El Fin

El Fin.

            As I’m writing this, I’m on the airplane, a little more than half way through an 8 hour flight from Madrid to New York. As you can imagine, I have a little bit of free time on my hands here so I figured I’d write my final post now and post it during my five hour layover until I finally get to Boston! But, for some reason I couldn’t get wifi at the NY airport…so now I’m posting this after finally getting home. 25 straight hours of traveling including taxi, buses, walking, and two flights is absolutely exhausting and I think I’ll need to sleep for about 7 days straight once I’m home. Pretty sure my hand/arm/legs/butt have all fallen asleep at some point and I still have 3 hours left and I’m about to skydive home rather than stay in this little cubicle seat any longer…

            With a 6 hour bus ride before, and now this flight (that never seems to END….) I’ve had a lot of time to think about this amazing experience as it’s coming to an end. It’s impossible to pinpoint every perfect moment in the past 105 days, because there were too many. But, after thinking about everything, I’ve decided that I’ve learned 3 huge lessons while I’m here, and they’re what I’m going to take away the most from study abroad.

3.) BRING A NECK PILLOW WITH YOU NEXT TIME YOU GO ON A LONG TRIP. Probably wasn’t the huge life lesson you were expecting me to say, but this one was a brutal lesson to learn. I almost borrowed my boyfriend’s before I left, and decided I’d probably be fine without it. NOPE WRONG. Flights, bus rides, and waiting are extremely uncomfortable, no matter how long or short they are. Like I said traveling was sooooo so draining with the planning and the execution no matter where I was going, and the least I could’ve done was treat myself with a little pillow to rest on while it’s going on. Will I have permanent neck damage from twisting my head in weird positions against every window/seat I’ve traveled on during this trip? Time will tell. Bring something comfy…you won’t regret it.

2.) PICTURES DO NOTHING JUSTICE.

I have seen some of the most beautiful scenery, places, and people over the past three and a half months that I’ve ever seen in my whole life. But, most of the time, trying to capture it is pointless because its beauty is so unexplainable in real life and a picture really can’t show how perfect it is. I did take a good amount of pictures while abroad, because I want to remember what I got a chance to see, and they all came out great. However, not a single one compares to the memory of the actual place. It’s like going to a concert; spending the entire time trying to videotape/record the singer or band is cool after when you have something to see, but putting away the iPhone or camera and just simply enjoying the music without any distractions is so much better. It’s the exact same thing with taking pictures of travels. Seeing the world through a lens isn’t necessary when you can put it away and see it with both eyes and take it all in fully! Take a few pictures, but don’t be glued to the screen and miss out on what’s actually in front of you.

3.) GO.

 Literally. If you have a place you want to see in your life, make it happen. Money is money and time is time…if either of those are stopping you from exploring the world then change it! I was terrified leaving for abroad; it was extremely out of my comfort zone, especially going with a program where I knew no one. It’s exactly what I needed. I’d always wanted to go to Europe and in the past 105 days I’ve gotten to see Spain, Morocco, England, France, Italy and Portugal. Life honestly couldn’t have gotten any better, and I thank God every day for giving me the chance to see all those amazing places. I know I need to go back to Sevilla again one day for sure, because it’s permanently a huge part of my life now. I made a list on a bus ride back to Sevilla after a trip, and wrote down every single country I want to go see. If I don’t put in the effort and really try, it won’t happen. Don’t let excuses or fear stop you from experiencing the culture of the world, because I truly believe there is nothing more important than realizing that America isn’t the only type of culture there is, and every one of them is beautiful in their own way.

I’m going to miss all the people I’ve met along the way, and it scares me a little that this has ended so quickly. However, it has made me appreciate America and my life in New Hampshire more than I ever have in my whole life. I LOVE YOU ALL! If you’ve kept up with the blog this whole time, you’re awesome and I’m happy I got to share my experience with you. I’m hoping to make an iMovie collage eventually so everything is all in one spot. Once this flight ends in 10 years hopefully my legs will work again and I’ll be able to see everyone soon :)

Para la última vez, gracias por leer, mis amigos. Nunca olvidaré este año. Sevilla, no me ha dejado. Hasta nos vemos,

~Mollie, Molly, Mali, Male, Mely, Meli, Moley:)

Agridulce

Agridulce. 
I'd bet anything that this isn't the right context for that word in Spanish, which means bittersweet. But, I think it's pretty and it's exactly the right word in English to describe my situation.
I'm sitting outside at a café and this is my last blog post I'll write in Spain. Just ordered espressso with ice for the last time (hallelujah...I'm so excited for regular coffee again), and the last time I'll have to attempt to pour the burning coffee into the ice cup only to spill it all over the table and burn my hand. Gonna miss moments like these!! Seriously though it's the stupid little things like that make this experience what it's been and I love all of them. It's honestly unreal that I've been here for 103 days. But, I'm listening to my summer playlist as I write this and it makes me so excited to be home in two days, even though I'm really sad to leave at the same time.

Since I last wrote, I've finished finals, gone to Portugal, and gotten to experience La Feria in Sevilla.
Lagos was absolutely beautiful, and the BEST way to ever celebrate the end of school. Three days on the beach with my friends and literally no worry in world; can't get better than that.

I finished finals on April 30th, and have just been hanging out until I leave tomorrow night. My program wanted to give us the chance to experience La Feria de abril so they let us stay an extra week, because it's something really culturally important to Sevilla. (It's pronounced "La FEH-ree-a", and Brendan has been pronouncing it "Fur-EE-ah" just to piss me off so I'm setting the record straight for everyone so you're correctly educated. DON'T LISTEN TO BRENDAN.) I'm so glad they let us stay because it's one of the coolest things I've ever gotten a chance to be a part of. It's pretty much a week long party, where everyone goes to drink Rebujito (chamomile sherry mixed with 7-UP...surprisingly not bad), dress up in beautiful flamenco dresses, and dance Sevillana all day/night long.

There are hundreds of "casetas" set up in rows, which are individual tents where families or companies host their own private parties all week. Walking by there at night is something you have to do in your life. Each one is decorated differently, with chandeliers, plants, lanterns, etc. to give them their own personal style. They each have a different name too like beach/ski houses in America have. You can walk around for hours and just look in awe of how cool they all are, while the friends and family members of each one eat and drink and dance flamenco the whole time.

There are public casetas too, for the peasants like me. KIDDING I'm exaggerating. But they're for people who don't have connections to people who own private casetas, and they're just as awesome. I did get a chance to go into the Fútbol club private caseta last night, and it was so cool to see. But I felt super out of place in my sundress while all the girls were beautifully dressed in flamenco gowns, so I went back to the public tents. It's like Titantic where the upper elite deck is cool to be at but the lower barrack level is even better and more fun. Just kidding again....kind of....
They have free entrance and the bar at the back is decently priced, and filled with extremely happy people dancing up a storm on the stage. It's the best place to people watch and enjoy the real cultural experience, and it's unlike anything you could ever see in America. YOU HAVE TO SEE LA FERIA SOME TIME IF YOU GO TO SPAIN! It's been my favorite cultural immersion the whole time I've been here.

I'll have one more blog post, which I'm hoping to write during my four hour layover in New York on Friday, as a goodbye post after this amazing adventure. This shout out is for everyone back home: See you all very soon :)

Desde España, por la última vez, gracias por leer. Espero que ustedes lean mi última entrada como una conclusión de todo, y estoy triste que necesito terminar esta aventura tan increíble. Hasta viernes!

-Moll

Hoy en Día

Hoy en Día.
I'm done with classes tomorrow. Done with exams this Wednesday. Going to Portugal this weekend. Leaving for home next Thursday night. HOW.
Haven't written a Spain post in a while and this might be one of my last chances, so "hoy en día" basically means nowadays; with 3 of the most interesting things that have happened since coming back from Rome 2 weeks ago.

Semana Santa means Holy Week, and I had the rest of the week off when I got back from Italy to experience how big of a deal it is in Sevilla. But it was also wicked hot and Spring break so I obviously had to go to the beach with my friends Katie and Corinne. We went to Cádiz, which we'd been to before when it was too cold to enjoy it, so this time was absolutely perfect. While there, I realized that I've been living here for 3 months and still I don't understand the Spanish culture at all.
I'm currently wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt because it's 80 degrees today, which is just asking to be shunned here because I don't think I've ever seen anyone walking around in gym shorts EVER. But it's Sunday and I'm studying (....) so I'm over it. Anyway, my point is that anytime I wear shorts or a dress, I get glared at or stared at. But, while at the beach wearing a bikini, not a single person looked at me and it was AWESOME. Also, just because it's not a nude beach, doesn't mean girls won't whip their tops off with no shame. So, there are topless women everywhere, and nobody, including guys, look at them at all. But if I wear a sundress, which covers way more skin than a bathing suit, it's weird?! I DON'T GET ITTT.

The other part of Semana Santa that was cool to see were the "pasos", which are the huge floats carried by the parades of churches that walk for multiple hours from their own church to the cathedral, and back. Some of these walks can be around 10 hours, and every member wears a specific colored outfit that looks like the KKK. Yeah...sounds not okay, and it honestly was scary to see at first. You should totally look up Semana Santa on Google images so you get an idea of what I'm talking about. It has nothing to do with the KKK because it's a very religious tradition, but I did find out that the KKK's outfits came from the Holy Week clothing. At first sight it was a little unsettling, but it was normal after you see it once, and sitting and watching the huge floats of Jesus they carried was a really unique and powerful thing to get to see.
Anyway, one of the funny things I saw were herds of mothers trying to find their specific child (even though they were all dressed in the exact same outfit) in order to give them bocadillos (sandwiches) because they don't get a chance to eat while they're walking. It just proved again that Spain LOVES their bocadillos.

"I wore deodorant just for you Moll," -guess who???
This past Wednesday-Saturday Gretchen came to visit me and it was fun to show her the differences between her city when I was there and mine while she was here. We had the perfect weather and it was good to hang out with someone else from home again! (Brendan you're ok too I guess). We got caught in a huge rain downpour and had to hide under a palm tree forever, had churros con chocolate and felt sick after it, saw the classic Sevilla spots, and went on like a 2 hour hunt for these high platform sneakers that Gretchen just haddddd to have....you better wear those all the time CHICA. Just kidding I didn't care it was good to see you, see ya in the US in a few weeks!

Alright partner in crime, here's your shout out! Ahlia and I talked forever ago about me giving you one of the last shout outs just because it was funny that way heheee sorry! But, since the anniversary of stupidity is approaching, this one's for you. Miss you so much and I'm listening to Birthday by Katy Perry right now and it's reminding me of you listening to that like 129 times on your birthday and dancing every time hahaha. Can't wait to be roomies again in less than a month!!

There'll be one more post while I'm abroad, probably about Portugal sometime next week, and then one more when I get home. Gracias por leer, y por seguir mis aventuras aquí! Les extraño a todos!
~Moll:)

Italia

Italia.
Ciao a todos! I'm on Spring break this week so this past weekend I went to Italy! That's the number one country I've always wanted to visit so it was so amazing to finally live out that dream. To sum up the experience before talking about three main things: I saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, wished at the Trevi Fountain, sat on the Spanish Steps, walked around the Vatican area, did a bunch of shopping, thought every single thing there was beautiful, and ate so much amazing food.

Continuing that major theme of this blog, aka food (not going to apologize for it anymore..), Italy seriously has some of the best food I've ever had. I didn't eat a single thing I didn't like, and it was so nice to get to pick what I wanted to eat for 4 days straight since I don't get a choice at my house in Spain. I lived off the 3 main food groups: pizza, pasta, and gelato. I'm really lactose intolerant so I was nervous I might die there, but I took so many Lactaid pills the entire time and was luckily completely fine. It's pretty shameful how many of those pills I had to take though and I think I ate a year's worth of dairy in those four days...WORTH IT.

Getting to Italy on the first night was the exact opposite of what I expected. I was there with my friend Brendan from Exeter/UNH, and my friends Marissa, Haley, and Emily from my program in Spain. Brendan and I decided to share a hotel room for the weekend and when the bus from the airport dropped us off in the middle of nowhere on Friday night, we didn't know what to do except take a cab. I took a year of Italian last year and can understand a good amount of it, but it's really hard to respond especially on the spot because it's been a while and I don't know too much. I understood the cab driver though when he told us how to get to our hotel, La Casa di Maurizio. So, Brendan and I walked to where he said, and were so confused when our hotel was not...there... we backtracked like 3 times when I finally realized we had passed it underneath a ton of scaffolding and construction (weird vibe #1). To our surprise, it was in an apartment building and there was a hand written note addressed to me on the buzzer, telling me what to do (weird vibe #2). The guy tells us where to go and that he'll meet us in a minute, so we go inside and walk up really dirty/damaged stairs to the second floor (#3) and wait outside the door for at least 6-7 min (#4). By this point Brendan and I were freaking out and were about to run away and find a normal hotel, when the owner came and let us in. It was like walking from the black & white Kansas into beautiful Oz in comparison to where we had just been....and it was so weird. I was still freaking out though because I could barely understand him, and called my mom AND dad to get an opinion of if we should stay or not. We decided to stick it out for the night and figure it out in the morning.

Well, it ended up being a great bed and breakfast, and I'm so glad that we got over the initial impression. I really recommend it to anyone going to Rome! Brendan and I had a really nice room with 2 beds that we pushed so far apart (haha the owner probably thought we hated each other) and we loved watching the Italian MTV channel which is actually 100% music....why isn't America like that....
Anyway, don't judge a hotel by it's creepy dark and dirty staircase/outside appearance is the lesson I learned from that.

My third experience was with the Italian waiter that HATED MEEEE. It was the first night and 4 of us found a really nice restaurant outside; classic Italy with twinkle lights, happy music, vines, all the cliche stuff. But for some reason the waiter had a vengeance on me...I swear. I was unprepared to order and instead of giving us a second, he just stood over my shoulder while I read the menu and said one of the 3 English words he seemed to know which was "tomorrow" over and over as in, "you're taking forever hurry up." Later, he served me main plate which was mussels and clams with a side of broccoli. When I stopped eating for a second to take a sip of wine he swooped in and went to take my plates which still had food all over them and in English I was like "Hey no I'm not done!!" And he was like "Ohhhhh" in a mocking tone. Seeing my normal looking broccoli, he continues to tell me I'm doing it wrong, and takes the oil and vinegar from the table and dumps them all over it. Meanwhile I'm sitting there thinking "this dude would be fired for doing that in the US" and "NOOOO I EAT ENOUGH OIL IN SPAIN!!" He walked away saying "better, better" and I was like uhh ok...and ate it anyway. Finally, when my friends were ordering desserts I was trying to remind them what the options were, and when I was listing them he looks at me and hands me the pad of paper and pen as in "fine you take their order."

Ugh he haaaaaated me....and after charging us 10 euros extra for no reason, we left and he probably kissed the ground when I did. So, dear Random Italian Waiter Man: if you ever read this I just wanna say YOU OWE ME BROCCOLI. However, the overall experience in Italy was incredible, and it's my favorite country I've ever been to. If you have a dream place you want to travel to, do it when you get the chance.

Shout out to the funniest guy that I know, who never ceases to stop texting me ridiculous things. I love me...I mean..you. Don't you think I'm pretty excellent?? You're so lucky to have me for a daughter. Hehe. Miss you!!

Also have to shout out to mi novio since I don't know the next time I'll blog and his birthday is this weekend and I won't get to be there for it. Feliz cumpleaños! Te quiero mi mejor amigo :)

Tres semanas más...no puedo creerlo. Gracias por leer, como siempre!
-Molly (that's what my coffee cup says this time...CLOSEST ONE YET!)

Francia

Francia.
BONJOUR! Este de fin de semana pasado fui al sur de Francia para celebrar el cumpleaños de Gretchen! I was kind of sad at first that I wouldn't get a chance to go to Paris, but I'm really glad I went to Aix-en-Provence and Avignon instead because it gave me a chance to not be touristy and it was so beautiful down there. It was also my first time ever traveling 100% alone so it was good to finally go through that process. Besides getting to actually use my three years of French, eating the classic crepes and croissants, laying in the park, shopping in the French boutiques, taking a day trip to Avignon to visit the Palais de Papes/famous bridge, I had 2 favorite experiences and learned 2 things about myself while I was there.

On the eve of Gretchen's birthday, we had planned to go out obviously because 21 is a big deal. Me, Gretchen, Erin (one of my friends from UNH that also came down to visit from studying in Dijon, France) and people from Gretch's program went to the store to buy some drinks before going out to the bar later that night. Erin and I decided we'd split a bottle of champagne. We went outside to a spot down the street from the store and everyone was casually drinking their beers or whatever they bought, while Erin tried to open the bottle. It was a twist off so we thought it'd be easy. NO.

For some reason it was impossible to get the top off. There were at least 7 different people that tried using a wine bottle opener, biting it, smashing the top off, using the ledge of a statue to pry it off, etc. We decided to just poke a hole in the plastic part and take turns feeding it to each other (ok we sound desperate but I spent 5 euros on it that's like 8 bucks sooo) but because the pressure couldn't be released it just kept exploding in our faces. After a half an hour we decided to just go back to the store and ask the cashier for a new one because it was clearly defective, but Gretchen thought she'd ask him first if he could open it. There were like 6 people in line and I watched as she literally asked him if he knew how to open it, while all the French people were basically laughing at us because we looked PATHETIC. The guy took the bottle and tried, and Erin and I were just waiting for the guy to fail because we had obviously tried twisting it off a thousand times. 3 seconds later he popped off the top and handed it back to us with no problem. It was so embarrassing, mostly because the guy looked like he was 12 years old and none of us could open it but him.

My other favorite part of the trip was Gretchen's birthday dinner on the actual day. She's also in a host family with an elderly woman so it was really interesting to see the differences between her situation and mine. Her host mom planned a whole dinner ordeal for her birthday, which was so nice and a bunch of people were invited. She had us play bingo and win tiny presents, and it was actually really fun with all the people our age. After that a few more adults came, and during the dinner we all sat in a circle and it was a huge mixture of speaking in English and French, and it was so cool. I will never get that experience again, and I loved being able to use my French and try to understand what was going on. One of the other English speakers there was also from Scotland, so hearing her accent plus all the French ones mixed with English was really a once in a life time kind of thing. It also made me appreciate my Spanish sooooo much; I love how comfortable I am with it and honestly consider myself fluent after going to France. In Spanish I can say anything I want to, simply by explaining a word even if I don't know exactly what it is. Even though I know French it was so much harder to feel connected with it, even in France, and I'm so happy I took the Spanish route :)

The two lessons I learned include:
1) Realizing that Spain has turned me into SUCH a loudmouth. Apparently I speak so loudly all the time and pretty much yell compared to people in France...and learning that was embarrassing but funny and humbling. I never realized how loud the Spanish culture is, and now I totally get it. It's a national law in France to be quiet in your house after 10pm...meanwhile I can hear children running and people yelling in my apartment building at all hours of the day. Also, because my host mom is older, I've become accustomed to speaking really loudly...and that's just not a thing in France. Erin and Gretchen SHHHH'd me like a billion times while I was there..sorry guys, I have a little Spain in me.

2) Birds are birds no matter where you go but especially in France they SUCK. If you know me well you know that I'm absolutely terrified of all birds, and for some reason all the pigeons there were monster. They aren't scared of humans and just walk right up to you/fly directly towards your face and don't care. I was on edge the entire time we walked past a flock of those disgusting head bobbers.. ew even writing this makes me cringe. Whatever I'm weird but I learned that I still hate birds and always will.

This shout out is to the four people in Scotland I reallyyyyy wish I could visit, but can't figure out a way how to make it work. :( To my Tennessee/Scotland family, I wish more than anything I could come stay with you guys for a weekend since I'm so close, but I'll have to wait to see you til you're back in the summer! I miss and love you guys, Micah is more adorable every day and I can't wait to see you all! And to the person who gave me the closest thing to a cactus iPod, I also wish so much that I could come visit :/ you seem to be having an awesome time, it was good to talk to you a bit this weekend!

Merci beaucoup for reading, ya es abril y no puedo creerlo. A little Frespanglish for you all.
Hasta pronto,
-Male (the current name my coffee cup has this time)

Londres

Londres.

Hola chicos y chicas! This past weekend I got the chance to visit England with my program, and it was well worth the waiting around for hours at the airport both there and back. 

Some highlights before my main stories: we got there Thursday night, and I was especially excited for this trip because 1) my program paid for the plane tickets and hotel which was SO great, and 2) my friends Ally, Kristen, and Alyssa are all studying there through the UNH program at Regent's University! It was so weird to realize that we were all hanging out in London...not Durham, and it was awesome. Me and my friend Katie from my program did some things on our own and some with the Regent's chicas, including the London Eye, Trafalgar Square, the British Museum, Borough Market, Buckingham Palace, walking by the London Bridge on the river, etc. We also got to try classic pub food, eat Chipotle (BEST DAY OF MY LIFEEEEE) and sushi (SECOND BEST DAY OF MY LIFEEEEE). If it isn't clear...it was nice to get the chance to pick out my own food for a weekend.

Anyway, two of my favorite parts were trying to go to Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guards, and being trapped in the pouring rain one night while we were out. 

None of the five of us had ever been to the changing of the guards event, so we thought we'd just meet at 11 when it happened and then go to Borough market to get lunch after. 

.........DON'T EVER expect to see the changing of the guards or find anyone at Buckingham Palace exactly at the time the whole spectacle is supposed to take place. Katie and I got there a little after 11, and it honestly looked like half of London showed up in front and all around the palace. I was so confused because I really didn't get what the big deal was...but apparently it's a big thing especially for tourists. We basically accepted the fact we wouldn't find Ally, Alyssa, Kristen or their friend Jaclyn at all because it was impossible to see anything. Standing there for 10 minutes I heard at least 5 different languages, and I should have brought stilts if I had been planning on seeing a single thing. 

Some how, so, SO luckily, Kristen saw me (I'm still confused how it happened. It would be like trying to find someone randomly at Gillette Stadium) and we decided to leave because it was so pointless and none of us had any idea what the big deal was. All I saw was the top of a furry black guard hat and heard some trumpets; that's all I know. After I write this I'm finally going to research what exactly we missed out on. It was probably some big deal or something....if not, I just don't understand....

My other favorite moment was so typical London and exactly what I expected with the weather. Me, Katie, Ally, and Alyssa all went out that night to an old converted theatre-turned bar, and it was really different than places in Spain so I'm glad we got to experience something new. When we left the weather was fine, there was a 30% chance of it raining later but we didn't really think anything of it since we would be taking the bus back to Regent's and our hotel. We were there for a few hours and decided to head back, and when we walked outside it was literally torrentially down-pouring. None of us had rain coats either (you guys what was wrong with us).

We knew we needed the bus stop on the other side of the road than we had gotten off at, so there was nothing else we could do but run. It was the kind of rain that's freezing and whips at your face and it was AWFUL but we just kept running...and running.......until we stopped and realized there was no bus stop in sight. We had to take the bus back; we didn't have a choice. So, after stopping multiple times to shiver like wet rats under various store awnings, we walked into McDonalds to ask for directions. I explained where we were trying to go, and the guy behind the counter said, "Oh, this is a one way street! You guys have to go behind this building to get a bus back."

It's safe to say that pouring sheets of rain clouded our judgment and apparently our vision from noticing we had been running down a one way street the whole time.

By the time we finally got on the bus, we looked like an absolute mess, but it was hilarious and now I can say that the London rain has gotten the best of me. 

This shout out is to the guy who just turned 16 and got his license today!! Felicitaciones! Pero yo siempre conduciré mejor que tú. Necesitas traducir estas frases para practicar más con tu español...cuando estoy en los EEUU otra vez nunca te hablaré en inglés..es una buena idea, no? 

Another shout out to Ally, Alyssa, and Kristen; it was great seeing you guys y gracias por todo! Especially Ally, you were a huge help!! Alyssa and Kristen SEE YOU IN ROME YAY!

Me voy a Francia mañana hasta el martes para visitar con Gretchen! Escribiré sobre este viaje la semana que viene :)

-Moll

Pobre Vaca Pequeña (Literalmente)

Pobre Vaca Pequeña (Literalmente)

Haven't written in a while but hola amigos! Quick recap before my main post: I had midterms last week and even though school is A LOT more relaxed here than at home, exams are exams and it still sucked especially because they make up 50% of my grade... soooooo k. This past weekend my group went to Extremadura and visited 3 different cities, which were all so pretty and old-timey looking. I got to see all of Trujillo on top of an old castle, hike 10 miles up a mountain (go hike 10 miles and tell me your butt doesn't hurt and I'll call you a liar) to Guadalupe, and stay in a hotel connected to a monastery. Pretty good way to end midterms week.

I realize 70% of my blog talks about food but if you keep reading it then you must not be sick of that yet! This story is the tale of the baby vaca.

Vaca=cow, baby cow=veal, veal=ternera in Spanish. Which is what I realized we're always eating whenever we have "hamburguesas." But, it's always extremely pink and almost rare-looking/different tasting, which isn't how I'm used to eating burgers but I do here anyway since I don't have a choice.

The other day my host mom asked me to watch the burgers while she ran across the hall to help a neighbor really quickly. Emphasis on the "really quickly"...she said she'd be right back.
 If you know me you know I can't cook at all, like AT ALL.. it's an issue and I'm working on it. Kind of. But, she basically told me to just keep an eye on them, so I figured I could do that. I was standing there staring at them and she told me not to worry about it so much so I didn't think it would be a big thing.

I've never cooked hamburgers in oil, let alone veal so I don't know if it cooks differently at all. But these veal patties were sitting in at least a half inch of straight oil with a splash of cooking wine, which I've never had any experience with. A little while after my host mom left I had my roommate Maya come see if I should flip them, and she agreed and flipped them while she was in there. My host mom was not be-right-backing at all, and I honestly assumed she would be back before they were supposed to be done because she didn't give me any instructions on what to do besides watching them. However, after 15 minutes I took the pan off the stove when I noticed ALL of the oil was gone and I was disgustedly surprised because there had been so much of it. The patties had just started to blacken on the bottom and Maya started to take them out and plate them. At that moment, my host mom walked in and saw the smoke (yes I can't cook I KNOW) and immediately started saying we had to throw them away. Granted, they looked burnt on the bottom but the rest of the patty was completely fine. But, the way she usually cooks them is rare so to her it looked like I ruined everything. But, Maya and I convinced her we'd still eat them, because 1) I felt bad and didn't want to waste them and 2) anything is better than completely pink burgers.

We sat down to eat and when I took a bite, I was expecting a nice charred flavor. But, they tasted WAY better than usual, because they were actually cooked this time! Maya and I were both so confused but pretty happy about how it all turned out. So, me burning something ended up being the best thing that could happen, and even though my host mom thinks we're crazy for liking "burnt" burgers, it ended up being a blessing in disguise. If anyone needs a professional awful chef who might end up cooking something good by accident, hit me up.

This shout out is to my loney homey! No idea what that even means still and don't think I'll ever remember...same with Nailsy & Roz...why........
Anyyyyway I miss hanging out all the time and laughing 24/7, plus no one is here to YEAH MOLL me :( Miss you!

Gracias por leer esta entrada tan larga!
Hasta pronto,
Moll:)
PS: I'm now Mali OR Mely at cafés. Yeah.