Awkward Cosas.
Someone once told me that there isn't a Spanish equivalent for the word "awkward." I'm sure there's some sort of word that means just about the same thing, but 1.) I'm too lazy to figure it out and 2.) it just wouldn't capture the true meaning of the word in all its glory.
Nothing necessarily life changing has happened since Morocco, but the more I live here the more I realize how many awkward every day things happen to me on a regular basis. So here's what my life has been like from time to time:
First of all, the henna tattoo I talked about in my last post is still lingering on my hand and it will not come off and it's so.ugly.
Some mornings I wake up and I'm like "YES I LOVE SPANISH I NEVER WANT TO SPEAK ENGLISH AGAIN!!" But others I wake up and I'm like "Ughhhhhhh I SUCK woe is me." So it's a pretty decent mix of feeling like I'm getting better but still struggling. So, what I do most of the time when I don't know what's going on is just nod my head and smile and say "sííí," which is my go to answer for everything and I know a day will come when that's definitely not what I should have said but I'll deal with that when I get to it.
I went to the grocery store the other day to buy nail polish remover, chocolate, and cooking wine. The first 2 for me and the wine for my host mom since she asked me to. When I got back to the house she asked if it cost me a lot and I promptly responded "No no! Fue muy borracho!" Which, for any of you who don't know Spanish, means "No! It was really drunk!" She looked wicked confused and then I realized what I said and was like "ummm barrato..." which is the correct word for cheap. Whyyyyyyy..
She also walked in to my room the other day while I was watching the Bachelor (can't stop won't stop) and Juan Pablo happened to be making out with one of the girls and she just started laughing and asked if it was an American movie. Stupid U.S. trashy TV shows...
It's a daily struggle to turn down bread, especially at home. I feel like if I say no all of Spain is judging me, and I also love fresh bread so much but the carbs are killlllin me. "No quieres pan?" The dreaded question when I have to try to explain myself. But I've been getting better at saying no..one day I'll be bread free for 24 hours; mark my words.
When I was trying to buy a Spanish phone a couple weeks ago, the saleslady was not having it when I accidentally knocked over the phone advertisement sign and butchered my spanish trying to apologize. For some reason I keep doing stuff like that and I've decided to give up on being graceful whatsoever. Katie and Corinne if you're reading this, you guys can definitely attest.
The barista at Starbucks spelled my name as "Mali" on my cup, which was impressive considering I've pretty much just accepted the fact that my name will forever be pronounced as "Moley" while I'm here or in any other Spanish speaking country. Totally used to it.
I have a pretty long list of other moments when I've acted muy estúpida but hey who doesn't have weird times when they're in a foreign country? All part of the beauty of it :)
This shout out is for the person that loves ice cream more than anyone else I know and who I never call by her real name. Missed you on Skype the other day, hope you're still awesome and I love you.
Si quieren leer más momentos que son "awkward" mientras estoy aquí, estoy segura que voy a documentarlos por Twitter! Mi nombre de usuario es mollieconant.
Gracias por leer; hasta pronto :)
Moll
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Marruecos
Marruecos.
Marruecos significa Morocco en español...y es donde fui este fin de semana pasado!
(Marruecos means Morocco in Spanish, and it's where I went this past weekend!)
There are a bunch of programs outside of my study abroad program that run trips for students to different places that are close to Sevilla, so I decided on a whim to sign up for the Morocco weekend trip with some of my friends. Realistically I have no idea if I'll ever have the chance to travel to Morocco again in my life, so I'm very glad I went through this program since they provided everything in the trip price and it was suchhhh a good deal.
We stopped in Gibraltar first, which I had no idea existed and I feel like a total idiot who knows nothing about the world.......
But it was so cool because we got to walk over the border from Spain! Checked that off the bucket list. It was weird to all of a sudden be thrown into an English speaking place since I'm so used to hearing Spanish, but I'm glad we saw it because it was like a mini England and made me look forward to going to London in March (KRISTEN AND ALYSSA I AM WAY TOO EXCITED).
Morocco itself was like entering a whole new world. For the first time I really didn't see American influence in a foreign culture, and it was awesome. It was beautiful in a completely different way than Spain, and it was really interesting to see how big of an influence the Muslim religion has on the culture there. However, I can't talk about it all so I'll hit some of the highlights of the trip:
1.) I rode a camel next to the beach, if you haven't seen my profile picture. I realized this year that I'm actually scared of animals....sorry all of you who think that's a crime but dogs are the only animals that don't freak me out to be around. So, this was a bigger deal for me than most, and it was actually wicked fun and hilarious.
2.) There are no set prices for the stores there, except for the "farmacias" which have things like spices and oils. So, if you want to buy something, you bargain with the store owner. I was nervous for this because of the language barrier and because I felt like I'd get nervous and end up agreeing to whatever price they gave me. But, it was really great to experience that system and I ended up buying a ton of stuff because the exchange rate there is insanely good for euros. I got one store owner to lower a tapestry from 50 euros (um, why would I ever spend that on a tapestry) to 20, simply by telling him I wouldn't spend more than that. He kept saying it had to be higher but the second I started walking out of the store he was like "OK VEINTE!" meaning he gave into my offer hehe. They are absolutely relentless in trying to sell tourists their stuff though, and I got really annoyed by the end of the weekend because they wouldn't leave us alone. I don't know how many times I told some guy that I did NOT NEED BONGOS but it's alright because it's just how their culture is.
3.) I got a henna tattoo at dinner Saturday night and it came out kinda weird. But yeah I slept on my hand (ugh whyyyyy) and woke up with it tattooed on my cheek so that was nice. Good thing it was cheap and only lasted a day before fading since I scrubbed it off like my life depended on it. The actual tattoo on my hand looks so weird right now and it's kind of embarrassing but it will not come off...you win some you lose some.
4.) The language use there was my favorite part. I'm weird and think that languages are fascinating, and love being challenged and testing my comfort zone with that kind of stuff, which is what this trip did. Morocco's first language is Arabic and second is French. I know some French, but most of the signs there were in Arabic, which was beautiful but meant absolutely nothing to me. At the street markets most of them know a little English and Spanish too, which blows my mind because they can communicate with so many people based of those 4 languages. So, whenever I bartered, I always asked if they spoke Spanish because I felt more comfortable getting by with that than with English, which is so great because I'm getting to use my Spanish in real life situations and I love that.
Being in Morocco made me miss Spain, and Sevilla especially, a lot. I never realized how comfortable I felt here until I threw myself into a country were I truly felt like an outsider. It made me appreciate how well I can speak Spanish, even though I still have trouble sometimes. But, it gave me the confidence to realize that I'm learning way more than I thought I was up til this point. I'm super happy being here and hope everyone back home isn't drowning in all the snow...it's a good thing I'm not there or I'd be complaining every single second of the day and everyone would hate me...
This post's shout out is dedicated to my superhero partner Robin. Miss you so much! I was going through pictures on my phone on the bus back from Morocco and found like 3 pictures of you laying on the floor of the lounge in a blanket...hahaha classic. Can't wait until summer, qué divertido será!!
Como siempre, gracias por leer!
Moll :)
Marruecos significa Morocco en español...y es donde fui este fin de semana pasado!
(Marruecos means Morocco in Spanish, and it's where I went this past weekend!)
There are a bunch of programs outside of my study abroad program that run trips for students to different places that are close to Sevilla, so I decided on a whim to sign up for the Morocco weekend trip with some of my friends. Realistically I have no idea if I'll ever have the chance to travel to Morocco again in my life, so I'm very glad I went through this program since they provided everything in the trip price and it was suchhhh a good deal.
We stopped in Gibraltar first, which I had no idea existed and I feel like a total idiot who knows nothing about the world.......
But it was so cool because we got to walk over the border from Spain! Checked that off the bucket list. It was weird to all of a sudden be thrown into an English speaking place since I'm so used to hearing Spanish, but I'm glad we saw it because it was like a mini England and made me look forward to going to London in March (KRISTEN AND ALYSSA I AM WAY TOO EXCITED).
Morocco itself was like entering a whole new world. For the first time I really didn't see American influence in a foreign culture, and it was awesome. It was beautiful in a completely different way than Spain, and it was really interesting to see how big of an influence the Muslim religion has on the culture there. However, I can't talk about it all so I'll hit some of the highlights of the trip:
1.) I rode a camel next to the beach, if you haven't seen my profile picture. I realized this year that I'm actually scared of animals....sorry all of you who think that's a crime but dogs are the only animals that don't freak me out to be around. So, this was a bigger deal for me than most, and it was actually wicked fun and hilarious.
2.) There are no set prices for the stores there, except for the "farmacias" which have things like spices and oils. So, if you want to buy something, you bargain with the store owner. I was nervous for this because of the language barrier and because I felt like I'd get nervous and end up agreeing to whatever price they gave me. But, it was really great to experience that system and I ended up buying a ton of stuff because the exchange rate there is insanely good for euros. I got one store owner to lower a tapestry from 50 euros (um, why would I ever spend that on a tapestry) to 20, simply by telling him I wouldn't spend more than that. He kept saying it had to be higher but the second I started walking out of the store he was like "OK VEINTE!" meaning he gave into my offer hehe. They are absolutely relentless in trying to sell tourists their stuff though, and I got really annoyed by the end of the weekend because they wouldn't leave us alone. I don't know how many times I told some guy that I did NOT NEED BONGOS but it's alright because it's just how their culture is.
3.) I got a henna tattoo at dinner Saturday night and it came out kinda weird. But yeah I slept on my hand (ugh whyyyyy) and woke up with it tattooed on my cheek so that was nice. Good thing it was cheap and only lasted a day before fading since I scrubbed it off like my life depended on it. The actual tattoo on my hand looks so weird right now and it's kind of embarrassing but it will not come off...you win some you lose some.
4.) The language use there was my favorite part. I'm weird and think that languages are fascinating, and love being challenged and testing my comfort zone with that kind of stuff, which is what this trip did. Morocco's first language is Arabic and second is French. I know some French, but most of the signs there were in Arabic, which was beautiful but meant absolutely nothing to me. At the street markets most of them know a little English and Spanish too, which blows my mind because they can communicate with so many people based of those 4 languages. So, whenever I bartered, I always asked if they spoke Spanish because I felt more comfortable getting by with that than with English, which is so great because I'm getting to use my Spanish in real life situations and I love that.
Being in Morocco made me miss Spain, and Sevilla especially, a lot. I never realized how comfortable I felt here until I threw myself into a country were I truly felt like an outsider. It made me appreciate how well I can speak Spanish, even though I still have trouble sometimes. But, it gave me the confidence to realize that I'm learning way more than I thought I was up til this point. I'm super happy being here and hope everyone back home isn't drowning in all the snow...it's a good thing I'm not there or I'd be complaining every single second of the day and everyone would hate me...
This post's shout out is dedicated to my superhero partner Robin. Miss you so much! I was going through pictures on my phone on the bus back from Morocco and found like 3 pictures of you laying on the floor of the lounge in a blanket...hahaha classic. Can't wait until summer, qué divertido será!!
Como siempre, gracias por leer!
Moll :)
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Un Sueño y una Pesadilla
Un Sueño y una Pesadilla.
For any of you that have read my previous posts, you know that my first one was about how I was so worried that the fear of missing out on stuff back home would get to me while I'm here. Well, I'm proud to announce that I had my A-HA moment 2 days ago, when I realized that the FOMO is gone for good!
This past week we started classes and had a first routine week, which all went really well. On Friday my program took us to Granada, which is about a 3 hour bus ride away from Sevilla. I feel like it's impossible to drive anywhere in Spain without it being absolutely gorgeous the entire way there, especially when it's sunny out and mountains are in the background. So, we're on the way to Granada, probably an hour into the drive and I'm listening to my iPod while my eyes are glued to the beauty around me. There's a song by Imagine Dragons called "On Top of the World," and if you haven't heard it before go listen right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8PrTzLaLHc
Anyway, it's just a wicked happy song (PS all the people in my program that aren't from New England always comment on how I say wicked...I always forget that's not a thing that everyone says) and while it was blasting into my ears and I was staring out the window, life just hit me in the face and I realized how incredibly blessed I am to be here. I recently got a tattoo on my wrist that says "bendecida," which means blessed in Spanish, because I wanted something I could look at to remind me how much God has given me and not to take anything for granted. I've had a hard time settling here in Spain but that one moment on the bus I will always remember, because it's when the FOMO disappeared and I realized I don't want to be anywhere but here right now taking in every single opportunity I can because I've been dreaming of this trip for SO long.
So, speaking of opportunities, that brings me to the "pesadilla" part of the story. Sueño means dream, which is what I just described about how I'm living part of my dream right now.
Pesadilla means nightmare.
I'm being 100% dramatic, but I just like the word pesadilla and this wasn't ever something I wanted to do so I'm calling it my nightmare. In Granada we went to a Flamenco show in a cave, and it was so sooo cool because the dancers were literally right in front of me, like their dresses kept hitting my legs and we were essentially on their "stage". It was interesting to see something cultural and authentic since Flamenco dancing is a very popular thing in Spain. They gave us all sangria and we got to sit and watch the show with a perfect view.
At the beginning of it I remember thinking "they better not pull people from the audience" because I was in a prime location for getting grabbed and brought on stage. Well as no surprise to me that EXACT THING HAPPENED and I was mortified. I was the first person they chose out of like 70-80 other people there. I'm not a dancer at all...I'm such a self conscious person in that aspect so the second that the dancer took my hand I didn't want to move. But when in my life can I say that I looked like an absolute mess trying to imitate Flamenco with a professional dancer in a cave? Yeah probably not going to have a chance like that again, so I went with it. I had no clue what I was doing and was super embarrassed but hey when in Spain right?
All in all, I love it here. I'm so happy right now and while I miss people at home, this is going to go by so fast and I'm loving every second of it. This post goes out to the person I never would have guessed I would miss as much as I do; the only one who knows what a B.O.S. is.
Me haces sonreír cada día, y te extraño muchisimo! No puedo esperar hasta mayo, HS ;) -HP/LG
Gracias por leer. Hasta luego!
Moll
For any of you that have read my previous posts, you know that my first one was about how I was so worried that the fear of missing out on stuff back home would get to me while I'm here. Well, I'm proud to announce that I had my A-HA moment 2 days ago, when I realized that the FOMO is gone for good!
This past week we started classes and had a first routine week, which all went really well. On Friday my program took us to Granada, which is about a 3 hour bus ride away from Sevilla. I feel like it's impossible to drive anywhere in Spain without it being absolutely gorgeous the entire way there, especially when it's sunny out and mountains are in the background. So, we're on the way to Granada, probably an hour into the drive and I'm listening to my iPod while my eyes are glued to the beauty around me. There's a song by Imagine Dragons called "On Top of the World," and if you haven't heard it before go listen right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8PrTzLaLHc
Anyway, it's just a wicked happy song (PS all the people in my program that aren't from New England always comment on how I say wicked...I always forget that's not a thing that everyone says) and while it was blasting into my ears and I was staring out the window, life just hit me in the face and I realized how incredibly blessed I am to be here. I recently got a tattoo on my wrist that says "bendecida," which means blessed in Spanish, because I wanted something I could look at to remind me how much God has given me and not to take anything for granted. I've had a hard time settling here in Spain but that one moment on the bus I will always remember, because it's when the FOMO disappeared and I realized I don't want to be anywhere but here right now taking in every single opportunity I can because I've been dreaming of this trip for SO long.
So, speaking of opportunities, that brings me to the "pesadilla" part of the story. Sueño means dream, which is what I just described about how I'm living part of my dream right now.
Pesadilla means nightmare.
I'm being 100% dramatic, but I just like the word pesadilla and this wasn't ever something I wanted to do so I'm calling it my nightmare. In Granada we went to a Flamenco show in a cave, and it was so sooo cool because the dancers were literally right in front of me, like their dresses kept hitting my legs and we were essentially on their "stage". It was interesting to see something cultural and authentic since Flamenco dancing is a very popular thing in Spain. They gave us all sangria and we got to sit and watch the show with a perfect view.
At the beginning of it I remember thinking "they better not pull people from the audience" because I was in a prime location for getting grabbed and brought on stage. Well as no surprise to me that EXACT THING HAPPENED and I was mortified. I was the first person they chose out of like 70-80 other people there. I'm not a dancer at all...I'm such a self conscious person in that aspect so the second that the dancer took my hand I didn't want to move. But when in my life can I say that I looked like an absolute mess trying to imitate Flamenco with a professional dancer in a cave? Yeah probably not going to have a chance like that again, so I went with it. I had no clue what I was doing and was super embarrassed but hey when in Spain right?
All in all, I love it here. I'm so happy right now and while I miss people at home, this is going to go by so fast and I'm loving every second of it. This post goes out to the person I never would have guessed I would miss as much as I do; the only one who knows what a B.O.S. is.
Me haces sonreír cada día, y te extraño muchisimo! No puedo esperar hasta mayo, HS ;) -HP/LG
Gracias por leer. Hasta luego!
Moll
Sunday, February 2, 2014
La Comida
La Comida.
Buenas tardes a todos que están en los Estados Unidos!
Quick recap: we left Madrid and went to Toledo, which was MUY bonita and I loved it there, as well as Córdoba where we went the next day. Wednesday night we finally arrived in Sevilla and I experienced extreme culture shock when I got to my host mother's house, but I'm already getting pretty used to it here and feel a lot more comfortable. Fell in love with the city on Friday, and I already know I need to enjoy every second of being here because it's going to fly by.
Definitely needed to dedicate a post to the food here, and the extreme differences in how this culture works with meal times and all that. They eat a really tiny breakfast whenever is convenient really, have a huge lunch, and then a smaller dinner. But the times are sooo different and it's been hard to adjust to. Yesterday we at breakfast at 12:45pm, lunch at 5, and dinner at 10:15..pretty different. This past week I've already tried some...interesting....things that the US would probably never see. For example, my second night in Sevilla, we had artichoke and egg soup. Sounds wicked good right?! Except it actually was pretty good so I was shocked. I've also had tuna pizza, which leads me into my current dilemma:
So I told my host mother immediately that I'm lactose intolerant, and she was really understanding and nice about it. And she constantly reminds me that I can't have dairy and seemed to be really accommodating which was great; she bought soy milk and said that none of the meals will have any dairy. Since I'm living at a house, we get 3 meals a day but I really have no choice in what we have so I eat whatever it is, and so far everything has been really good. Weird sometimes, but good. It's been a ton of food at each meal though because she wants to fill us up, so I've been struggling with how not to be rude but not waste food at the same time...especially with the bread. I LOVE bread like any human does but I think yesterday I had to eat about an entire loaf's worth with all the meals combined; ugh so good but so SO bad.
Anyway a couple nights ago she was like "vamos a tener pizza!" and my roommate and I just looked at each other, but she claimed it had no cheese on it so I was totally fine with that. So we sit down and I look at the table to see pizza with tuna, covered in cheese...like any normal pizza. I was so confused because she repeated again it had no cheese but it 10000% did. I didn't know what to do so I nodded and smiled, and the second she looked away I had to take my lactaid pills or else I would've been dying all night. The next night we were talking about the lactose intolerance again, because it's a very popular topic of conversation for some reason (...?) when my host mother started accusing my roommate and I of not knowing for sure since we had no doctor's proof. I tried to explain that I know for sure....like trust me I KNOW I can't have dairy, but she got serious and basically said she was going to be watching us to see if it's really a thing or not..and promptly asked us if we'd like ice cream after dinner. All I did was smile and say no gracias. HELP ME I'M SO CONFUSED.
This shout out goes to the person that I immediately called when moving into my house. Thank you for talking to me and helping me feel better. Being in "another family" here makes me miss you ten times more and appreciate everything you do for me, I love and miss you!
Chao amigos!
Moll
Buenas tardes a todos que están en los Estados Unidos!
Quick recap: we left Madrid and went to Toledo, which was MUY bonita and I loved it there, as well as Córdoba where we went the next day. Wednesday night we finally arrived in Sevilla and I experienced extreme culture shock when I got to my host mother's house, but I'm already getting pretty used to it here and feel a lot more comfortable. Fell in love with the city on Friday, and I already know I need to enjoy every second of being here because it's going to fly by.
Definitely needed to dedicate a post to the food here, and the extreme differences in how this culture works with meal times and all that. They eat a really tiny breakfast whenever is convenient really, have a huge lunch, and then a smaller dinner. But the times are sooo different and it's been hard to adjust to. Yesterday we at breakfast at 12:45pm, lunch at 5, and dinner at 10:15..pretty different. This past week I've already tried some...interesting....things that the US would probably never see. For example, my second night in Sevilla, we had artichoke and egg soup. Sounds wicked good right?! Except it actually was pretty good so I was shocked. I've also had tuna pizza, which leads me into my current dilemma:
So I told my host mother immediately that I'm lactose intolerant, and she was really understanding and nice about it. And she constantly reminds me that I can't have dairy and seemed to be really accommodating which was great; she bought soy milk and said that none of the meals will have any dairy. Since I'm living at a house, we get 3 meals a day but I really have no choice in what we have so I eat whatever it is, and so far everything has been really good. Weird sometimes, but good. It's been a ton of food at each meal though because she wants to fill us up, so I've been struggling with how not to be rude but not waste food at the same time...especially with the bread. I LOVE bread like any human does but I think yesterday I had to eat about an entire loaf's worth with all the meals combined; ugh so good but so SO bad.
Anyway a couple nights ago she was like "vamos a tener pizza!" and my roommate and I just looked at each other, but she claimed it had no cheese on it so I was totally fine with that. So we sit down and I look at the table to see pizza with tuna, covered in cheese...like any normal pizza. I was so confused because she repeated again it had no cheese but it 10000% did. I didn't know what to do so I nodded and smiled, and the second she looked away I had to take my lactaid pills or else I would've been dying all night. The next night we were talking about the lactose intolerance again, because it's a very popular topic of conversation for some reason (...?) when my host mother started accusing my roommate and I of not knowing for sure since we had no doctor's proof. I tried to explain that I know for sure....like trust me I KNOW I can't have dairy, but she got serious and basically said she was going to be watching us to see if it's really a thing or not..and promptly asked us if we'd like ice cream after dinner. All I did was smile and say no gracias. HELP ME I'M SO CONFUSED.
This shout out goes to the person that I immediately called when moving into my house. Thank you for talking to me and helping me feel better. Being in "another family" here makes me miss you ten times more and appreciate everything you do for me, I love and miss you!
Chao amigos!
Moll
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
El Tigre
El Tigre.
Hola desde España! So I said I was going to pick a specific thing to write about rather than explain everything I've done up to this point, but here's a quick recap:
We got stuck on the plane for 2 hours while waiting for them to de-ice it. I slept through Silver Linings Playbook on the flight here and was pretty upset about it. We arrived in Madrid and I got meet up with Kristina in the afternoon and we went to a café :) Jet lag got the best of me and I almost fell asleep standing up during the tour of El Museo de Prado...I was interested but so exhausted. I've seen so much hanging meat in restaurants/stores and SO MANY paintings of naked people, and any time I think something is strictly a sidewalk a car shows up and almost runs us over, so I have no idea what's up with the streets here.
I could go on and on but my favorite experience so far was last night in Madrid at a place called El Tigre. Me and five others went there because we heard they served a bunch of tapas with your drinks (tapas are various kinds of appetizers) for really cheap. We got there and there were no tables with seats so the waiter pointed to a back high top table for us to stand at. He could definitely tell we were tourists and didn't show any mercy on the Spanish or helping us out to understand what he meant with things. We had no idea what we were doing so we ended up asking a group of English speakers what to do, and we decided to go up to the bar and place our drink orders. However, the second we got over there the waiter just waved his hand and mumbled something in Spanish to shoo us away, and I could tell he wasn't our biggest fan.
So we went back to the table and waited, when he eventually came over to take our orders. We must not have looked like the beer-drinking type because he gave us 2 examples of what to order: sangria or mojitos classssic girl drinks. I got a mojito that ended up being bigger than me... and shortly after that he brought out like 6-7 plates full of food, and it was AWESOME.
A table of British people next to us that had chairs left, so we decided to steal their table without asking. Right in the middle of moving all our stuff, our waiter caught us and just stared with a look that said "Stupid Americans are you kidding me" but we didn't care and told him we wanted seats, so he let us be. After hanging out for a while, he gave us the price for it all, 32 euros. But, they don't do separate checks in Spain, so we had to figure out how to scrounge up all our change to make it work. Instead of leaving and giving us a second, the waiter stood right there and watched us make absolute fools of ourselves. This guy must have thought we were SO annoying and I wonder how many people like us he has to deal with every night. Despite all the awkward waiter conflicts and not knowing what to do, it cost 6 euros for a huge drink and a ton of food, so it was a wicked good deal and really fun.
I said I was going to do a shout out every post for someone I'm missing while I'm here, but I'm not going to say who it is. So, this one goes out to the person who really helped me through the beginning of being here, because I've been having a really rough time adjusting. So glad you can put up with me and all my drama, love you so much Manfriend. IHGM ;)
Tomorrow I move to my actual house in Sevilla, so I'll write again when something cool or weird happens some time soon.
Gracias por leer!
Moll :)
Hola desde España! So I said I was going to pick a specific thing to write about rather than explain everything I've done up to this point, but here's a quick recap:
We got stuck on the plane for 2 hours while waiting for them to de-ice it. I slept through Silver Linings Playbook on the flight here and was pretty upset about it. We arrived in Madrid and I got meet up with Kristina in the afternoon and we went to a café :) Jet lag got the best of me and I almost fell asleep standing up during the tour of El Museo de Prado...I was interested but so exhausted. I've seen so much hanging meat in restaurants/stores and SO MANY paintings of naked people, and any time I think something is strictly a sidewalk a car shows up and almost runs us over, so I have no idea what's up with the streets here.
I could go on and on but my favorite experience so far was last night in Madrid at a place called El Tigre. Me and five others went there because we heard they served a bunch of tapas with your drinks (tapas are various kinds of appetizers) for really cheap. We got there and there were no tables with seats so the waiter pointed to a back high top table for us to stand at. He could definitely tell we were tourists and didn't show any mercy on the Spanish or helping us out to understand what he meant with things. We had no idea what we were doing so we ended up asking a group of English speakers what to do, and we decided to go up to the bar and place our drink orders. However, the second we got over there the waiter just waved his hand and mumbled something in Spanish to shoo us away, and I could tell he wasn't our biggest fan.
So we went back to the table and waited, when he eventually came over to take our orders. We must not have looked like the beer-drinking type because he gave us 2 examples of what to order: sangria or mojitos classssic girl drinks. I got a mojito that ended up being bigger than me... and shortly after that he brought out like 6-7 plates full of food, and it was AWESOME.
A table of British people next to us that had chairs left, so we decided to steal their table without asking. Right in the middle of moving all our stuff, our waiter caught us and just stared with a look that said "Stupid Americans are you kidding me" but we didn't care and told him we wanted seats, so he let us be. After hanging out for a while, he gave us the price for it all, 32 euros. But, they don't do separate checks in Spain, so we had to figure out how to scrounge up all our change to make it work. Instead of leaving and giving us a second, the waiter stood right there and watched us make absolute fools of ourselves. This guy must have thought we were SO annoying and I wonder how many people like us he has to deal with every night. Despite all the awkward waiter conflicts and not knowing what to do, it cost 6 euros for a huge drink and a ton of food, so it was a wicked good deal and really fun.
I said I was going to do a shout out every post for someone I'm missing while I'm here, but I'm not going to say who it is. So, this one goes out to the person who really helped me through the beginning of being here, because I've been having a really rough time adjusting. So glad you can put up with me and all my drama, love you so much Manfriend. IHGM ;)
Tomorrow I move to my actual house in Sevilla, so I'll write again when something cool or weird happens some time soon.
Gracias por leer!
Moll :)
Friday, January 24, 2014
FOMO
FOMO.
A ton of people are abroad this semester, so to keep it interesting, I'm going to focus on the totally weird or unexpected experiences I'll be having over there, rather than the average details of places you won't really know what I'm talking about. For example, instead of me explaining how nervous and excited I am to be leaving tomorrow, this post is about my self-diagnosed disease, called FOMO.
FOMO: Fear of Missing Out, is definitely a thing. And while everyone keeps reminding me "you'll be in Spain, we're jealous of you, don't be missing us!" this disease has really started to become an issue. I shouldn't worry about missing out on seeing the entire campus at DHOP on a Saturday night, or laying on T-Hall lawn the second it gets above 50 degrees, or making fun of all the insane girls going after Juan Pablo on the Bachelor with my friends, but right now I'm absolutely having separation anxiety from UNH. Not only that, but I'm there's a very good chance I'm going to bring my dogs with me in my suitcase, and I'm going to miss my dad's stupid jokes, and hanging out with my mom while watching Netflix. Aidan will have his license by the time I'm back (WEIRD) and Megan will probably be 5'7 by then (haha yeah riiiiight sorry Meg hehe). All in all, FOMO is totally a real disease.
Despite all the worries I have about what'll be going on back home, I cannot wait for the moment that I'm in Spain and realize that I was insane to be worrying in the first place. For those of you that know me well, you know that I went through a terrible time trying to get the opportunity to even go abroad at all, and worked extremely hard to make this happen. I don't think I've ever been more grateful for hard work paying off and I'm going to make this trip absolutely amazing because of it, and hopefully I'll be FOMO free in no time. I have no idea when I'll be writing on here but stay tuned, because I also decided that starting next time, I'm going to make a shout out to someone back home in every post justtt to keep you all on your toes.
That sounds pretty lame now that I think about it but I don't CARE and it's happening.
Adios amigos y familia y gracias por leer! Nos vemos pronto!
Hasta luego,
Moll :)
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