I left June fourth in the morning, lugging my china store suitcase down the tile sidewalks of Los Cristianos to say goodbye to my host mother and collect my last bit of Rotary cash. I did some guaguahopping until I reached the airport to board the plane to land in Madrid, wait a bit, board again, then finally arrive in Valencia at 11:58 at night smelly and exhausted, only to miss the very last metro by one minute because of a silly and stupid coincidence witha Spanish speaking German boy who I also caused to miss the last metro and withwhom I would later share a taxi with, which I would pay less than my fair share for and then trade numbers with him but never call. But I made it to the house safe. So far I was off to a good start.

Day One in Valencia: Thursday the 5th

Stephanie and I would be spending  the weekend with a friend of her host parents in their apartment. They were the nicest folks and had a lovely family with two kids whom they babied excessively. We got up early to visit the Museum of Sciences, though a little tired from staying up late chatting about, comparing and sharing interesting stories about one another´s exchange experience. The Science museum had three parts: the Oceanográfico, the Science Center, and the Imax, . First we went to the Oceanográfico, this could be compared with sea world with its display of water wildlife, It was Stephanie´s first time in any place like that; then we experimented and learned in the Science Center (this is the fun part with all of the cool fun science activities, my personal fave) until we had to make it to our appointed hour at the Imax, the gigantic movie theater, where we watched a film about the Swiss Alps, a great choice for the Imax, the cliffs seemed steeper than in reality. We then went back to the Science Center to play around for the little time we had left.

After a long tiring day, we moseyed back home through the park where the old river used to be before it flooded the town in the late 60´s and was drained. Its remains are a long series of running and biking paths. Beacuse it was about dusk and the temperature was finally cooling off, It was flourishing with joggers and bikers and roller bladers and people excersizing. Because of this I could hardly beleive I was in a Spanish city, motivation to excersize is hardly part of the Spanish lifestyle. Being  a University city, there were hippies to be seen everywhere: selling hemp necklaces at stands,  playing guitar in the park, there was an enticing band of drummers playing while a group of girls did a sycronized hippie dance. It was really something to see. Being there inspired me in so many ways.

Day Two in Valencia: Friday the 6th

Steph and I did some typical tourist sight seeing: we entered churches, museums, went to the central market and tried interesting foods and walked a ton. Siesta. That night Marie Angel took us to a shopping center.

Day Three in Valencia: Saturday the 7th

Steph and I rented bikes and pedaled our way around the parks and town and eventually to the beach. We ate an amaazing paella, actually two: Paella Valenciano (this has beans and other veggies) and Paella de Mariscos (this is with whole sea food, shrimps in their shells and clams, calamares etc.) I definitely prefer Paella valenciano, I am discovering that I am not much of a shellfish person. We stuck our feet in the water and walked up the coast a bit, then it was back to the house to gather our things and catch the bus to Denia to stay with Shanay, another exchange friend. We went out for Tapas that night and racked up a bill of 68 and something Euros between five of us. I havent been so pissed about anything in spain like having to pay and equal portion of that puta bill. After a few drinks we met up with Shanay´s friends and hit the discos.

Day Four in Denia: Sunday the 8th

We slept in after getting home late. Shanay made us some killer pancakes for breakfast. We chilled inside beacuse is was raining, then Shanay´s host dad took us on a Denia beack tour. That night we headed for Steph´s houst in Cartagena.

Day Five in Cartagena: Monday the 9th

In Cartagena Stephanie´s host mom gave me the ´Typical Cartagena tour´: We went up to the castle, entered the museum and walked around the historic part of town. We had lunch tapas for lunch with her parents and some of their frineds warning us about crime in Granada. In Cartagena, the first submarine ever was built; it was 33 meters long. We climed some light-towers and explored trespassed in some old houses. We had Murcianos for dinner.

Day Five, Tuesday the 10th: First day in Granada

We arrived midday and explored around a bit, hauling our wheeled luggage down a labrynth of narrow cobblestone streets looking for our hostel. Meredith met up with us late that night. We went to the most hippie flamenco bar and were sung improvised a capella flamenco by two men. Afterwards, we changed bars and made frineds with an English bunch. Finally, we headed back to the hostel.

Day six in Seville: Wednesday the 11th

We got an early bus to Seville, a very stereotypical Spanish seeming city. We walked a ton and made out usual museum and church touring rounds. We got the lastest bus back to Granada for 11:00. We arrived in Granada around 2:30 and got a taxi downtown. Walking back to the hostel down the dark, vacant streets, two men approached us with hankercheifs overtheir faces knives and asked us for our money. We said no, but they won and got away with my twenty euros and camera. Sons of Bitches. Steph lost quite a bit more money than me but fortunately her ipod, cell phone and sunglasses and the hostel keys fell out of her purse while they were running away. We lost Meredith, which was a bit of a scare. Steph´s cell was out of batteries and the hostel owners had left for the evening so we woke up our german room mate and tried communicating with him in english in order borrow his cell phone. Eventually Meredith showed up at the hostel with the police and they took us to the station to file a report. We finally got to bed around 5am

Day seven in Granada: Thurday the 12th

We got up late then delt with the credit card cancelling business, farted around trying to fish out a special code (which was in my wallot) to get into the Alhombra in order to redeem our online ordered tickets. After lots of trial and error, they finally let us enter at 6 pm with but  two hours to spare to see everything in this ginourmous pallace. A little winded from having seen everything so quickly, we managed to do it all (because we are Americans and we can do anything ; ) hhehe).

we spent our last night there in granada, then headed to Augilas where we spent two nights in an amazing sea front apartment which we had all to ourselves. We made our own pathetic meals of leftover pizza, milk and Maria cookies and  watched the sunrise from the balcony. It was great just the three of us in that house.

The morning to go to murcia, we had shitty churros for breakfast, then almost missed the bus. In Murcia we did typical turist sight seeing shit and stayed in an apartment with steph´s young italian host cousin who treated us very nicely.

The day after I headed back home to the islands from Alicante.

After that we went to eat at McDonald´s. Yuck. Did you know that a burger there has 530 calories?

…oh, beloved Spanish food, how I will miss thee so…

Last night I went out to the discos with friends from school. I have definitely found the group with whom i best associate, the ones that are most like my friends back home, only they are from other nationalities (ironically, none of them spanish). I went to see the new Indiana Jones the other night; nothing like the originals, but surprisingly good. Cheepo, one of my Moroccan friends left for good last Wednesday, so we had a little saying goodbye dinner for him.

School is finished, we were done wednesday. It was the most anti.climactic ´end of´ event of my life, and I am glad to be done, except for that now i am afraid of getting bored. I will look for a job soon. Wednesday I am leaving to spend 12 days in Valencia with a friend from the exchange. I will be there from the 4th through the 17th. It should be good, we have some pretty cool things planned. I completed my third and best oil painting the other day: a blue and white close-up of an attractive man´´s face that i got from a perfume advertisement. It is definitely my pride of paintings.

In so many ways I want to go home, not that I am unhappy here but sometimes I just feel like I dont belong or that I am wasting my time, though I am positive that this year has been anything but a waste of time and that I wouldn’t change it for anything. I know that If i got to decide between staying and going earlier, I would stay; I want to stick it out until the end. Im still not quite finished. I feel confident that I have conquered my Spanish, but there are still a few other personal things that I want to accomplish while I am here.

Also another breaking peice of news: I think i finally know what it is i am going to do wtih my life, or that i have finally decided to try for what i have always wanted to do with my life: i am going to be an actress.

Right now I am INCREDIBLY stoked for the new Indiana Jonesto come out in the theaters. Only two more days! I am looking desperately to fine a cinema that will release it in English, not that I couldn’t watch it in Spanish, I have seen plenty of movies in all Spanish by now, its just that the original will be so much better that will those annoying dubbed voices. I cant bear to watch Harrison Ford´s amazing talent be watered down by some faceless Spaniard.

Saturday was the birthday of my English friend, Laura. She rented out a bar and there was free food and ´open bar´, at least for the first 100 euros. Yeah, that lasted about five minutes (you should see the English drink, they are like thirsty little fishies). It was great fun, there was a great DJ and we danced to Queen and took trivia quizzes and chatted it up in English. I was popular there because everyone knew me as ´the American girl´. After the bar party was over, we went ´out on the town´ to Las Veronicas, made random friends, exchanged random contacts which I will never bother to call/email, and danced the night away.

School ends this Friday and I am dying for America. I still have two months left of the exchange and a part of wants it to be over, but another part of me doesn’t want to go home. I hope these next two months fly by.  I have really been feeling sad lately.

I took the guagua up to Santa Cruz with a group of 1 bacherattos, and there I met up with my other three classmates. I went mostly because I have always wanted to participate in a strike, and it seemed an issue worth resolving. In Santa Cruz, the parade of students marched to the canaries government building where we cheered and shouted, made noise, sat for a bit and held up banners. It was more or less a laid back strike, there wasnt any dangerous craziness, violence or anything too exciting; that and as the protest was strictly students, we didn’t have the size, experience, patience, organization, or passion to really make a really strong strike. The group lost interest quickly, and not an hour and a half after arriving, many people already started to leave and things got boring. We left to get lunch and I rode back to the south in the car with my classmates. I wonder if the effort helped at all.

That night my host family and I went to a small planet observatory in the hotel that my host moms friend directs. We looked at moon craters and Saturn through his telescope and received a lesson on the planets and stars. It is incredible to know that you are looking at an object so faaaar far away. When we finished with in the observatory, we went outside to watch with our naked eyes, the rare reflection of a special satellite that is only visible for a few short seconds of a certain hour of the night.

We arrived in Llanes late noon. Our first stop was to visit the cousins and Teresa´s brother in his apartment. The little town was incredibly picturesque, It seemed to have been taken from a fairytale: long, narrow cobblestone roads, a medieval castle tower marking the center of town right next to the antique church. Plants grew in every crack and corner, everything was so lush with vegetation. Moss painted the bricks and Ivy ornamented the walls of the old houses. Everywhere you looked there was beauty.

We socialized a bit with the family, and then we headed for ´La Paz´ (´The Peace´), the comfortable home of my host mother and where she her family spend their summers. It was big and cozy and very ´lived in´. There was a lot of yard to run in with nice grass and even a cave in the back yard behind the house. It reminded me a bit of home mixed with my grandparents house in New Jersey, so being there made me feel a bit nostalgic. The family took me on a tour of Llanes, they showed me around the Port and brought me to the ´Cubes of Memory´. We strolled down the narrow streets enjoying the brisk, healthy air of the evening. We went back to La Paz and I played soccer with the boys. We called for pizza and relaxed there for the rest of the night.

Friday Teresa and Chris took me to see a the Basilica in Coranova (sp?) and saw the cave of the Virgin. There I drank out of a series of seven fountains which ensure, as legend has it, that I will be married in less than one year. Consider this your wedding invitation ; ). That afternoon, I ate the biggest lunch of my life: we started with a fried bread square topped with what seemed mayonnaise, then a fried crepe stuffed with orgasmic cheese (my personal fave), then a chowder-esque dish of mushrooms and chestnuts in a creamy cheese sauce (fanTAStico!); next was a dish of churizo traditionally prepared in an Austurian fashion, rather than being sliced it was served crumbled and hot and topped with a cheese sauce (yumm cholesterol); then, already full from the appetizers, we were served our main dish of Fadabes, or huge beans served in a saucy broth with chunks of churizo sausage and ham. After all this and the two of us being ready to internally combust, we managed to top it all off with dessert; I had a cake layered of crepes and alternated with chocolate and applesauce filling. I will never eat so much again in my life, we were both sick and uncomfortable for the rest of the day. The rest of the evening consisted mostly of recuperation, as I was handicapped from any quick movements, however later that night there was a Latino concert that I was interested in attending. With my unbelievable luck, we ran into a friend of my host family that knew of 4 American girls that were here visiting for the long weekend. They were eating dinner (goodness, not more food!), so we met up in a restaurant and hung out and talked. Two of them were of Colombian families that had lived in Miami all their lives, the other two were from Maryland who came from half Spanish half American families; all of them were studying in a University in Washington DC and participating in a Study Abroad program in Madrid and on vacation staying with one of the girl´s family in Austurias. We hit it off, they were such a great group of girls, all of them nice, intelligent and interesting.

Saturday

In the morning I went by myself to explore a bit more of Llanes and take photos. The whole family met up for lunch at the golf course. After lunch we went to Rales, the ancient run down town of fifty-some residents where apparently everyone in my host mom´s family was born. There, the kids and I explored the creek and played in the playground as the parents chatted it up with their cousins. Also, We were heckled by old ugly crazy ladies.

That night I met up again with the American girls for dinner. After that I stuck around to catch a bit of the latino fest.

Sunday

We went to Olviedo, the capital of Ausurias. It was mothers day so there were special tradictional festivities going on, there was a bag pipe band marching down the street and many people dressed in traditional Austurian clothing (looks similar to your stereotypical Scottish Kilt) with cattle and other farm animals arranged in the town plaza for photos and such. There was even a pottery making station set up for kids and funky clay oven that looked like an over-sized bee hive to cook the projects in. All of this was going on, plus the typical Sunday morning market that goes on in many cities in Spain, where you can buy fresh bread, veggies, cheese and other foods, clothes, purses, belts and just about anything you can think of. We got lucky, it was a great day to be there with so much going on. I loved Olviedo, it is an old funky college town (college towns are always hip), very clean, and with a great ambiance. My host mother graduated from this University with her law degree.

For lunch we stopped in a typical bar to eat some pinchos, which are little tapas (appetizer) sandwiches. To try things traditional of Austurias, we ate pinchos of churizo, tortilla española, queso de cabrales, and beef. After lunch we went to the park and it started to rain (oh, glorious rain!!). I think I was the only one happy (ecstatic! I miss the rain so much!!) about this, however apparently we had been lucky that it had only rained that one day during the five days we were in Austurias because typically it rains quite often in the north of the peninsula.

We drove through a city called Gijon, however we didnt stop or get out of the car because at this point it had really started to pour. We drove through some more pueblos on the way home for the scenic pleasure and to see how other towns were in the area. Arriving home, we were passed groups of prospectors with banners and horns cheering on the competing cyclists in a race that had taken place all day long (we saw them starting out that morning when we left to go to Olviedo). The race ended right in Llanes, we saw the signs counting down `5 kilos` until we were almost to the Paz and we passed the `1 kilo!`, so I walked to watch for a bit at the finish line. It seemed quite a big events, there were cameras and floats set up at the end. Every biker had their own personal motivator: a `pimped out` car which followed behind them at the finish with a megaphone cheering them on for that very last difficult bit. Leaving the race, I encountered a soccer game which I ended up staying to watch. After the game, my family and I went over to the cousins` apartment and I said goodbye for the very last time to sweet little Pablo and Miguel. We went out to dinner and had AMAZING cheese (Queso de Cabrales), more churizo, fresh shrimp, and other sea food. (I wonder how many kilos I gained on this trip?). ; )

Monday
I woke up to my last day in Llanes very late, around 11:30. I slept so well there, and so much. I didnt have time to do much that morning around the town because I had gotten up so late, I`d wanted to take a last stroll and buy some post cards and cheese. Instead we packed and cleaned, and I went exploring in the cave for just a little, however I didnt get to far because I was afraid being alone, not to mention the light I was using was hardly sufficient. We left the house to head for Bilbao around noon. We drove and stopped for lunch at this HUGE long beach before arriving in the city. In Bilbao we stopped to looked at the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately the ONLY day of the week it is closed are Mondays. What luck. That AND the special exhibit was of Surrealism, (only my FAVORITE style of art!). Im still pissed about that. The good thing about the Guggenheim is that if you cant get in, you can at least admire from the outside, the architecture of the place is a modern masterpiece in itself, so we walked around so that I could get a glimpse of its magnificence. We took a short walk around the city. It was a little dirty, but I would love to go back to go to the Museum and also to try some of the modern and creative pinchos that the city is known for; something I regret not trying while I was there and had the chance.
After that It was to the airport.
Standing in line to buy some last minute Queso de Cabrales, I stumbled into a fellow northern american. He was a Canadian Author writing a novel on the women and what to do and not to do when finding men to date. We talked quite a bit, he was charming and we traded contacts; it was a nice cherry to top of all the exciting happenings of the weekend. I entered the place with a smile and with good thoughts in my head as I reflected on the vacation. I am more than satisfied with the Spain that I was introduced to and I feel more comfortable with my host family and I think they know me a little more. I would definitely put Austurias on my top THREE list of Most Beautiful Places I have ever-ever visited in my Whole Life. Please, if you go to Spain and like green lush vegitation, fresh air and mountains, visit here!! I`ll never forget La Paz!

Paz.

 Over the weekend Maude and I were planning on hiking in the Barranco de Infierno and had made reservations and everything, but due to the severe Calima (very hot temperatures, a lot of wind and dusty dry air) the trails were closed.  I enjoyed hanging out in the house all morning, then after lunch Teresa and I went to the Supermarket to buy ingredients for out cooking adventure that would take place the following day. That evening there was an art exposition with the paintings of Marcus´s wife which I was set on attending in hopes that I would run into their good looking son. Maude and I had just planned to stop by shortly, but somehow both Laura and Teresa winded up going. I managed to slip Mrs. Cabrera one of my exchange contact cards, and though I was planning asking her to give it to her son, but it was even better when she thought of the idea that she should give it to him, so I didnt even have to ask. 

Maude and I chilled at the house for a while and ate some white chocolate, then went to Los Christianos to meet our with our Moroccan friends. With them we went out for a drink, I had a great piña colada to compensate for the shitty one from the week before, then we went to casa blanca and danced until about 4. These boys really surprise me, at first I was a little creeped outby the fact we were hanging out with these strangers, but the more time we spend with them, the more comfortable I am with them and the more I like them (although no so much in the way that Maude ´likes´ the one).  They really are what we call in Spanish´buena gente´ (´good people´).

Sunday Teresa and I cooked. Everything was going great up until we finished the Russian Salad (a mix of potatoes, olives, onions, asparagus, hard-boiled eggs, and tomato all mixed together with olive oil and mayo) ((yumm!)). Our second dish was to be a ricey type stew, but after getting the portions wrong (we were cooking for 8 people following the directions for a 4 person recipe, only half the time did we double the ingredients) and then over cooking the rice so that it absorbed all of the broth and burnt on the bottom and then having to delude it with extra water to make more broth, it ended up being a worth while disaster. Only one person ate our stew, and that was Teresa´s mother; although she said she liked it, we all knew that it was purely out of kindness. At least we made the dogs happy, who went to bed with full bellies that night.

Later that night Juliette came over while Maude was in aerobics class; since it would be her last night on the island, we had planned for a night out. Juliette and I hung around Los Christianos trying various strange dried fruits (pears and lemons and something else i couldn’t recognize all shriveled up….all of which tasted like disgusting balls of sugar, by the way); we ran into a friend we made in the discos the Thursday before. We met up with Maude around 10 30 or so and walked together to meet Abdul, this fairly good looking guy from Morocco who Maude has the hotts for, and his friends, all of whom we were acquainted with when we went out Thursday night. We ate at a restaurant where one of them worked and scored a free meal. Later we hit it up at Hooters, and then headed for a club called the Buddha Bar which I have been wanting to go to for quite some time, mostly because the name made it sound interesting. We had some drinks there and took some crazy photos. We ended up leaving around 2 am, we had to get home fairly early because Juliette had to catch her 11 o clock flight which was from the North and we would have to go in guagua. Before I entered the taxi to get back to the house, I had everyone sign this `I <3 Hooters` balloon that I had taken home with me from the restaurant. The boys signed it in their fancy Arabic letters (with translations in English) which they had fascinated us all with earlier that night. I will forever cherish this balloon.  ; )

I got up late because I pushed snooze so many times. I threw on the first pair of clothes that caught my eye and left the house at 7 15 am without even having a coffee or running water over my face to wash off the oiliness from taking cheek on cheek photos the night before. I literally went running to the bus station in Las Americas, which is a relaxing 40 min walk (I never have to use this bus stop, but this is where the bus starts to get to Santa Cruz). I made it there in 20.  At least Id finished early with my workout for the day. I JUST made it, I hopped my sweaty self on the bus two seconds before it was about to depart, and from under my winded breath, I managed to whisper `to Santa Cruz` as I slipped my bus ticket in the slot.

We arrived at the airport about an hour and a half early but passed our cherished last moments quickly by trying the free chocolate covered banana samples taking yet more ridiculous photos. Sadly, Juliette had to depart, Maude and I waved her goodbye as she disappeared down the terminal.

Maude and I hung around Santa Cruz for a while before returning to the South. We stopped in La Corte Ingles and window-shopped on about every one of the 14 floors and tried on formal dresses for fun. On the guagua ride down we ran into a friend from school, Laura. Good company for the hour long trip. We arrived in Los Christianos just in time for me to get to painting class.

Wednesday was my first day of school in almost two weeks. What a bore. Maude has decided not to go for her last bit of time on the island since she is leaving next Thursday. Who can blame her, I too would rather go to the beach than school.  Wednesday I came home from school with nothing to do, since I had no more Desperate Housewives to keep me occupied. I got bored so I went to painting class that night to compensate for my missed days the week before.

Thursday the teachers were on strike again (like tuesday, which I  think I forgot to mention before), so I slept in, then met up with Maude and our new Moroccan friends at the beach Playa del Duque around 12. The day was perfect and the waves were big. We stayed there all day until about 4 30, got some Ferrero Rocher ice cream, and then I went to paint as Maude went to  her dance class.

Today is Friday and there is Calima and the weather is hot and miserable. Tonight Maude and I will be going to a fashion show in a nearby shopping center, then tomorrow, since I dont have sailing this weekend, if the weather permits us, we might go hiking in the Barranco de Infierno (`the pit of Hell`).