So today I thought all day it was Tuesday. lol I forgot Monday I didn't have class but took the placement test. haha
Today I went to my classes, I think I need to change them. Most of the Japanese students in my class (*My class is all Japanese students except me and one boy from Australia in the first class, and one girl from Holland in my third class) don't understand most of what the teachers are saying and aren't able to speak much Spanish. They are all in their 1st or 2nd year, I must have done really bad on my test! So tomorrow I'm going to go and see if I can change classes. Two of my professors agreed that I should change since the classes were pretty easy for me, I will ask the other tomorrow what she thinks about changing out of her class. All my classmates are very nice and I love them, but sometimes I get bored, and impatient when they are taking forever to answer easy questions. Most of the time I just answer the questions so we can move on. I'm sure I sound like a miss know it all.
Found out this evening that the restaurant I eat in, is owned by the lady I live with. :) Lol I don't feel too bad about taking the bananas from the restaurant since she buys us all the fruit we want to have in the house. haha Tonight we asked her to buy bananas. ;) It makes sense now, why we have to walk 20 minutes away to go eat.
I also looked for the best deal for phones to use while I'm here. It seems more expensive to use the phone Kiki gave me but Cristina, I will call her Francia since she's from France, Francia assured me she thought buying a card was cheaper. So she will go with me tomorrow to look for the best ofreta. :)
That's all for today! Wednesday. lol
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Catsup!
So I've written about my travels... now a little about what's happened since then.
Saturday: Cristina woke me up so the other Cristina could help me fix my computer since it wasn't connecting to the internet. *Cristina is my landlord and there is also another Cristina living here who is from France and teaches English and French... but she's not allowed to speak to me in English haha Cristina (the landlord) said if she does she has to clean the house. Anyway she wasn't able to do it and had to run to the bus station. Oh it was soo horrible for me all I wanted to do was check facebook haha. I went and explored after a breakfast of toast, muffin and roll. I found where the Cursos Internacionales were... and then returned and we went to the restaurant Dominus to eat. I eat in the restaurant twice a day. Cristina has many residents around the city and has some deal with the restaurant so we eat there. I met some of the other residents, one in particular named Quique, pronounced Kiki ? I think haha! It's short for Enrique but I just think it's hilarious he calls him self kiki, maybe I'm saying it wrong haha. He's been very nice. Then we returned and I think I went for another walk... things are blurring between days. Anyway it was really really windy so we didn't go back to the restaurant for dinner. Cristina cooked for us. Paula came from the restaurant and fixed my computer for me. Yay Paula!
Sunday: I went for a jog in the morning and got lost... I found my way back in time.... I don't think anything else interesting happened Sunday. I went around taking pictures to satisfy the hungry friends and family back home that wanted to see Salamanca hehe.
Monday: I woke up and fixed the same breakfast for myself. I think it will be the same everyday... and headed off to take my placement exam. I got there early but early wasn't early enough and had to ask directions for where they took all the students for the exam. I made it on time! I took the exam but only got less than 3/4 of the way finished. :( The oral exam was a joke I don't know how they place anyone by it they only asked where we were from and if we'd taken Spanish before. At 5pm we found out our classes. I met a guy named Lionel earlier in the test and he told me some info. about where to get a sim card for my phone. I went later and my phone wont work because it's locked :( anyway at 5pm after I found out my classes, I met a few of the other students and we all went for coffee and walked around. It was nice hanging out with some people it had been a lonely weekend. Cara is from Germany and speaks wonderful English, well they all do, all the students from other countries seem to be learning Spanish as their 3rd or 4th language... oh how we are lacking in the U.S. Maria is from Japan and speaks English with a British accent I love it! Stine pronounces Steena is from Norway. Diego is from Hong Kong but is fillipino with a Spanish passport and speaks English with kind of a British accent.. I'm not sure. Tom is from Canada/Taiwan and is 26. I'm so happy there is someone else close to my age. Fynn is from Germany and has a German accent hehe, and is super super tall. Haha I think most Germans are tall haha (Stephanie!) Oh and Henni is from Germany as well I think, I only met her at the end. I enjoyed my time with them. :) When I went to dinner I met our new house mate, her name is Assunta and she is from Italy. She is 26 and working on her Doctorate, I'm glad there is someone else close to my age. Also, Cristina is 27, the one that teaches, not my landlord. Hmm I will have to think of a way to distinguish the two. The three of us walked home and I enjoyed their company on the walk, since I'd been walking the 20 minute trek to the restaurant all by myself. Salamanca is very safe but it's nice to have someone to talk to.
Tuesday: I had my first day of classes. I am the only American in the first two, haha everyone else is Japanese! lol The third class there is one boy from Georgetown named Josh who is really nice, and I had met him the day before through Lionel who is also from Georgetown but originally from Valencia for all you Californians reading this. ;) After class one of the girls Natsumi came to talk to me, she had studied in Colorado. I was supposed to call her to get together this evening but I didn't get a phone yet because Kiki at lunch told me he would give me one. Anyway I spent the afternoon completely bored because the internet didn't work... I took 2 naps haha. Assunta and I went to dinner tonight and had a blast. I love her! Haha we wanted to take bananas with us to have for breakfast the next day but you aren't allowed to take the fruit from the restaurant. We arranged this elaborate plan to sneak some bananas into my purse. haha We are so silly we giggled soo much. There is a boy there named Mickey and he is soo funny. I think he has a crush on Assunta. I made him come over because he is kind of bigger to stand in front of me while I put the banana in my bag. lol. I told him I was going to tell him un secreto. Haha he is soo funny. He was laughing so hard about something and he was coughing soo hard. Some other things happened he made noises like a bird and said something funny to the cook... then when he left everyone clapped. ? I don't know why haha but he is sure funny. Oh I also sang to him Hey Mickey you're so fine! lol He's fun! There are a lot of boys haha. I've met some of the girls, Bella and Alba today, and Miriam? I think who seems very very shy. A couple other girls the other day but I haven't seen them again. It's so much fun! I didn't think I'd like eating in the restaurant and grumbles a little to myself about how far it was, but I love eating with all the kids... I say kids because they are like the same age as my students were when I worked in the schools hehe. But I guess I would call them friends... I'm not getting after them to do their homework. lol.
Well, that's all for now. I think I've caught up for the most part. I will try and post pictures tomorrow.
Saturday: Cristina woke me up so the other Cristina could help me fix my computer since it wasn't connecting to the internet. *Cristina is my landlord and there is also another Cristina living here who is from France and teaches English and French... but she's not allowed to speak to me in English haha Cristina (the landlord) said if she does she has to clean the house. Anyway she wasn't able to do it and had to run to the bus station. Oh it was soo horrible for me all I wanted to do was check facebook haha. I went and explored after a breakfast of toast, muffin and roll. I found where the Cursos Internacionales were... and then returned and we went to the restaurant Dominus to eat. I eat in the restaurant twice a day. Cristina has many residents around the city and has some deal with the restaurant so we eat there. I met some of the other residents, one in particular named Quique, pronounced Kiki ? I think haha! It's short for Enrique but I just think it's hilarious he calls him self kiki, maybe I'm saying it wrong haha. He's been very nice. Then we returned and I think I went for another walk... things are blurring between days. Anyway it was really really windy so we didn't go back to the restaurant for dinner. Cristina cooked for us. Paula came from the restaurant and fixed my computer for me. Yay Paula!
Sunday: I went for a jog in the morning and got lost... I found my way back in time.... I don't think anything else interesting happened Sunday. I went around taking pictures to satisfy the hungry friends and family back home that wanted to see Salamanca hehe.
Monday: I woke up and fixed the same breakfast for myself. I think it will be the same everyday... and headed off to take my placement exam. I got there early but early wasn't early enough and had to ask directions for where they took all the students for the exam. I made it on time! I took the exam but only got less than 3/4 of the way finished. :( The oral exam was a joke I don't know how they place anyone by it they only asked where we were from and if we'd taken Spanish before. At 5pm we found out our classes. I met a guy named Lionel earlier in the test and he told me some info. about where to get a sim card for my phone. I went later and my phone wont work because it's locked :( anyway at 5pm after I found out my classes, I met a few of the other students and we all went for coffee and walked around. It was nice hanging out with some people it had been a lonely weekend. Cara is from Germany and speaks wonderful English, well they all do, all the students from other countries seem to be learning Spanish as their 3rd or 4th language... oh how we are lacking in the U.S. Maria is from Japan and speaks English with a British accent I love it! Stine pronounces Steena is from Norway. Diego is from Hong Kong but is fillipino with a Spanish passport and speaks English with kind of a British accent.. I'm not sure. Tom is from Canada/Taiwan and is 26. I'm so happy there is someone else close to my age. Fynn is from Germany and has a German accent hehe, and is super super tall. Haha I think most Germans are tall haha (Stephanie!) Oh and Henni is from Germany as well I think, I only met her at the end. I enjoyed my time with them. :) When I went to dinner I met our new house mate, her name is Assunta and she is from Italy. She is 26 and working on her Doctorate, I'm glad there is someone else close to my age. Also, Cristina is 27, the one that teaches, not my landlord. Hmm I will have to think of a way to distinguish the two. The three of us walked home and I enjoyed their company on the walk, since I'd been walking the 20 minute trek to the restaurant all by myself. Salamanca is very safe but it's nice to have someone to talk to.
Tuesday: I had my first day of classes. I am the only American in the first two, haha everyone else is Japanese! lol The third class there is one boy from Georgetown named Josh who is really nice, and I had met him the day before through Lionel who is also from Georgetown but originally from Valencia for all you Californians reading this. ;) After class one of the girls Natsumi came to talk to me, she had studied in Colorado. I was supposed to call her to get together this evening but I didn't get a phone yet because Kiki at lunch told me he would give me one. Anyway I spent the afternoon completely bored because the internet didn't work... I took 2 naps haha. Assunta and I went to dinner tonight and had a blast. I love her! Haha we wanted to take bananas with us to have for breakfast the next day but you aren't allowed to take the fruit from the restaurant. We arranged this elaborate plan to sneak some bananas into my purse. haha We are so silly we giggled soo much. There is a boy there named Mickey and he is soo funny. I think he has a crush on Assunta. I made him come over because he is kind of bigger to stand in front of me while I put the banana in my bag. lol. I told him I was going to tell him un secreto. Haha he is soo funny. He was laughing so hard about something and he was coughing soo hard. Some other things happened he made noises like a bird and said something funny to the cook... then when he left everyone clapped. ? I don't know why haha but he is sure funny. Oh I also sang to him Hey Mickey you're so fine! lol He's fun! There are a lot of boys haha. I've met some of the girls, Bella and Alba today, and Miriam? I think who seems very very shy. A couple other girls the other day but I haven't seen them again. It's so much fun! I didn't think I'd like eating in the restaurant and grumbles a little to myself about how far it was, but I love eating with all the kids... I say kids because they are like the same age as my students were when I worked in the schools hehe. But I guess I would call them friends... I'm not getting after them to do their homework. lol.
Well, that's all for now. I think I've caught up for the most part. I will try and post pictures tomorrow.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Traveling to Spain
This may be a long one!
I had no problems at the airport in Charlotte but my plane was delayed 2 hours in New Jersey because of the snow storm. They cancelled all other flights but not the international ones (I guess they cost too much). After we boarded we drove to the plane car wash (as I like to call it) where they de-iced the plane so we could fly. Finally we were off! Thankfully I slept most of the 7 hour flight to Madrid. I think the wine sampler I had at the restaurant helped with this. When I arrived in Madrid it was a really long walk through a glass type bridge thingy then through customs. I got my 2 suitcases and carry on and thankfully a man helped me put them on a rolly cart ('un carrito'). I went to information and found out where to buy my train ticket. Went and bought it and got a cab. I got ripped off on the way to the train station, the guy at the info. desk told me it would cost no more that 30 euros but the guy charged me 35! What was I to do? Then I had to lug those stupid suitcases through the cobblestone street to the train station. I got another carrito and another nice man helped me load em up. Finally my train arrived and I went to meet it. The lady told me I was to go the first car but I thought she meant the first one at the opposite end.... soo after going all the way to the end of the train taking my suitcases off and putting them on the train I realized I was in the wrong car. :( I got off connected my luggage together and ran to the end I started at. There the man checking tickets tried to tell me I was only allowed 20kg of luggage. I told him I didn't understand kg only libres (pounds) and he told me he only understood kg. So eventually he said I had too many bags... I asked him what was I to do, I have to get on the train, I already bought my ticket... Finally he let me on. I still had to find a place to put all those stupid bags! I wanted to cry! I'm sure being completely exhausted and hungry didn't help the emotional state of things. I ate my bocadillo ( a sandwich ) and took a nap. When I woke up I talked to the boy across from me from France, a little in English a lot in Spanish and I felt better. He was very nice and helped me unload my bags. I took another cab to the place I'm staying. This time I didn't get ripped off. :) At last I had arrived! The place is beautiful and the landlord Cristina is very nice. She cooked a tortilla de patatas which is an egg and potato omelet which is really good, then I took a shower and got ready for bed. Tried to use the Internet but it didn't work. Cristina let me use her computer to e-mail Jason and then I went to bed.
I had no problems at the airport in Charlotte but my plane was delayed 2 hours in New Jersey because of the snow storm. They cancelled all other flights but not the international ones (I guess they cost too much). After we boarded we drove to the plane car wash (as I like to call it) where they de-iced the plane so we could fly. Finally we were off! Thankfully I slept most of the 7 hour flight to Madrid. I think the wine sampler I had at the restaurant helped with this. When I arrived in Madrid it was a really long walk through a glass type bridge thingy then through customs. I got my 2 suitcases and carry on and thankfully a man helped me put them on a rolly cart ('un carrito'). I went to information and found out where to buy my train ticket. Went and bought it and got a cab. I got ripped off on the way to the train station, the guy at the info. desk told me it would cost no more that 30 euros but the guy charged me 35! What was I to do? Then I had to lug those stupid suitcases through the cobblestone street to the train station. I got another carrito and another nice man helped me load em up. Finally my train arrived and I went to meet it. The lady told me I was to go the first car but I thought she meant the first one at the opposite end.... soo after going all the way to the end of the train taking my suitcases off and putting them on the train I realized I was in the wrong car. :( I got off connected my luggage together and ran to the end I started at. There the man checking tickets tried to tell me I was only allowed 20kg of luggage. I told him I didn't understand kg only libres (pounds) and he told me he only understood kg. So eventually he said I had too many bags... I asked him what was I to do, I have to get on the train, I already bought my ticket... Finally he let me on. I still had to find a place to put all those stupid bags! I wanted to cry! I'm sure being completely exhausted and hungry didn't help the emotional state of things. I ate my bocadillo ( a sandwich ) and took a nap. When I woke up I talked to the boy across from me from France, a little in English a lot in Spanish and I felt better. He was very nice and helped me unload my bags. I took another cab to the place I'm staying. This time I didn't get ripped off. :) At last I had arrived! The place is beautiful and the landlord Cristina is very nice. She cooked a tortilla de patatas which is an egg and potato omelet which is really good, then I took a shower and got ready for bed. Tried to use the Internet but it didn't work. Cristina let me use her computer to e-mail Jason and then I went to bed.
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