March 23

Where do I even begin?

A few weekends ago 4 of us went to Granada and Sevilla for the weekend. In Granada we visited the Alhambra, which is a huge garden with castles and forts. It was beautiful. In Sevilla we saw the Giralda Tower, which is kind-of like the Eiffel Tower of Spain, but we didn't get to go inside because it was closed at the time we went. Of course. But it was still really pretty from the outside, plus I'd been there before with Senora Gregg. We also went to a Flememco show! It turns out that we went to the same exact place that we went to when I came with Senora! How crazy! We walked in and I was like, ""Wait a minute, this looks eerily familiar." Then we walked in further, and sure enough, it was the same place! The performance was spectacular! We all had such a great time! The Sevilla/Granada trip went very smoothly, and it was a lot of fun! OH wait! I almost forgot- there was one glitch in the trip! We almost got our EuRail passes taken away! We wrote the date on our EuRails in pencil because we didn't have a pen and we didn't think it was a big deal. Well, apparently it WAS a big deal. The train man started yelling at us saying it was a fraud and we were committing a fraudulent act and that we were criminals! He kept going on and on about how we must think Spanish people are stupid because we write the date in pencil and then change it to another date so we can use it again. We were flabergasted. We weren't trying to cheat the system, we just didn't have a pen! He took all our EuRails and left our car. We were freakin out, because those little pieces of paper cost a LOT of money! Eventually he came back, but he still wouldn't let us have them. Then Kara worked herself up so much that she had a legit panic attack and couldn't breathe. It was pretty scary. He obviously felt pretty terrible, and finally gave us our passes back. Kara calmed down, and the rest of the ride was fine. It was a rough first 45 minutes though!

Classes are going pretty well. They're tough, but they're not too bad. I'm taking this translation class that I thought was going to be really easy because half of it is taught in English, but it has turned out to be pretty difficult. No worries though, the teacher loves us and everyone in the class thinks us Americans are pros in the English language, so it's not too bad. Wednesday we have to actually teach the class about English grammar and what not. It's gonna be interesting. Even though it's pretty tough, I think translation is going to be my favorite class. We met a really great girl in translation. Her name is Ana, and she's from Spain. She's fluent in English and German, speaks a little French, and is learning Italian. She's so great! She took Brit and I under her wing. She took us to the Murcia basketball game last weekend, and then back to her village to meet her family! We met everyone- mom, grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins- everyone! It was so cool being able to go to a little village and see how real Spaniards live! I loved it! I think we're gonna spend quite a bit of time with Ana!

My friend Maggie came to visit me last week! It was her Spring Break back in Emporia, so she and her friend flew to Spain! It was so awesome having her here! I got to show her the city, my apartment, and she got to meet all my friends here, and see what kind of life I have over here. It was really special to be able to share that. Tuesday was her birthday so we had a St. Patty's Day Party that was actually a little surprise Birthday Party for her. It was lots of fun! It was sad to see her leave Thursday night. I wanted to go with her! :( But she made me realize that I do have a pretty sweet life over here, what with the beaches and all... haha

Speaking of beaches, my Spring Break is coming up here shortly! We have this week and next week of school, then a 2 week long Spring Break! The first week is Semana Santa, which is a week-long festival here in Murcia. There's parades, parties, dances, and all kinds of festivities. I'm excited to experience the culture! Then for the second week, 4 of us are going on a CRUISE!!! It's an 8 day Cruise through the Mediterranean! We're hitting up the French Riviera, Rome, Florence, some other places I can't remember, and AFRICA! That's right, I'm going to another continent! I'll be able to mark off 3 continents on my goal of visiting 6 of the 7! I'm SO stoked for the entire cruise! Plus, we got a really great deal on it, so it didn't end up being ridiculously expensive. Don't worry, I'll take lots of pics!

I get my new roommates sometime towards the end of this month. I've gotten used to living by myself, so it's going to be weird having roomies. They're 2 girls from Argentina and they only speak Spanish, so it'll be an interesting situation! I'll let you know how everything goes!

Well, I don't think anything else exciting has happened. I'm gonna try to update my pics today so you should be able to look at those soon. Love you!