Dancing in Plaza Mayor

There are very few words to describe how incredible last night was. SPAIN WON THE WORLD CUP and I was here to experience it all. I started my night in a local bar with Eva, Jose, Ana, Miguel and Eduardo. We watched every minute of the game, we yelled, we cheered, we chanted, we gasped and when Spain won... we screamed and hugged and high fived! It was about 10:30 pm but the party had just begun. There were people setting off fireworks everywhere! We decided to head down to Plaza Mayor. I am not exaggerating when I say that there were probably close to 6,000 people there. It was like a sea of red and yellow jumping up and down waving flags and blowing obnoxious horns. I have never seen anything like it! Once we got into the jumping crowd, we could see what turned out to be the best part of the night. Firemen. 4 firemen were on top of their truck with firehoses and they were all spraying the crowd. When the water hits you, it felt like tiny needles piercing your skin, but nonetheless, we jumped right in and danced the night away. It was incredible. 9 out of every 10 people in the crowd were drunk and there were thousands of beer bottles and trash all over the streets. I had such a great time with the group that I was in. We kept dragging the people who didn't want to get wet right next to a hose and let's just say, we were ALL drenched by the time we left... around 3 am. We walked home and I came in and went right to bed... after all I had class in the morning at 8:30. haha. So to say the least, I survived school today thanks to a cup of espresso. The temperature is finally dropping a little bit today. It has been in the hundreds for the past 3 days and today it is only about 90. It feels kind of chilly actually! Thanks for keeping up with my adventures. For those of you who keep asking, I'll tell you about the food I've been eating here very soon. Much Love!

Salamanca!

Today I went to Salamanca, Spain. There are few words to fully describe the beauty of this city. It was unfathomably beautiful. My favorite part of the visit was seeing the cathedral. It is so gigantic that you cannot look at the whole thing without turning your head a full 180 degrees. The inside of the cathedral was breathtaking. It had an organ that was probably the height of my house. Its history is so incredible and if you ever get to go to Salamanca, you MUST visit the cathedral! It was so neat being next to it. You felt so small and our professor was explaining that the incredible size of the cathedral is for that purpose. When you are inside the building, you are supposed to remember that there is something greater than what you can see here on earth. You are easily reminded that your life on earth is short-termed and that God has such a great and beautiful plan for your life. This is by far my favorite building that I have seen on my trip. What's crazy to me is that this cathedral didn't even make it on the top 10 biggest cathedrals in the world. Wow.

I've officially been here for one week! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. My friends and I were talking about how we feel like we have been living here forever. It's not so much like we feel like we have been here forever, but we feel like we know our way around and feel comfortable here. My spanish is improving. I'm at the point where I will conjugate a verb incorrectly, then incorrectly again and then correctly and my family will clap and cheer! It's so funny! I have been trying to get pictures loaded onto this blog, but the internet is extremely slow and barely works. I posted some on facebook though! For those of you who don't have a facebook... I'm working on it! I'm going to go out shopping tonight and hopefully find those postcards that I have promised you! I have yet to find a store that sells them in Valladolid. Tomorrow I'll be in Salamanca for the day. It is supposed to be the most BEAUTIFUL city in Spain, but I guess I'll have to see for myself. Enjoy your weather wherever you may be... it has been in the 100's over here with 80% humidity. So far, the only building that has air conditioning that I've been in has been the school. Even then, only the hallways have AC and you're stuck inside the classroom with 20 other people and it's just HOT! BUT. nonetheless it's all very fun! I found an opera house here that I want to go to. Hopefully that works out! Much love to you all!

It's 100 degrees here... and guys don't wear deodurant...

What more do I need to say about this? Guys here smell quite badly! I don't know why only women wear deodurant, but for some awful reason, it's true. Imagine being on a 40 minute bus ride next to a person who smells like he poured a bottle of Calvin Klein cologne on over his already fragrant B.O. haha yeah. it's awful. I also find it odd that men here do not hold doors for women! There have been many times where I will be going into a house or a cafe etc. and the guy in front of me will just let the door close. (Every time this happens, I want to tell him that he owes me a euro... but then I remember that this only happens at my house! :) For those of you who may be wondering... SPAIN WON!!! I am proud to say that I chanted right along with the bar I was in and sang, "Yo soy espana! Yo soy espana! Viva Espana! Viva Espana!" I met two of the friends of my host family's daughter and we are going out again tonight. We're going to go to the movie THEE-TERS. haha to see twilight. It should be interesting considering 3 things: 1. I have never even HELD twilight book... 2. I have never seen a twilight movie... and 3. It's going to be in Spanish! haha. I'm excited to see what Spaniards eat for popcorn! This weekend will be absolutely crazy with the final futbol game on Sunday. I need to buy a jersey!! Hasta luego!

Futbol!!!!!!!!!

As many of you know, sports has never truly been my "thing". I can watch a game, and sort of understand it, and sort of act like I'm interested... but never NEVER did I think that I would be here... wanting to get my face painted, wearing red and yellow and cheering for Spain to win their game against Germany!!! The game is at 8:30 tonight, and I will be with my host family's daughter and her boyfriend at a Pub watching the game! It is so exciting!!! The run of the bulls was also today, but unlike the other Americans (not from my group) who went to run with the bulls and got killed... I stayed inside and watched on TV. Last night, I explored the town again with one of my friends. We shopped for 5 hours, found dinner at a little sandwhich shop and discovered our new favorite bar! But no worries mom... it's an ice cream bar! It's soooo cute! It is decorated like a bar, but it is a legitamate ice cream parlor. Well... That's all for now... After all... it is siesta time! Then it's time for the big game!!!!!! LET'S GO SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Valladolid

Hola! Buenas dias! Valladolid is absoluitely beautiful. We took a tour of the city yesterday and learned all about the 16th century gothic style architecture that is everywhere in the city. My host family is incredible. I live with a mom, her daughter, the daughter's boyfriend and their two cats. They are all extremely helpful! (And for those of you wondering, they don't speak ANY English!) The food here is really different, but really good. Even the water tastes different. It definately took some time to adjust. I had my first siesta yesterday, and I instantly fell in love with this tradition! The sun doesn't set in this city until about 10:30 so the typical night consists of dinner, or cena in spanish, around 10 o clock and then the family stays up until about 1 am until they go to sleep. Some of the pictures that you'll see on the blog are of my school and the surrounding buildings. I bought a cell phone to use while I'm out here, but I used up all of the time with one 11 minute phone call! Turns out that calling the US is pretty expensive. I have to get going to my first day of class now, but I will try to keep you updated as much as possible. I'm slowly learning how things work around here. Funny story of the week: My friend Aly was trying to ask a man how much a bracelet cost... she should have said "Cuanto cuesta?" but she kept saying, "Cuanto queso" which means how much cheese!! So the man was extremely confused, it was histerical once we figured each other out. Much love to you all!!

P.S. I can't figure out the pictures right now, I uploaded them to facebook though if you want to see! Don't want to be late to my first day of class. It takes about 40 minutes to walk to campus. EVERYONE WALKS EVERYWHERE HERE!! Without a doubt I walked more than 8 miles yesterday as we traveled around town. Two words: SORE FEET. :) but it's definately worth it!

We're here!

Hey! After a long 11 hour flight from LAX to Germany, a 3 hour layover in Germany, a flight delay in Germany and a total of 26 hour traveling time, we are finally here! I have lots of airplane stories to tell, but I am running short on time because I am about to take the train into Madrid to go visit some castles. :) Pictures coming soon!!!!! Email me!