spain.  We just had a meeting today, because the American's are in charge of putting on a Thanksgiving programs for the Spaniards, since they don't celebrate it here.  I'm one of the people in charge of cooking, so hopefully we can all muster up something yummy!!!!  Miss you all!!!

I have the BEST parents EVER!!!!

So the food sucks here in Spain and my parents just sent me a package with my most favorite food in the world....WHEAT THINS.  I'm going to try and spread the two boxes out until x-mas, but that might be hard as to the fact that I have already eaten half a box.  =)  How little things like a box of Wheat Thins can totally make my day!  I love you guys!!

First Professional Soccer Game!!!!

So it was a good day!!!  I went shopping in hopes to find myself some black boots, and I found even more!!!!  I didn't buy anything else besides boots, but I found the store that holds my dream high tops.  I have only been looking for some wicked high tops my whole life.  This store is full of old school, new school, retro, you name it and they have, Nikes.  I haven't bought them yet, but I will for sure be visiting that store again.  After shopping, we walked along the river until it was almost time for the game.  Supposedly it is culture here to eat throughout the entire soccer game, so just before it started we stocked up.  We bought hot kebabs, sunflower seeds, and about every pastry imaginable.  I was sick after the game was done...so sick...haha.  It was sooo cool to walk into the stadium and see the super perfectly green field!!!!  As valencia and copenhagen took the field, the fans started singing and never stopped.  I've never seen such insane and devoted fans.  By the end of the game, we were screaming and singing with them, but what an experience.  I can't wait to go again!!!!  

Andalucia y Marruecos

Oh boy.  I just got back from a looooooong trip to the south of Spain.  It was a lot of fun, but long at the same time.  First, we visited Granada.  Granada is a rather big city and the home of the Alhambra, an Arabic Palace.  The palace was amazing and full of intricate designs, but the weather stunted our enjoyment of the trip.  It was freeeeeeezing!!!  Our teacher didn't tell us that the south of Spain would have nice weather, but that the Alhambra was located in the Arctic.  Most of us were wearing jeans and t-shirts, so most of us, including me, just wanted to get back to the hotel.  Once we got back to the hotel, we were off to watch some people flamenco dance.  It was a lot of fun to see a little bit of the culture there rather than all the touristy things.  I am still in awe of how fast they can move there feet...woweee.

Our next expedition was to Marbella.  I attached some pictures of the beach.  It was beautiful and reminded me a lot of the beach towns at home.  We walked around and there were a lot of expensive shops, restaurants, and A LOT of expensive cars.  We saw BMW's (7 series), Ferrari's, Bentley's, etc...  We also walked down the area where all the yacht's were and man alive they are huge.  I swear that some of them were bigger than my house in California.  Anyways, after walking around and "wishing" we could buy things, we were off to the hotel.  This was the start of our Nutella and Bread Only diet.  To save money we bought bread and nutella at the market instead of eating out at all those expensive places.  Let's just say that I won't be eating nutella and bread for a little bit...i need a break.

The next morning we were off to Morocco.  I was really excited about going to Africa, because it's Africa, but also because it gave me some idea of the living conditions that my friends are in while SMing in Africa (Nolan, JD, Fletch, Laura, Emily, Alex).  Africa is a wild place.  I loved it there actually.  There is so much culture there and it made me realize that the states really doesn't have much culture.  We had a rockin' tour guide name Abdul who told us he practices polygamy and was looking for his 4th and final wife (supposedly they can only have 4 in Morocco).  He like to go by Michael Douglas, because he thought he looked like him, but i beg to differ.  He was hilarious and was fluent in 7 different languages.  It was amazing how fast he could go between the languages...i was in awe.  We rode camels, we went through the open markets and i smelt 100000 million smells all combined.  It was a little much for my little nose.  I think i might have gagged a couple of time.  The produce there looks amazing, however they have live chickens there.  When people bought them they would cut off their heads...I didn't actually see this, but this is what our tour guide told us.  He also took us to this apothecary shop where we leaned about all these different spices, balms, and perfumes.  I enjoyed it a lot and bought 12 dollars worth of mint tea.  Let me tell you 12 bucks in Africa is a whole lot of tea, but the tea was that good.  Mint tea is something that Morocco is known for and it definitely made me fall in love with it even more.  Lastly, we were served a traditional moroccan meal.  I was slightly disappointed, but i think that it's because it was a really touristy restaurant.  We had "snake soup," (which was really soup with egg, where the egg looks like snakes), couscous, break, and omelette, tea, salad, and a cookie.  It was mediocre, but i can be quite the critic when it comes to food...i guess it's because my dad is amazing!!!!  

Next, we went to Sevilla...my favorite city in Spain so far.  There were a lot of young people in the streets, lots of eye catchers (pictures, cool buildings, etc...), a super dooper nice hotel, and STARBUCKS.  Oh man i had my first starbucks drink since i've been here and probably my last.  It is soo dang expensive here, however it was perfect.  In Sevilla, we had a lot of free time.  We shopped, ate, explored, and watched movies.  We found this restaurant like Souplantation at home and i wanted to eat there every meal.  It was amazing!!!!!!  I bought a few things, but still not much.  My favorite thing about the city was probably these picture advertisements that were all over the city for the Flamenco.  I attached a picture of one of them, while Karol and I are doing the Shimmy...haha so fun!!!  It was Chelsea's birthday on Sabbath, we Karol and I were really hyper while we were walking around town.  We were the typical American's making a lot of noise and laughing hysterically.  Also, in Sevilla we saw where the king's lived and climbed the tower in the cathedral.  

Last stop....Cordoba...lame town.  This was the last place that we stayed and it was a terrible way to end our trip.  First of all, Cordoba isn't a city it's a small, old town.  We got there on Sunday and in Spain EVERYTHING is closed on sunday.  The school didn't have anything planned so we just sat in the room all day and watched movies.  We walked about the town, but that only took about and hour to explore.  The next day, we took the 8 hour bus ride back home..........soooo long.  Even though this wasn't the best way to end the trip, I had a lot of fun and i am enjoying Spain a lot more now!!!!  I'm going to Italy in a week and a half, so i'll make sure and update you about that asap.  Miss you all...