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:)
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
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!)
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!)
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
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)
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)
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