la de daa

i knowww im a terrible person for not having updated this in about 5 years, but what can i say...ive been living my life and having a pretty good time and seeing the world, and also, im just bad at keeping blogs. hah.

soooo last week i was in bulgaria. very interesting country. SUCH a difference between east and west europe, i can't even explain. i only spent about 170 dollars the entire week and i went out every night and ate enough food for about 3 normal people (especially any normal bulgarian girl, as they all weigh approximately 100 pounds soaking wet).

I ended up spending the majority of the time at goce's apartment (dorm room?) because mariya was busy or something, and im SO grateful that goce was able to take me in...if not, i would have been on the streets in a country where i don't speak the language and that would have just been lovely.

some interesting things about bulgaria:
- shaking your head means yes and nodding your head means no. i kid you not. how strange is that?? and also, very difficult for me when i dont speak bulgarian and im trying to point out nonverbally which pack of gum i want to the lady working at the convenience store
- "retro" music and hip hop are extremely popular - retro music is anything from the 80s and 90s or even earlier, such as "grease lightning" or "YMCA"
- going out to a bulgarian club consists of finding a table and dancing around the table...you don't just go to a disco to dance on the dance floor, you must first find a table and stand awkwardly around it, too far from anyone to actually have a conversation.
- bulgarian music is called chalga and here is a sample: Jestoko
- everything is so effing cheap: i got a ginormous burger and fries for 2.50 lev which is about 1.70...mmmmmm...however, clothes there are extremely expensive...more expensive than in spain! how does that make sense?
- seatbelts don't exist, basically. which is terrifying seeing as the drivers there are just as crazy if not crazier than those in new york city.
- rakia is the national drink of bulgaria and also the reason i do not remember the first night i was there. at all. that was the first and last time i drank that stuff. think terrible tasting absinthe. uugghhhh


so yeah. in other news, i went to barcelona and it was beautiful and sunny. funny thing about barcelona is they don't speak spanish there, so that was interesting. catalan is very similar to spanish though, so it was possible to get around fine. plus, everyone speaks spanish if you ask them to.

hmm what else...ive just been going to class and living life here...idk what else to say...going out on the weekends, usually and not doing much during the week.

oh, also...there are two other girls living in my house now, which brings the grand total up to 4 exchange students...i think it's a bit too much for the apartment. i mean, theyre nice girls, that's not the problem at all...but we're all living in this one apartment with one bathroom and no space really. i pretty much stay in my room anyway when im home because that's the only real place to be, but whatever.

right now i am absolutely drowning in work because i haven't really done anything all semester, i mean, it's my fault BUT it sucks so im actually updating my blog to procrastinate just a bit more. maybe i'll go for a run too...anything to avoid this 8 page paper and reading this awful book and doing my immigrant experience presentation. AH

Stuff

Soo i went to carnaval and Portugal and blah blah i'm too vaga to write about it all...if you want to know more look at my pics on fb or ask me! 

i know i haven't been the best with this blog thing, but im turning over a new leaf! i will update religiously from now on!

today i had a midterm.  it sucked. im not sure how i did. maybe a B? too bad it's 40% of my grade. ugh.  immigrant experience = hardest class offered in this program, but whatever, im learning and its legit.

tonight i think we're gonna go out and see malasaña...something different than sol for once.  AND it's where all the cool alt kids go, so im sure ill love it.  here are some of the bars there: 

WoooO!

if y'all ever come visit me in España, this is where we'll be going.  i've already gone to tupperware and it was awesome!

im super tired though. and i have to be ready by 820 to get to principe pio by 9 so we can go 3.5 hours to this winery place where we WONT BE DRINKING ANY WINE even though its a vineyard (i have a hard time believing maricarmen will be able to enforce this policy, but we'll see), and then we're going to this monastery place where they do all these gregorian chants and then we're going to get a wonderful traditional castilian dinner in this middle of nowhere tiny town.  so it should be fun. but cold! ahh! so cold here...i mean, like 40s but still! lots of wind!

and today, it was insane, there was the most ridiculous HAIL storm..like giant balls of hail and so many falling for so long....intense shit.

Speaking of intense: Watch This Now!

baaah i guess i should get ready if i want to go out tonight, but im sooo lazyyyyyy

Miss and Love

List time!

Things I Miss:
- BAGELS
- CHIPOTLE
- living with people my own age/sola
- dollars
- not having to be an electricity/water nazi, although I guess it´s good anyway
- feeling productive
- having a normal appetite
- lean protein
- not oily vegetables
- greek yogurt and honey
- not ham and/or chorizo 24/7
- ice creammmmmmmmmmmm thats not crazy expensive
- centennial, especially rooms 212 and 214
- house parties
- TDR (i know, i know, but you would too!)
- walking around barefoot in my own house
- central heating
- cereal variety (reeses puffs, lucky charms, frosted flakes, CINNAMON LIFE, cinnamon toast crunch, etc)
- soup!!
- REESES AND ANYTHING PEANUT BUTTERY
- normal coffee...sooo over espresso!

- dryers!  oh mannnnnn

Things I Love Here:

- the language
- nightlife (OMG...except enough with the techno all the time, please)

1) El Tigre

2) La Alhambra

3) Kapital, Pacha, Samsara, etc etc though every week is a bit much for me

4) El Son!

5) the goat! haha jk
- cheapppp wine.  You can buy a glass bottle in the supermarket for 1.75 euro
- chocolate covered waffles (qé gofre, in particular...oh my god best thing ever)

- tapas! mmmm patatas bravas and french fries and ham and cheese on bread and etc etc

- croquetas!
- not having barely any responsibility, haha

- meeting new people
- cheap taxis
- CHEAPEST WATER EVER...like, 30 cents a bottle! for a liter and a half! woooo
- maricarmen and all the crew at mosaic <3 

- being able to travel to like 1023821 different countries for around 30 euro

- cañas

- being one stop away from school...although that also means being really far from el centro, but you win some, you lose some

- monthly metro/bus/buho passes...and being able to buy the 29 euro one! first time im happy im under 21 hahaaa

- being legal 

- having my own room....to a certain extent...maybe if i actually had privacy and a non-invasive host mom to go along with it, i'd be happier, but what can you do.

- the weather! soo nice

Things I Will Probably Never Understand About Spanish Culture:

- harem pants. WTF

1) WHY did these ever become popular? I have even seen denim versions! 

2) Are people trying to make themselves look as awkward/fat as they possibly can??

- Rat tails.

1) Please, really? Didn't we see enough of these things in the 90's? I'm not even kidding, this is quite a common 'do here.

- HAM 24/7

1) No, but really.  This is quite common. First, you go to museo del jamon (Not even kidding, there are tons of these in Madrid, and they are CHOCK FULL of ham legs hanging from floor to ceiling, as well as every other form of ham imaginable.  It's really a sight to see) to get your tasty ham leg, then you put it on your jamonero (yes, a ham stand specially made to fit this purpose), and then you slice away for weeks until you have finished your lovely jamon iberico.  Ugh

- How people can live at home til they're 30-35.  I would probably die.  No, really.  And i thought i wasn't gonna make it to 18.

- BANGS! such intense bangs everywhere!

- ridiculous PDA everywhere.  even in the metro.  AND don't even get me started on the parks.  Sex in broad daylight in a public place, anyone?  This is not uncommon, and it's usually far worse, but i googled this image, and would have felt creepy posting anything more intense:

- As with Latin America, the time.  If you SAY a time, why be 2 hours late?

- Eating dinner at 10pm.  mmmm.

- how everyone is in such good shape here and yet they eat so much! i guess all the walking? i want the secret!

SOOO i gotta start (soo late, i know) studying for my midterm tomorrow.  i'm actually a bit scared for it, im not gonna lie.  its def my hardest class, and i dont understand a word of the readings! ahh! im totally getting C...please god, noooooo.

To do list:

- finish application for next semester!

- plan Denmark/Finland trip for the end of this semester

- figure out if im gonna be home for Nora's wedding

- STUDYYYYY

- do something fun this weekend that does not eat up my wallet

- talk to people.  if you're reading this and you know i'd want to talk to you...TALK TO MEEEEEE

Morriña

This, combined with an overwhelming feeling of laziness, is why I have not been updating my blog lately. 

Saudade. Look in the section "Variations"

En Español

Woop.  Im going to buy a hair straightener now. And some mouthwash. Love life.

oh hey there

I would've updated more this week, believe me, I had the time, but they would have been the most useless, boring posts ever. Why, you ask? Because i've done absolutely nothing. Well, up until last night. I got sick this week, so my host mom has had me on steady dosages of jarabe and other random drugs, and i've pretty much just felt shitty. I was supposed to go out thursday night - i even had clothes on and everything - but i just couldn't. i went to bed at 9pm and woke up at 11am. 14 hours of sleep. too much. i felt even shittier when i woke up, haha.

Friday i went to Chueca and Sol with Charly and we bought boots! yay - mine are so hot. perfect for going out. because, let's be honest, me and stilettos don't mix very well. so yeah, boots with a heel are a good compromise, cause they're hot but i'll still be alive at the end of the night.

So we went all around sol and the surrounding area yesterday, and then i got home and took a nap! <3 naps...i take one a day at least, haha.

After my lovely nap, i got ready to go out and we went to this cool bar called tupperware, and get this: I HEARD TIME TO PRETEND BY MGMT IN THE BAR!! i freaked out, haha. and then i made natalie come with me to the stairs so we could hear it better cause they were playing it downstairs and we were sitting upstairs. but yeah, it was a really chill bar with AWESOME music!

We were there for a while, and then walked all the way to El Tigre in the freezing cold. We walked by Pacha, which is this club we were originally going to go to, but it costs 16 euro to get in, and we are cheap mothafuckas. plus, jana and natalie's intercambio apparently has connections there, so if we go next week, he'll be able to get us in for free =). i like it, i like it a lot. So yeah we went to El Tigre and got massive mojitos (they are the best...so big and only 6 euro and sooo gooood), but then we talked the promoter dudes from joy and they were like "if you want to get in free, you have to leave NOW." That meant that we had to finish our mojitos in like 5 minutes, which was...interesting. it sped the night up, to say the least, haha.

We got to joy, claimed to be on this random dude's guestlist from eurovibe (maybe steve??...idk) and ended up getting in fine. so that was nice. after that, we just danced up the evening til around 5, when we had had enough. Charly and i left, thinking no one else was there anymore (originally me, charly, rachel, natalie, jana, kim, dana, and kate had come, but i think they all left at some point before us...it was a packed club, thus it was nearly impossible to keep track of such a large group!), and we went to cafe y te to wait out the metro.

BUT THEN cafe y te was closed! alas! we were so tired, we went to the street right by cafe y te to wait for it to open, and just plunked ourselves down on the street in front of a closed dunkin coffee. Rachel and some Greek dude met up with us there, and then this random from Tangiers latched on to our group and would NOT leave us alone. He went with us to Cafe y Te and insisted on taking multiple pictures with us. When we left Cafe y Te, he attempted to follow us into the metro, but we booked it as soon as we got through the barrier, and lost him! haha...good work, charly.

i got home around 630-7, as usual, and went to bed. My host mom woke me up today with some coffee and codeine...i think that's what it is? it's OTC, but she asked me if i was allergic to codeine. and the drugs here are SOO much stronger than those in the US. classic. she's convinced im dying, i think...but it's okay..cause she's super nice, and although she can be a bit overwhelming, i know she's just worried and making sure im okay.

So today, saturday, i gotta read this EU stuff and do some other homework. Also, i must shower. ew. so lazy. i guess i'll get on that, cause it will probably take me a good half hour to get myself out of bed and moving. haha. SEE ya!

lolz

heeehe this is my kind of rap:

fa sho

No me gustan los lunes

bah what a useless day.

i had class for an hour and half, went to the store and bought all sorts of ridiculously unhealthy food (ham flavored chips anyone?), and have spent the rest of the day in front of the computer and/or sleeping.  i didn't even do any of the work i had told myself i would get done.  ohwell.

i am addicted to celebrity gossip.  and facebook.  it's official.