Slow and steady wins the race.

So, I've finally figured out how to get my phone to accept WIFI because I am really that special. But I think it's been one of my happiest moments here, because now I'm connected to everyone back home without the hassle of waiting for them to get online. While it doesn't sound like a big deal, it's kind of actually monumental. I have also remembered my stash of Datsik photos on my phone, and needless to say, it's slightly more bearable being away from him.  However, when I get home he and I are going to have a force cuddle session for about 4 hours. Even if he doesn't know what's coming, I'm excited.
However, my craving for cheetos has yet to go away, so I think while the force cuddling is happening, I might just have to feed myself large quantities of cheetos. It's amazing to me how you can miss something so much, not just people or animals but a food item, one you weren't even that crazy about before you left. It might also be the stress of filling out stuff for France next semester that's made me go a little past my normal level of crazy. I have also come to the conclusion that consulates are nothing but spy systems made up to monitor the country they are in. This is all it can be, because I find that the only valid excuse they have for not answering emails in a timely fashion. Either that or they've been abducted by aliens, but even I don't think that's true.
On top of a major case of the munchies, a massive headache and an ulcer from stress, my brain refuses to focus on school work, especially when I have found a site that allows me to watch whatever movie I want when I want, and it's free. If only I had some cheetos for my movie marathons. But don't worry guys, I am still studying and I'm doing fairly well, it's just after I've been able to pry myself away from Facebook and Twitter where I've spent approximately three hours creeping on everyone I know, love, and miss like crazy.
But now, I think I'm going to start a movie, and maybe take a nap, because baby be tired.

Just to reiterate the point that I have no sense of direction...

Yesterday, I decided to hang out with a couple of friends, and college students have been known to do, and while we were 'chilling' (as the hip young minds of today would say) it started to rain.  Now I love a good walk in the rain, it's in fact one of my favorite things to do.  However, when it rains in Bilbao, it isn't really a slight drizzle, which is beautiful to walk in, it's kind of like a harder rain that never stops...ever.
I wasn't worried by this, because we were in a place where the bus to pick me up stops at, which was great, it meant very little walking would occur, and I could remain dry.
This only works if you get on the right bus. Now I got on the bus with the number I needed, I just got on the one going the opposite direction of where I wanted to be. So guess who felt like a champ? Now what's even better, is that while in Nebraska, when you take the wrong bus you can stay on it and ride back to where you made your mistake, and then get on the right bus. In Spain, you have to get off the bus at the last stop. Which means that I had to get off somewhere, where I had never been before, and then had to find something that looked familiar and hope that I knew how to get home. Which I successfully did, after about a 40 minute walk and a 15 minute bus ride. It sucked, but it was a nice learning experience, it taught me to never go anywhere by myself.
However today made up for it, because I got ahold of my spanish exchange partner, and she seems super nice, and we are having our first meeting tomorrow, so I think that means I have my second official Spanish friend. (YAY ME!!) I also managed to walk up Satan's hill today in a pair of platform shoes, granted they're only like 2 inch heels, but it still counts, I've accomplished one of my goals. I also met a nice Irish boy, who sounds delectable when he speaks, and since I've seen him before at Deusto, it means I made my first Irish friend. (A REALLY BIG YAY ME) And later tonight, I'm going to a play, which I like doing, because I'm a classy bitch. I'm also going to chill with a friend before hand and have a lovely time that makes me feel better about me, because everyone needs someone like that. I hope you all are having a great day as well, and keep stalking my life, it makes me feel oober important.

I've now been a woman in Spain

If you don't understand the title, well then you probably aren't female. However, this explains a lot, as to why I've been so upset lately, and if I can just get through the next 4 days it will all be ok. I have found out that while it is impossible to find real cheetos in Spain, the cheetos puffs are almost the same, so someone needs to get on sending me cheetos through the computer.
I still feel kind of uncomfortable with my host family, I can't tell if my mom's face is just one that looks somewhat angry, or if she's actually displeased with me. And right now, that's not a good thing, because it just makes me want to cry. BECAUSE I'M A GIRL THAT'S WHY. And I still miss my dog. I REALLY need to find a big dog, before I go and buy one. No joke. If someone could mail me Datsik, I'd appreciate it.
I have decided that I shouldn't travel anywhere because I don't do enough homework when I travel. This creates time problems, because I never have enough time to waste on the internet. This weekend the game plan is to go to San Sebastian, which will have a film festival going on, and there's rumors of a good sized aquarium...CAN YOU SAY JELLYFISH BETCHES?!?! I'm somewhat excited for it. Maybe just a little.
I think that's all I have for you fantastic people, besides the reminders that I'd like cheetos and my dog whenever you get the chance. Also, someone tell my grandma happy belated birthday, and give everyone all my love, there's currently an overflow of it, and I need it to get cleaned up :)

Madrid and Toledo without the U.

So this weekend we had an excursion planned by the school to go to Madrid and Toledo, which didn't go quite the way I'd expected, but it was still a good time. So children, let's start with the story time
Friday morning I woke up at 6:20am, which is like the ass crack of dawn, to head to the bus terminal so that I could go take a five hour bus ride before touring the city. After the tour of the city we had free time until dinner, which was about 2-2.5 hours.  Needless to say I went home and napped as soon as possible, because naps that's why.  After about an hour of sleeping, it was off to dinner, which wasn't as impressive as the lunch was, and leaves me with nothing to describe to you. We did see the old royal palace though, which as you would expect, was filled with beautiful decorations that you couldn't take pictures of, along with tapestries and pictures, most of which cost more than I'll ever make in my life.
After dinner I felt a little ill so I decided that I wasn't going to go out, Madrid or no, and my roomies for the weekend decided to stay in with me. So we did the typical girl thing, and chatted for around 3 hours like 10 year old girls. It was nice, especially when we were some of the few without massive hangovers for the Toledo tour.
However, not all was well the next day.  When I say it was seriously trying, I'm not joking.  The only thing I could think about that day was how much I missed Toni and Datsik.  I'm pretty sure everyone in our group thought my mom had passed or something.  I was a mess, I wasn't speaking, and I almost cried, more than once. Even though, I managed to snag some great pictures (check le facebook for those, and if we aren't facebook friends, then I'm glad to know you like this enough to continue reading without photos). This moment also showed me that I do have some pretty great friends here who really do care about how I'm feeling, even if I'm not always bubbly and never-shutting-up. It's a good thing to know.
Besides that, Toledo is gorgeous, and I'm seriously upset that we didn't get to spend an entire day there, I'm pretty sure if I travel anywhere, that's one of the places I'm going to go to (again), there was a gorgeous cathedral that I really want to see things of, without a Jesus fanatic preaching as to why her religion is right (to those of you who know me, you know I'm not the biggest believer in God, and while I'm tolerant of other's views, that only lasts so long when they're shoving it down my throat). We weren't allowed to spend any 'alone' time there though, which was a huge bummer, because there were a lot of things we didn't get to see.
After Toledo's tour and a lunch, we returned to Madrid with the afternoon to ourselves, which means SHOE SHOPPING. And yes I did get a fabulous pair for only 9 euro, which ups my shoe collection here to around 10 pairs for only 35 euro. Yea, I kind of rock at this. After we finished shopping, we got to have more nap time before dinner, and after dinner, all the ladies got fabtabulously delectable and looked like rock stars. Not even joking. There have never been such stunning women in one group, I swear. We headed to the hottest club at 1am.  I only partied for a few hours because I was still a little upset. But everyone else had a lot of fun, and they had some really amazing parts to that club. I might go back just to see if I enjoy it more when I'm in a better mood.
The next day after about four hours of sleep, I went to breakfast, and found out we had to go tour an art museum, and that I was not, in fact, allowed to be in my pjs all day :(.  So I went upstairs to do a last sweep check to make sure everything was all packed and to change into some 'real' clothes. This art museum was actually pretty amazing, and I plan on going back so that I can see all the pieces at my leisure, instead of a tour guides (although she was pretty fantastic at what she did, and it wasn't her fault we arrived late and only had a few hours scheduled with her anyway).  The art there was so beautiful, a few were strange, but still beautiful.
Now onto the reason why we were late, because the large majority of everyone went out the night before, there were a few people who were seriously hungover, now all of them but about one managed to be on time (or like 5 minutes late at the most) except for one kid, who seemed to think it was awesome that he almost got left in Madrid, because he was 25 minutes late. No joke. It was a bit past ridiculous, and our instructor was NOT pleased.  It wouldn't surprise me if he's put on probation with the school because of it.
But that doesn't matter, because it was basically a good time, in beautiful places with people I'll never forget, even if I'm missing home a bit more.

Besides the hills of Spain

One of the most difficult things I've had to adjust to is people's brusqueness. Now if you know me, I'm not the most subtle person on the face of the planet, there is a long line in front of me. But even I wouldn't say what some of the Spaniards say openly.
For instance, like I mentioned in my last post I went with a friend to her doctor's appointment to act as an interpreter, well today we had a follow up. After he finished the check up and routine questions to make sure she was feeling better, he started going on about how her Spanish was bad, and she needed to work on it, which is true, but not something I would have said to some basically random person.  If they asked maybe, but not outright, and especially not in the manner he did. It was just shocking.
Another example is that my host mom keeps calling me fat. Now I know I'm not skinny and that I will realistically never fit into a size 2, and I'm ok with that. I like me, for the most part, as I am.  On top of that, I've lost weight in the two weeks I've been here, nothing major like 100 pounds or anything, but enough that I can tell the difference with how my clothes fit me. Now my host mother is sweet, and I know she doesn't mean anything by it, she's just pointing out a fact. But as an American, I'm floored every time she does it, because we don't comment on people's weight to them, that's like social faux pas number one. The funny thing about this is, that if she were serious about me losing weight, she would stop feeding me so much food. Every lunch I eat at home, is a three course meal, and I'm not joking about that. I get a pasta or salad first, then a meat course with some other side, and like half a loaf of bread. That's a normal lunch. Now I'm not complaining about the amount I get, because if you know me, I LOVE TO EAT. It's kind of like my best skill, besides being awkward, making situations inappropriate, and creeping people out. So eating this much food is fine by me, I just want my ama to stop commenting on my weight if she's not going to do anything to help me thin myself down.
ON A POSITIVE NOTE: I have now walked up Satan's hill two days in a row without having to take a break, and today I did it after playing an hour of soccer (granted I was the goalie and failed epically, but it was a fun time, and I was still somewhat active).

I'm having the best week ever basically

So to start it out, this weekend, with all the clubbing, my ama (host mom) gave me a couple of the nicest compliments anyone has ever said to me.  Being that I'm the best non-hispanic Spanish speaker she's ever hosted, and that I constantly look gorgeous when I go out.  Both of these coming from a Spanish woman, are pretty damn encouraging things.
I finally started my last class yesterday, and it was by far the most fun I have ever had in a class in my life, and yes Julia, if you read this, that means it beats Chris in French class. We basically just played games and did activities to mejorar our Spanish, and get to know each other.
Also yesterday, I went with a friend to a Doctor's office because she needed help translating, and as Superwoman, it's kind of my job to help those in need. While we were there, we had to wait a ridiculous amount of time to be seen, like over an hour, which was like I said ridiculous, but oh well. So when we got in to see the good Doctor, I whipped out my Spanish vocab and was like "bam, take that bro, I'm like a native!" Not really, but we got the point across, better than expected, and we got her the meds she NEEDS to be on, that last bit is a joke, he just prescribed her large quantities of Ibeprofuen, and yea screw spelling that word correctly.  But the really awesome part of this was that the medicine man complimented me on how well I speak spanish...SO BAM. Two compliments on how amazing I am in less than a week. Spain loves me, and I'm never leaving.
Then today, I was talking to one of the guys who has an apartment without a host family here, and got the clearance to go over with a friend and cook. Which is something that I'm ecstatic about, because I seriously miss it, and since Spanish women are territorial about kitchens, this is kind of fantastic news.  Besides that, I got a confirmation email about some paper work for my going to France next semester, that was such a relief to receive. And the piece de resistance (since we're talking about France here) I walked up Satan's hill without stopping today. I am officially a BAMF, and all you peons shall bow before my awesomeness.
Needless to say I'm celebrating my good fortune by eating whatever amount of sweet delicacies I can buy with 10 euros.

THE weekend

So as you can tell, I've been slacking off a bit with this blog, because I have school and nothing new or interesting to say. But after this weekend, I have a megapost to make you guys. The only problem is to remember all the details from the past four days. But for you, I'll do my best.
Thursday night, the kids from CIDE (which is the office here in Spain in charge of dealing with the group of students that I'm in) were put on the VIP list to a club in Bilbao, Erasmus World. And this place was awesome, there was a bar downstairs and an air conditioned one upstairs with like a little lounging area. Not to mention they had gogo dancers stripping. Which no one knew about or expected, so the Americans in the club were kind of like "what the hell is this magical land?" And on top of that, all of us CIDE girls were looking fabtab and fine. You'll either have to take my word for it or go check out facebook, because I didn't have my camera on me all weekend, and so I have no proof to back up my claims.
However as a tip, for those of you who are on the same or lesser intelligence level as me, I have some advice. When you go to a club, keep your shoes on the whole time, and if you can't do that in heels don't wear heels. I could not do that, and because of that, ended up getting three small slices on my feet and a couple shards of glass embedded into the sole of my foot, which I didn't realize there was actually glass in it until today, and having to open up a somewhat healed cut to dig around in it is painful.
Although I didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked, because I had to help a friend get home, and I wasn't about to let her walk around Spain at 3am by herself, I still managed to have a pretty fantastic time.  And there was only minor quantities of alcohol involved, so my liver was happy as well.
Friday night was also spent at a club, and while this one wasn't as tiny and intimate as the one from the previous night, it was still one hell of a good time. However, I had a few more problems this night than just a few cuts on my feet. One of the girls I went with was nice enough to hold my phone and little coin purse with all my money, keys, and tickets for the bus/metro.  Well, I misheard her while she and another girl were talking, so I managed to snag my coin purse before she took off, but since I didn't realize she was actually leaving to go back home, she left before I could get my phone. Although this wasn't such a huge deal since I don't have any minutes left on it, and only had it for the numbers stored in it.
So after having this minor problem, you'd think I'd have figured out to keep my stuff on me, well, if you know me, you know how ridiculous of an idea that is. So, I asked a friend if I could borrow their pocket to put my little wallet in, and he said yes. So then I was like ok, just chilling out, getting a little buzz of my friend Sailor Jerry, having a good time.  Well this friend and a few others from the group decide they want to get their spanish on, so they go outside to meet some señoritas.  Well I start to freak out a little because like the previous situation, I don't know exactly where he is, or what his plans are, so when the three guys he was with come back in, and he's still outside I get a little bit worried, especially since they hadn't been with him, and didn't know where he was either. So I wait a few more minutes and try not to freak out, because you have to have faith.  Well a little while later I walked back to the doors after distracting myself with a few dances, and I see a couple girls walk back in, and I ask if they'd seen him.  Those lovely darlings, had and then walked me over to where he was so that I could get my wallet, which I (smartly) kept for the rest of the night in my hand.
The rest of the night was spent sweating out every drop of water/alcohol I had in my system, and I had such a good time doing it. I got to meet one of the kids from my group's host brother, who was pretty phenomenal and one hell of a good time. I'm seriously hoping we get to party with him soon, because he and his friends are crazy awesome. We called it quits at around 6am and decided to leave before the rest of the club cleared out, and the remaining five of us took the metro home.
Last night was supposed to be a continuation of the dance festival that was going on, but since no one was sure how to get to the beach this big dance-a-thon was at, our group got split up, I was one of the five who decided to stay in Algorta and drink at an Irish pub. I have tasted Guiness and can say that while it is way better than most American beers, and that it kicks the shit out of Heinekin, it's not my favorite thing to drink, at all. Anyway, this night was probably my favorite so far, it might not have been wild with any crazy stories (at least not ones that I care to share with the world), but it was nice to just chill with a few decent people and talk about everything and anything. I may have been slightly obnoxious, but to anyone who's actually been with  me while I'm happily buzzed and on the verge of drunk, knows I get this way. Just ask my darling Becca. Anywho, I made pacts that I happily remember, got enough hugs to last me until tomorrow, and made what I consider to be some pretty good friends. All in all it was a fabtab weekend, and I'd like to have something like last night repeat at least once every weekend, just for a relaxed good time.
Today has been spent sleeping, watching movies, eating, and doing homework. Which is how I wish the rest of life were, I'm going to be so spoiled by the time this semester is actually over...