¡Hola de España!

Hi friends! I have made it through my first week in Spain! What a week it has been. Let's start from the very beginning shall we? I got to all my flights on time and what not. I slept a good bit on the way to Madrid; the flight was smooth so I was very thankful for that. We got to Madrid and picked up our luggage, exchanged money, and found the rest of our group. We ate a little something and then proceeded to wait for atleast 6 hours in the airport until we got on the bus to take us to Valladolid. Of course we were missing someone. What trip goes completely well right? We waited for another hour on the bus and ended up leaving because the last person had yet to arrive. We drove 2 hours to Valladolid--which I proceeded to sleep the whole time. I don't think I had ever been so tired in my entire life. I felt disgusting from traveling all day!

We arrived in Valladolid and met our host families. Sussane (my roommate here in Spain) and I have a "soletera" which is just a single woman. She is 45 years old and has a dog and a little bird. She lives in a small apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It is quite interesting. She smokes all the time like everyone else here. It's not bad because she respects that we don't smoke and don't particularly like the smoke. Her dog's name is Gabby. And she is very sweet. She loves attention. Our meals are good. Nothing really out of the ordinary. OH! I completely forgot to tell you our mom's name is Belén. Anyways, she makes sure that we eat well and that we do not go without. There are never any leftovers. She insists that we eat. However, it's all for the most part (95%) healthy. I think I have actually lost weight. I could stand to lose a few.

Classes. We have two classes a day for 2 hours a piece: grammar and culture. Both are very fun and make me want to learn more. It's very different than in the United States. I am learning new vocabulary every day which I thoroughly enjoy. I can tell that my spanish has improved a lot since I have arrived Sunday. Thank the Lord. We can carry on a conversation and understand Belén the majority of the time. All I think about is Spanish! That's to be expected, right?

We have done some shopping while we are here. I have bought some super cute shoes (wedges, if you will) and I bough a cute little white skirt today with a black tank to go with it. I'm super proud of them only because I bought them here in Spain! :) They have lots of stores and boutiques which I am still exploring. Let's hope my money holds up! ;)

We are going to Salamanca tomorrow to do some exploring and see the city. It should be a lot of fun!

Well it's about time to head out for dinner. We are meeting our whole travel group for dinner and it takes a bit to walk there. Everyone here walks or takes the bus...I'm not too keen on the bus but I am getting used to it. I hope you have gotten a bit of a taste of my new life here in Spain. I will write more as I experience this country.

¡Cíao!

So this is my last post until I arrive in S-P-A-I-N! Wow, I'm so excited! I will be writing here and filling y'all in on all the many adventures and experiences that I will experience in Spain. I hope y'all follow and enjoy. I'm sure there will be some very embarrassing moments as we take the language barrier by force! :) I'll be writing to y'all from Spain very shortly! ¡Hasta luego!

Busy life...

Hello all!! It has been a while since I have blogged. I have been horrible at keeping up with this thing. Oops! So much has been going on since I posted last. I finished with school and finals; which I was thoroughly pleased with my grades. After taking my last exam, I went to Mississippi/Louisiana! What a trip!! I traveled with 2 of my guy friends, Zach and Chris. We drove down on a Thursday and arrived early Friday morning... 3:30 in the morning early! But, it was a blast getting down there. These two boys have great senses of humor and kept me laughing so much. We stayed with Zach's mom in Gulfport, Mississippi right on the beach. It was beautiful. We ate at GREAT places, went to the Beau Rivage (a casino) and did a little gambling, went to New Orleans for Jazz Fest and got to see Cowboy Mouth, Kings of Leon, and lots of good jazz bands. It was very hot but the atmosphere and company made it so fun!! Since New Orleans is only 40 minutes from Gulfport, we went back to downtown New Orleans and played tourist on Bourbon Street and Jackson Square! It was so much fun. I loved the area, the art, all the people, and the food ... AMAZING! Here are a few pictures just to show you how much fun we had!







Well, I am now home for a week before I travel to Spain. SPAIN! Can you believe it?! I'm going to Spain. It still hasn't hit me yet and probably won't until I hop onto that plane. Geez. I'm super excited yet nervous! I will be there for a month. I'm definitely stepping out of my comfort zone because I'm usually too afraid of what I will miss out on back here to try anything new. But, I'm going through with it! And I just know I'm going to have a blast. I will definitely be using this blog to inform you guys of what's going on while I'm over there. I hope you guys will keep up with the stories, rants and raves that I choose to blog about! This week leading up to me leaving is going to be crazy and hectic! Pray that I pack everything I need and don't forget the important things and that my flight goes safely. I'm not keen on the idea of flying over the ocean. Eek!! Until then, ¡ciao!