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.

Bloguito

Bloguito.

I just made that up. But in spanish you can add "-ito" or "-ita" to words to make the meaning cuter/smaller than the normal word would be. For example, my host mom calls my roommate Maya and I "chiquis," a nickname for "chiquitas"which is adding "-itas" to the word chica, meaning girl. So since this is a short blog post, bloguito works. Today is the third way point of me being here so I thought I should write something, and all I could think of is food..classic.

I had squid stew two days ago. I'm not a picky eater, but NOPE not my favorite at.all.

So, to counteract that bad time, Brendan and I were American yesterday and went to TGI Fridays (lame I know) and I got a real burger. And it was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Today for lunch there was a bowl full of shrimp in front of me, eyes and all. And while I love shrimp and don't care to peel it if that's necessary, my third attempt at picking off every stringy leg while looking into its black beady eyes was too much.

Also I changed my mind and my name isn't "Moley" anymore....I'm taking a stand and making it "Mali" from now on.

Shout out to the person I get to see this week and I'm SO excited about it...cannot wait to celebrate your 21st this Friday!! So happy to get to show you Sevilla and see someone from home! Looooove ya muchisimo!

La próxima vez escribiré algo más interesante...les prometo.
Adios!
MALI :)