Airport Adventures

It seems inevitable that anytime you are really excited about something, it gets messed up. Well, due to air traffic control problems, and the incompetence of people working for the National Express, I am stuck in Heathrow airport in London for the night. Awesome. Almost as fun as spending 24 hours in the Paris airport (although that was my fault). I mean, it's not that bad. HOPEFULLY 12 hours from now I will be boarding a flight.
Moving along to happier things. Yesterday was the end of our program in Alicante, Spain. Probably one of the saddest experiences of my life. It's funny how an experience like this one can change who you are forever, and how you can meet people and in four months, feel like you have known them your whole life. In the instance of my Spanish family, I feel like they really are my family, and when I come back to Spain to live here, I plan on visiting them. My little sister here is also thinking about coming to the US next summer to improve her English, and might come to Colorado! I think that would be so much fun. She is a great person and so sweet.
It's interesting to think about how a situation is always what you make of it. At first when I figured out that I had missed my flight, I was pissed off at the people "responsible." Then as I approached the ticket counter, I pretty much started crying because all I really want to be doing is spending time with my family at home, at Christmastime. Afterwards, I realized that there is nothing that I can do about the situation, other than what I had already done. So now I am complacent with the situation. Well... we'll see how I feel about it around 3am.

Snowboarding Tricks

So this is the year where I am going to attempt to perfect my snowboarding tricks. Yep, I'm going to stop being a wuss and actually try and do stuff in the park. (If you have heard about my near-death, idiotic thing that I did last season at Winter Park which involved me trying to hit the highest kicker at Winter Park, without carving at all before... you'll understand why I am afraid... haha). At any rate, my brother's girlfriend showed me this website that I thought was pretty sweet. Check it out here. They have tricks as simple as ollies all the way up to backside 720s if you want to be really intense. This will be how I am going to (hopefully) teach myself to do some cool stuff on the mountain other than just all mountain stuff, which I am best at. Wish me luck! Hopefully I won't come home this season with too many bruises!
Below is also something that I want to be able to do this season... we'll see...

¡Una semana y me voy!

I had not realized (due to my being sick in bed for the last few days) that I have already passed into the single digits of my countdown. In less than a week, I will be on a plane to... London, eventually getting back to the United States. EXCITING!! I hope there is snow. I also cannot wait to see a Delux puppy... he is my favorite. :) Can't wait to see everyone back in the States!! xoxo

Ya estamos en el mes de diciembre!

I am in disbelief at how fast my time has gone by in Spain. And I am at the point where I am literally torn between two ways of life, and I don't know which is better, and I don't know if I really want to leave, or if I want to stay here for the rest of my life. A little dramatic, maybe. haha. First of all, it is December, and with December comes a few things. These are: snow, Christmas, Christmas lights, Christmas songs, family, snowboarding, really good food (and lots of homemade Mexican food), breaks from school, crazy shopping times, lots of baking (so we can all be fat kids), and overall, just good times.

So I must recount a story, simply because it is one of the things I always remember about Christmas so fondly. Stockings. The stocking present is a difficult thing to encounter. There always has to be a lot of little presents. Now, every year, it's the same thing. We buy dad nuts, we all get candy. I usually get an assortment of weird flavored lip glosses that turn my lips weird colors (from the aunts/grandmas of course). But with my mother, we are always at a loss. So every Christmas morning, her stocking is all but empty. So what do we do? My brothers and I run around the house and fill her stocking with a vast array of interesting things that we can find. Namely, coasters, fruit, candy that may be sitting out in a dish, a Christmas ornament stolen from the tree, a magazine laying out on the table. Pretty much anything we can find, we stuff in her stocking, just to make it look full. And then we all get a laugh as she pulls out this mixture of weird things that we have collected from around the house. I mean, we think it's funny. But then again, my family is intensely weird.

Anyways, the point of the story, is that I want to hear some ideas for good stocking stuff I can get for my mumma. Any ideas? Let me know. Oh, and the countdown stands thus: 19 days until I will be home in Colorado (and if there is no snow, I will probably be extremely disappointed).

So I find it slightly odd that upon my return to the States, I literally have the next 48 hours of my life planned out. Here it goes. I land in DIA at 11:30pm on the 20th. Promptly at 6:00am I will be awoken and putting on snowboarding gear, going up to the mountains with my Papo and my brother Jeremy. I believe I will either a. have an awesome day, then crash that night, or b. go up to the mountains, and get extreme altitude sickness, where I will be miserable all day, except I will be content, because there will be snow. And I will sit in the lodge all day watching skiers and snowboarders come down the mountain. Let's hope for A. Next day will be spend braving the gargantuan crowds at Park Meadows Mall... My motivation for this? Nothing other than that I want to spend the day with my mum. And I will be reminded, almost gloriously, of how cheap everything is in the United States in comparison to Spain. :) Oh, and food-wise? I already know that too. First nigh, after snowboarding, my mum is going to make homemade chicken enchiladas (which are absolutely delicious), and in the morning, I am hoping for chorizo and egg burritos.... maybe Chick-fil-A for lunch. And that's that! Does anyone else find themselves planning to a t what they will do when they get home? Or am I just a weirdo. Thought so. 19 more days!

BARCELONA TRIP!!!! (Thanksgiving, Biar)

First of all, I am so impressed with our program here in Alicante, because I honestly believe that our directors and professors could not possibly do anything more to make our experience here more amazing than it already is. On Thanksgiving, our Academic Director (and professor) José Ramón took us to Biar, his hometown. We walked around the city, went to a cool museum, and even got to see a real candy factory where they make turrón (turrón is this really good candy type thing that is popular around Christmas time. They have all different sorts. It comes in a bar form, thicker than a candy bar and a little bit bigger) and it was really cool to see how they make it, package it, etc. Biar is a mountain town, so when we got there, the air was so fresh, the city was clean, and the people were soooo nice. I loved it. We got to go into this old Renaissance era church, which was totally cool. Biar is just a beautiful town.

That night, we all got dressed up and went to this restaurant where our program had prepared this HUGE Thanksgiving dinner, complete with Turkey, Cranberry sauce and all. It was intense. It was so nice to have dinner with everyone. There were some people that stood up and said what they were thankful for, we had a photograph contest, where we got to see different people's photos of Alicante, artistic photos, funny photos, etc. and there were also a few girls that at the end o the night, played and sang Christmas songs to prepare for the Christmas season. I literally thought I was going to cry during Silent Night because the whole room was singing. It was awesome. :)

The next day we went to BARCELONA!!!! I am in love with this city. It is gorgeous, it's huge, they have some of the best shopping I've ever seen (and not all of it expensive thankfully), and the people are amazingly nice. On the way there, we went and visited a bodega de cava (champagne winery) which was really cool. we had already been to a few bodegas de vino (wine) but it was interesting to learn about the different processes used to make Champagne. Then we got to taste some. It was a bruit (=not that good, at least, I didn't think so), but it was still fun. Then we arrived in Barcelona and just driving through the town to get to our hotel was cool. It is such a huge city, I loved it. It just convinced me that someday, I really would love to live in a huge city.

Saturday was devoted mostly to walking around the city and shopping, although we did get to see the Gaudí houses. They were super cool, although we did not go inside because there was a huge line! (will post pictures of these in a bit).

Sunday we woke up (late) got on the bus and went to the Parc Güell which is a super famous park created by Gaudí, where he used to live. This place was huge! I'm sure you have heard of the famous Gaudí benches in Barcelona. Well, if you haven't, this is where they are located. We walked around the whole place, and there was just so much interesting stuff to see, then at the end we finally came to the benches, and I was super excited. It literally is this huge terrace with a wavy sort of bench curving all along the exterior. The bench is decorated with a mosaic theme throughout, and no two parts look alike. It was awesome. I walked around and took pictures of all of my favorite parts. My recommendation: absolutely do NOT go to Barcelona without seeing this. It was amazing. (the history of this is really interesting.... look it up here on Wiki... and yes, that is my information source for everything.)

Sunday we also went by the Sagrada Familia, which is a huge Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, also built and conceived by Gaudí. We did not get to go inside, and the building is currently (and has been for a while) undergoing massive reconstruction due to damages it suffered during the Spanish Civil War. (If you want to read more, go to Wikipedia).

At Parc Güell...mosaic lizard

I have a ridiculous number of pictures of this bench,
every part was different, it was so beautiful!

...Parc Güell...

Parc Güell still

Sagrada Familia... too bad they were doing tons of construction... oh and our program only gave us about 20 minutes to walk around and look at it, we couldn't even go inside! I plan on returning to see it again someday (like, maybe when I live in Barcelona?!)

One of the Gaudí houses at night.

A la bodega de cava... there was champaigne everywhere,
rows and rows, and rows, going on forever.

Catie Jane and I being super excited about going to Barcelona

The girls and me at Thanksgiving.

El Castillo de Biar (the castle in Biar)

Me and Catie Jane atop the castle... notice: we are eating
Chupa Chups (aka, the best sucker ever made...
I'm bring home tons for Christmas! lol)

nieve¡SNOW!neige

Today is a sad day. It is snowing in Boulder, and I am not
there. Winter Park got six inches of snow in the last 24 hours....
I am to the point where I dream about snowboarding....
29 more days.... And then I'll be in the mountains again...
reunited with my true love... fresh, powdery, SNOW! lol

ONE More Month

My time in Spain is quickly coming to a close. Only 30 more days. It feels a bit weird to be saying that. I have noticed that the older I get (which thank God I'm still young... haha) the faster and faster time seems to go by. Sometimes, it is a comfort, and sometimes it is frustrating. I feel like I just got here, and at the same time, I feel like I've been here forever. It's strange that our conception of time is so skewed from reality. I feel as if time is the one thing that keeps me constantly guessing.

I was talking to Jeremy a while ago and we were talking of the possibility that time could actually move slower some days than others, and not simply because we have nothing to do, but that two individual people could think that a day went by slowly of their own accord. The question is, did time actually move slower that day? Or was it just those two people's conception of time, that for some reason or another, intertwined? Who knows. Life is weird. 30 days and counting.....

Finally a Quiet Saturday... oh wait, Friday

So one great thing about Spain is that I don't have classes on Fridays. This means that when I wake up and feel like it's Saturday (mostly until halfway through the day and then I remember, almost gloriously, that it's only Friday, and you would think that I would get used to it, but no. I'm pleasantly surprised every week. Kinda nice, no?)

So my midterms are finally over, let's just say they were intense. And when I mean intense, they would have been intense if they were in English. Add the factor of writing Spanish essays for like, 2 hours for each class, and you'll feel a little bit of my pain.

To celebrate the end of midterms, all the girls got together last night for the botellón (explanations upon request). It was fabulous. We always meet new people going out, and the best part is, nobody ever knows I'm not Spanish until I tell them. And then they flip out. It's actually kind of hilarious. I love the facial expressions of shock when I tell people I'm American. And then when I go back to the States, nobody is going to be impressed by my American-ness. Darn. But literally, I could be having a conversation with someone for a good ten, fifteen minutes, and then one of my American friends will come over and start talking to me in English, and then people normally get super confused. hahaha. It's great. And then they still insist that it's super strange that I seem so Spanish. I mean, what can I say? I guess I've just turned into and española. sweet!

So it is getting to that point in the trip. Whenever you live in a foreign country (because this is my second time) I feel like it always gets to this point. The point is where you know you're in the home stretch of the trip and you're thinking a lot about all the fabulous things you're going to do when you get home, and how much you miss everybody and what it's going to be like (and for me, you can't wait to snowboard, drive, eat at Chick-fil-A, etc.) so you psych yourself up for it waayyy too much so that you are super ready to go home. BUT. Then you have those days where it's just pure happiness and you realize how much you love where you are living, love your friends, can't believe that you only have four more weekends to go, don't want to think about the prospect that you won't be able to speak Spanish very much ever, and that when you go back to the States, you're going to have some very weird habits which include the following: the tendency to want to give dos besos to every new acquaintance; the desire to always have a piece of fruit after cena, not to mention that you have la comida at 2 and la cena around 10; you can't imagine going out around 9 or 10 and only staying out until 2 when the bars close, oh ya, I can't legally drink in the US (forgot about that one); you feel that a meal without pan (bread, like a baguette), is definitely unacceptable; you feel that leggings and tights are perfectly acceptable attire for every day of the week, no matter what; you are going to want to send text messages in Spanish (and you also call and hang up if you want to tell someone you're either thinking about them/waiting for them/you got their message/or you are replying 'yes' to their text message); you'll want to meet your friends out on the street to sit and talk rather than inviting them inside your actual house; etc...

I could go on, but I won't bore you with the Spanish ways which I know and love. Mostly, I can't wait to come home to go snowboarding, have Christmas with my family, real Mexican and American food, drive my car, see my puppy, play my piano, see my friends, and see some SNOW! But I will miss Spain with its crazy Spaniards, weird time schedules, siestas and all.

Craft Fair!!

Some of you may not know, but my mother is really talented at making jewelry. She has recently gotten really into it, and has been looking for a while into getting involved in some craft fairs. In Highlands Ranch, it is super competitive to get into them, and the jewelry category is the most competitive because there are a ton of people that do it. My mother's first real craft fair is tomorrow (today for me already). I am SO EXCITED for her!!! I have this tendency to steal a lot of the jewelry she makes because it is so beautiful. I just wanted to wish her luck, and I know she is going to do AWESOME!! I can't wait to get back to Colorado so I can steal some more of her jewelry.... hehehe. :) Isn't she just so cute?! I love you mumma!

Next Semester Rocks My LIFE!!

So I have just finished registering. Yes, this early. Really. Want to know why so early? Oh yes, it's because I'm finally old enough to have more credits than the majority of the 30,000 other people that attend CU Boulder. So these are the classes I am taking: (don't laugh)

FREN 2110: Advanced French Grammer II
PORT 2350: Portuguese for the Spanish Speaker
SPAN 3100: Literary Analysis in Spanish Literature (with Sarah Levy!!)
BCOR 2000: Accounting & Financial Analysis (I'm dreading it!)
BCOR 2300: Adding Value with Management (such a breeze)
(online) ECON 3403: International Economics & Policy (fun times...not)

so yes, business and languages. I mean, what else is there in life?? Apparently not much for me!

It's That Time of Year Again...

Oh yes. That's right. The time in the semester when everything catches up to you and somehow your professors think it's the exact right time to add in a ton more homework. I have midterms this week and next, just found out for my Politics and Terrorism class that in addition to the midterm that we have on Monday and the 8-10 page research paper we have due on the 26th, we are going to do an in-class debate. Then he proceeded to hand out the HUGELY thick packets of information that we are supposed to read entirely as well as do some outside research in order to prepare for the debate we are having this Wednesday. I mean, don't professors understand that we have other classes too? Oh yes, and his midterm is essay question format. Those are the worst to study for. Thanks, profe, you're the best. In another class, we are starting to read La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende. This book is huge, with very small writing, oh yes, and completely in SPANISH. I don't even want to think about how long it will probably take me to read this book. But we only have less than two weeks to do it. Now that would be a little hard with an English Literature book, let alone one in Spanish. Well, I suppose it's all towards the goal of making me smarter, right? Riiiiggghhhttt...... I love Spain.

MIREIA'S PUEBLO.... BENISSA!!

For last weekend, my Spanish friend Mireia (who is pretty much my twin, except Spanish) invited my friend Erica and me to spend the weekend with her at her parent’s house. We hopped on the bus and rode about an hour North of Alicante, until we came to BENISSA. We went to her parent’s house first, where her mom served us the most amazing delicious chicken stuff that I have ever had! I seriously ate way more than I probably could have, just cus it was really just that good! haha. That night, we went around and saw some of the sights in a nearby town, mainly a cathedral, and walked atop the hill where the cathedral was where we could see the whole city, and drove back home for dinner, which was tortilla de patatas (a typical dish in Alicante province, which is basically an omelet with potatoes cooked in it, sooo good!!) along with some other stuff.... p.s. have I told you how much I LOVE Spanish food? Spanish food, the Spanish language, Spanish music, Spanish men... and here I start to go off topic.

The next day we woke up and Mireia’s dad took us on a huge hike up one of the mountains in her town. It was soo much fun! It reminded me of how much I really miss living in Colorado and having the opportunity to hike the flatirons pretty much whenever I want to. It was an intense hike too! Her dad was a real trooper. On the way up, he was telling us the whole history of this house, and that tree, and all about all the plants that were native to this part of Benissa. It was really interesting. We finally arrived at the top, where we encountered a cave. We rested for a bit, then got down on hands and knees and crawled through the cave to the other side of the mountain. When we came out on the other side, it was literally like a fairy tail. There were green vines hanging down from the roof of the cave and everything was so green. The best part though, was definitely the AMAZING view of the city and the sea right next to us!! I couldn’t believe it, it was the coolest thing ever. I wish my parents could have been there, they would have loved it! I’ll definitely post pictures when I get them from Erica because it was definitely a sight not to be missed!

GRANADA - OCT 26-28

Our program took a trip to GRANADA, SPAIN two weekends ago. Granada is one of the most widely known cities in Spain. It is an ancient Muslim city located in the South of Spain, close to Morocco, so there is a lot of influence from Morocco and there is a strong population of immigrants, many of which speak Arabic (how cool is that?!) The city itself looks like two worlds that are colliding together. One the one hand, you have all the ancient Muslim streets, which are really tiny, and curvy, don’t make any sense, and have no sort of order. It’s like trying to walk through a maze, and you have no idea where you will come out. One the other hand, you have huge streets that are newer, where buses run, and there are cars everywhere, traffic lights, cross walks, the works. It is so interesting because there is literally some of each everywhere you go.

It was a five hour bus ride to Granada, most of which I slept, but when I wasn’t sleeping I was taking in the beautiful countryside of Spain, which is absolutely gorgeous, full of hills, trees, mountains, and smaller towns (each one with its own castle, of course!). The first night we arrived in Granada, we walked around the city a bit, and ended up hanging out in our hotel room playing cards with a bunch of our friends. Spanish culture is kind of weird in that it is not really a custom to invite your friends over to your house at all really. They only invite over their closets friends, and even then, it is not often. So we all enjoyed being a little American for a bit and hanging out with each other “at home”. The next day we woke up and had an amazing breakfast in the hotel (which I was VERY excited about) and then we set off to see the sights.

We walked to the historical center of the city, visited the Cathedral of Granada, which was huge! The Cathedral was designed originally in the Renaissance era but later a few Baroque touches were added. It was really interesting. Inside there are huge vaulted ceilings and many different paintings, sculptures, old sheets of music (which were huge, and super interesting to look at), and overall just really cool. (The sad part is that Notre Dame kind of ruined the magic of it, it was definitely not as cool after having seen Notre Dame). Right next to the Cathedral is Capilla Real where Queen Isabel and King Fernando are buried along with Princess Juana la Loca and Prince Felipe el Hermoso (“the crazy” and “the handsome” respectively). The history with them is that Felipe el Hermoso cheated on Juana all the time, and then he died, after which Juana la Loca went to visit and take care of his corpse every day for 20 years after he died. She was definitely crazy.
This is a picture of inside the Cathedral...

Afterwards, we went to Corral del carbón that is an ancient Muslim house. In my Society and Territory class we are studying ancient Muslim cities. A normal Muslim house is not decorated very much at all on the outside except for the door, which is usually very ornate. When you walk in, you come to a patio that always has a fountain in the middle. From here, the rest of the house is extremely ornately painted and decorated. It was amazing to see pictures and learn about this and then actually go there and see the real thing! Next, we took a walk along the Alcaicería which is the ancient part of town, the old Muslin streets, which are barely large enough for one person to walk through, and went shopping! There were TONS of stores all with really cool purses, scarves, jewelry, lamps, incense, and any number of other things that really made you feel like you were actually in Morocco instead of still in Spain. So Erica, Catie and I went and got lost shopping for a few hours, then went and found lunch at a restaurant.

Later we went and visited the infamous ALHAMBRA. If you ever are anywhere near Granada, it is an absolute MUST to go see this. It was literally breathtaking! It is an ancient palace that belonged to the Kings of the Moors. Now it has been converted into a museum. “Alhambra” in Arabic means the red, which is derived from the red color of the clay used to make the surroundings of the fort. There is absolutely no way I could explain the beauty or intense décor of this place, so I am just going to post a picture… ☺


That night, we had the opportunity to go and see a real Flamenco show. It was soo much fun! The dancers (guys and girls) were all really impressive, although my favorite was this old lady who looked like she should not be dancing at all who got up and not only danced really well, but also sang, it was awesome! We all had a really good time and laughed at the end when the dancers made some of us get up and dance with them. The best was our director, José, dancing with one of the ladies. We all had a good laugh.

On Sunday, we went to visit Alcazaba, and Palacios Nazaries and Generalife, which are all palaces that are connected, located on the top of this huge hill. It took us so long to walk around and we got a tour of the entire place! There were all these different gardens, and huge pathways, different buildings with the same amazing architecture and details as the Alhambra. Then we rushed around a bit, buying last minute scarves and got on the bus for the five hour ride home!

Trip with Politics and Terrorism Class to a MOSQUE in Alicante, Spain

Last week our class took a trip to a Mosque in Alicante (who knew there would be one?!). At first, we walked in and were shown around the few classrooms that they have where they teach about Islam and they also have classes of Arabic for non-native speakers and classes of Spanish as well. We met the Imam (which is their version of a priest) who was dressed up in his normal attire – an all white robe with white pants to match and a head scarf that was white as well. He was a very soft spoken, but intense person. He spoke a little bit of English and a little bit of Spanish, mixing the two together the majority of the time. We listened to him talk in Arabic while an interpreter would translate into Spanish. It was really cool to listen to what he had to tell us about the history of their mosque, how prayers normally work, and how they all worship together. He has a wife, and sons and daughters, just like any normal person.

The praying area of the mosque is broken up into two parts: one for the men, and one for the women. It is not really a superior/inferior thing, but rather, so that the women can undress a bit if they are uncomfortable, feed their babies, etc. and not have to worry about being completely properly dressed while they are in the mosque. The Imam’s wife had made us lunch which was rice with chicken, and it was honestly the best thing I have ever had! I told him I wanted the recipe and he just laughed at me. We also had soup and a sort of salad thing.

During lunch we got to ask the Imam questions and here him talk about his daily routine, and what he thought about radical Islam. Islam, he said, is a peaceful religion, and you are only allowed to fight against another when they fight against you first. The overall atmosphere in the mosque and when he was talking were mesmerizing. He would call each one of us “hermano/hermana” (which means brother/sister), and explained to us that anyone who feels like it can enter into the mosque with no questions asked and come pray with them, or come to the Imam and tell about a problem they are having in their life, and it is the duty of the Imam to freely give advice and help whoever seeks his advice.

It was so interesting to actually see the reality of what is Islam rather than just try to imagine what it must be like, while trying to forget the stereotypes and all the images of terrorism that we are used to associating with it. I think I might take up Arabic. It looks so pretty and sounds so beautiful, I think. We’ll see what’s in store for the future….

Trip with Spanish Civil War Class to ALCOY, Spain

I am taking a class about the Spanish Civil War at my University in Spain. The other day we took a trip to Alcoy (which is about an hour South of Alicante, where I live) to see the bomb shelters where the people stayed during the Spanish Civil War to escape the bombs. It was really interesting because they have turned it into a museum. We walked through and read (in Spanish and Valencian) about the history of the bomb shelter, what people had to do, the lack of air, space, and how they would stand in the darkness, with a bunch of strangers, in silence, just listening to the bombs dropping outside. The province of Alicante was one of the last to be converted during the war, so it was hit last, and there were many bombs dropped in lots of places around the city. There was a map of the city that had pictures of bombs based on how many and where they had been dropped.

The absolute best thing about visiting Alcoy was that it is in the mountains!! We stepped off the bus (and I was not expecting this) and I almost screamed because I was so excited about being in the mountains. Another girl from my program is from Boulder and she exclaimed, “If you just close your eyes, it almost smells like Boulder!” And it was true. The crisp mountain air is definitely something that I have been missing. I was in heaven for the entire time we were there, and the mountains looked GORGEOUS! I cannot wait to get back to Colorado and go snowboarding with my family and friends (and drive my car….).

Pictures from Paris

All of these pictures are backwards.... But that's okay. :)

The BEAUTIFUL view from atop the Eiffel Tower. Absolutely gorgeous!!

The Basilique du Sacre-Coeur lit up at night.... behind us we could again see the entire view of the city of Paris lit up at night...

MOULIN ROUGE!!! This was so cool for me because I am absolutely obsessed with the movie Moulin Rouge... I love Ewan McGreggor. Anyone who hasn't seen it, should definitely do so asap!

Where Erica and I had lunch... we thought we'd take a little Senior picture just for fun. Everything in Paris is so picturesque!

I LOVED this tree. It made me think of my Nana... she would have loved it!

Fall at the Palace of Versailles

Beautiful painting by Monet

Erica at the Place des Vosges

Of course, the amazing Eiffel Tower

The view of the Sienne looking towards Notre Dame

FINALLY! Another update about PARIS

So the next day we went to NOTRE DAME which was absolutely breathtaking. It was really cool because there was this choir of students that were singing the most beautiful classical music ever, so Erica and I sat down and just listened for a bit. It really made me realize how much I miss singing, especially in choir, and classical music. I must find a remedy for this. Thinking about buying classical choir cds.... or something. I was also amazed at how huge the organ in the church was, when they were playing it, it was honestly so loud, it was ridiculous!
After that, we went and say the EIFFEL TOWER for reals for the first time, and it was soooo big. Way bigger than I had imagined. And there were TONS of people. It was really cool, and we took a ton of pictures, but we decided not to go up it right then, cus there was a huge line... we would wait until another day.
The next day we took a lovely little walk from our hostel and walked right next to the Sienne and down this really pretty part of town to the Place des Vosges which is a little park surrounded by this building and you can walk in and Erica and I sat there and had lunch. It was really pretty because there are all these fountains and trees and there are just people everywhere eating, talking, sleeping, doing homework. It kind of reminded me of being on campus at CU. It was such a beautiful day, I didn't want to leave. But we had lots of things to do that day. After that, we went and saw the PICASSO MUSEUM which was really interesting. It is amazing to me how his work can be something that doesn't make sense at all until you read what it is, and then you can actually see how he thought about it, and it becomes real. His creativity amazes me. Next we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie which focused on impressionism and especially Monet. We walked into these two circular rooms where they had nothing but these huge Monet paintings (specifically speaking, those on the water lilies for which he is so famous) that stretched across the entire walls. It was really impressive. The colors were so vibrant, and you could actually see the paint rising off the canvas. It was really cool. The rest of the museum had other Money paintings as well as paintings from other important impressionist artists such as Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume.
The next day we hopped on the trains and took an hour ride outside of Paris to visit the PALACE OF VERSAILLES. First of all, we spent the entire day here. It was HUGE! We literally walked around the entire thing for the whole day, and I still don't think we saw everything. It was surrounded by beautiful woods where there were bikers, and walkers, it was gorgeous. Especially since it was fall, and all the leaves were falling everywhere. It definitely made up for the fact that I missed fall in Boulder at home. The palace has a huge lake that is kind of shaped in a huge cross. Erica and I decided to rent a little paddle boat and take ourselves for a little ride and enjoy the scenery. Needless to say, we were the only two people that WEREN'T a couple in a boat. How embarrassing. But we got over it. Rowing a boat is actually a lot harder than it looks. We had to take turns. It was really cool though because this swan swam up to us and I actually thought it was going to try and get in our boat because it was so close. I guess it thought we had food or something. Ha, right. Are we college kids or what? The statues and gardens in the rest of the palace were beautiful, but we couldn't go inside or inside Marie Antoinette's house either because they were closed for the day (although it was probably better that way... the tour was 20 euros!).
The next day Erica and I were going to go to the Natural History Museum, but it was closed (go figure... it was Wednesday...). So we walked around the surrounding parks and came to the top of a hill where there was a little gazebo type thing and we had a picnic there. The gardens were gorgeous! It was literally like being in the middle of a forest with pathways in the middle of a huge city, weird! Then we went to the Pantheon. I was so excited when we went downstairs and we got to see where Victor Hugo is buried (for those of you who don't know, he wrote Les Miserables. If you still don't know who that is, shame on you!) The architecture of the building was amazing, and we got to take a tour (where we heard everything first in French, then English, then Spanish) and got to walk up these really windy staircases up to the outside on top of the Pantheon where we could see around the whole city. It was pretty cool. I also loved the huge pendulum that was swinging in the center of the Pantheon. There is a story to it, it's cool. Look it up (too long to write).
That night Erica and I were going to go up the Eiffel Tower, but it started POURING! So we decided against it and ended up at the MOULIN ROUGE. I was super excited! There was a huge line to get in for the show and we were informed that tickets started around 60 or 70 euros per person! We were definitely not that interested. So we started walking down the street to see if there was anything else interesting and did not realize that we were apparently in the Sex district, because all we kept passing were tons of sex stores, and cabaret shows, etc. We decided to get out of there pretty quickly. We got back on the Metro and headed toward the Basilique du Sacre Coeur which we know is lit up at night. It was really pretty.
The next day we went to the Natural History Museum which was really interesting, but I won't bore you with details. Then we walked through the gardens again, and went and saw some of the graves, which were really interesting. The last thing we did was we ended up at the Eiffel Tower and we actually went up and it was SO COOL! We were able to see the entire city. It was soooo amazing! That is the end, and I will post pictures soon! :)

I Love Aggie

I am still going to put up more updates about France when I have time, but I just wanted everyone one to know that my brother, Alexander, got engaged the other day. Exciting! I just wanted everyone to know, and to wish him happiness in everything he does. They're so cute.

.:La fin du notre voyages:.

This is our last day in Paris and it has been kind of a quiet one, this was much needed. It seems only right that we are going back to Spain and back to real life where we have school and homework and things of that nature.... A little update on the details of the rest of the trip...

We went and saw Notre Dame which was absolutely amazing. We went inside and there was a choir practicing some gorgeous classical music. Erica and I sat down and just enjoyed the general splendor.

J'aime la vie en Paris!

So PARIS is absolutely amazing! Erica and I had a few little mishaps the first day we were here, but who doesn't? However, yesterday was absolutely amazing! We walked up the Champs-Elysees (where the shopping is ridiculous!) and saw l'Arc du Triomphe which was breath-taking, took a TON of pictures and proceeded to walk back down the Champs-Elysees. We took a little detour because we saw the Grand Palace and walked around there to take pictures, ended up by the Sienne where we saw our first sighting of the gorgeous Eiffel Tower. I didn't see it at first and Erica screamed so loud that I thought her purse had gotten stolen or something! There were two ladies walking by who just laughed at us. But we were so excited we didn't even care!
Afterwards, we took a small walk down the Sienne and walked through this huge garden thing until we ended up at the Louvre (which, btw, is FREE for anyone under 26 the first Friday of every month... we are so lucky). We sat outside the Pyramid and ate sandwiches that we had brought with us and waited until we could get in. The Louvre was astonishing! We saw the Venus de Milo, Cupid and Aphrodite, the Mona Lisa (of course, although I was unimpressed), and a ton of other stuff that was really cool. Although by the time is was around 9 or so we were so exhausted from walking everywhere all day that we had to leave.
Thus far, Paris has been amazing, and I definitely love it! I would definitely recommend a visit here although make sure the hotel you are staying at is nice (at least a little nice), and that you know where you are going. Paris is quite a huge city.
A few fabulous pictures....

Spain is Still Amazing!

So I have decided that I have definitely not talked about all the amazing things about Spain enough. First of all, the gym that I joined here is awesome! My friend Catie and I go almost every day. The gym is two huge floors full of machines, along with a basement where the pool, jacuzzis, saunas, and "relaxation room" are, it also has three other floors where there are studios, offices, and a café. Almost every time we go, we run for 45 minutes and then take a class (normally). All the classes are included, which is really nice. Some of my personal faves are abdominals (which absolutely kills me every time, along with everyone else in the class, but I love it!), body balance (which is a mix between pilates, yoga, and thai chi), and tren inferior and superior. I like to think of my gym as my little break from reality....

Second, I just finished my intensive language Spanish course and we started regular courses last Wednesday. I am taking Spanish Translation, Semantics and Lexicology, the Spanish Civil War, Politics and Terrorism, and Spanish Society and Territory. I absolutely love them all! Especially translation, I am really excited for this class because I think this might be what I want to do, in which case, this class is perfect! All our classes are taught in Spanish (of course) and our text books as well are in Spanish. It is interesting, because I feel like I have absolutely zero problems understanding anything here. Even talking with random people on the streets, which is really exciting. I feel like my Spanish is improving so much so quickly it's crazy!

Aside from all of that, I have a few exciting trips to look forward to. First, on Thursday I am going to Paris with my friend Erica for 8 days for Fall Break. I am so stoked! On the list of things to do are the obvious: Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, l'Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Louvre, but most of all I am excited about EURODISNEY!! Oh yes, I am a Disney freak, and I am super excited about this! I think I am going to love Paris! Although, my French will for sure be absolutely horrid! Oh well, I have heard that everyone there speaks English, so my phrase for the week will be "Excusez-mio, parlez-vous l'anglais?" (Excuse me, do you speak English?) and hopefully from there, the conversation will continue in the language to which I have become accustomed. haha. I think it's going to be great! And I will definitely post some pictures, because for sure there will be many! Other than France, I have found a 40 euro ($57) flight from Alicnate to Pisa (yes, to see the leaning tower) and Pisa is only a short bus ride away from Florence, so one weekend I am going to do that, should be exciting. Also, Our program is taking us on two weekend trips one to Granada (where I have heard you can snowboard!!! Except I can't! So sad!) and the other to Barcelona (where I will probably fall in love with the city... can't wait!). Other than that, not too much is going on here. It is still really nice during the days, but the nights are getting colder, which is fine by me, I like the cold. Yet on the weekends, we still get to go to the beach, yes!

So I promise, I'll post pictures soon!

Spain, Spain, Spain... What More Can I Say? It's Wonderful!

So not only am I absolutely loving Spain, have found a ton of amazing friends (Spanish and American), and an amazing guy who treats me like a princess, but I am learning so much so quickly and I have been on so many amazing trips already. Yesterday our program took a trip to Jumilla to see las bodegas (the wineries) and it was AMAZING! We got to taste a bunch of wine, they were (mostly) all really good. I bought a few bottles, of course! But I'm probably going to bring them home to my family... we all know my mom's a wino. just kidding!! It was really cool because we got to see a bunch of grapes that they had collected and watch them go through some of the machines they use to make wine. Really cool! After that, we went down into the cellars where they just have barrels and barrels of wine. It was awesome. We had a guided tour where this lady was telling us (in Spanish of course), the processes they use to make the wine, how they select which ones are going to be reserve vs not, etc. and it was all really interesting! We also got to have some excellent Spanish cheese, which I was a little too excited about.

Another thing I am very excited about... my little, ahem, younger brother has just graduated from C school on Friday. I am so excited for him and wish I could have been there to see it and wish him a Happy Birthday. :( oh well.... next time. I promise I'll post pictures soon!

The University, Waterfalls, and Other Places

There is so much to talk about! Today we went and saw the university for the first time (or the uni as they say here). It was SO beautiful! I will post pictures soon when I can hook up my own computer to the internet.

After that, we went on an excursion to Guadaleste which is a really really old town where they have this castle that sits atop a huge mountain! It was really cool! We took lots of pictures and got to tour the castle. The city was so cute! There were all these little cafes and little stores and stuff.

Then we went to another part of the country to see these natural waterfalls. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done! Amazing! We got to swim in many different parts of the waterfalls and the water was FREEZING!! But it was really fun. I will post pictures of all these things soon.

Tomorrow we start our three-week long intensive language courses. After that, we will start our regular classes. I am very excited! It should be fun. All my friends and I here speak Spanish the majority of the time and it is really helpful not only to help others when they don´t know how to say something, but also to hear Spanish all day long. English is actually weird for me right now... lol.

This weekend a few friends and I are planning on taking a Tram up the coast (La Costa Blanca) to Barcelona (Imagine me saying this with a lisp...haha) for a few days. It should be really exciting!! I will post more later. ¡Ciao, Ciao!

I LOVE SPAIN

Spain is probably the best thing ever! All the kids in my program are really awesome, the city is fabulous, the night life is sweet, and overall, I absolutely love it. We are right next to the beach and the city has everything we could ask for and more.

I have already started making some travel plans with other students (tentatively) and it sounds like we are going to be going on some awesome trips. One of my friends has family that live in Marseilles, France. AMAZING! So hopefully that will be awesome and I'll be able to improve my French. My friend Dan is planning on going to Germany for Oktoberfest, which I wanted to go to, so I might do that if I can find a cheap flight. Also on the list are Morocco, Italy, London (perhaps) and possibly any other place that sounds like it's worth visiting (which they all are). I also am hoping to do some traveling within Spain to really get to know the country better. I will hopefully live here one day, so I would like to get to see as much of it as possible. The people here are so nice (so far) and I absolutely LOVE the way they speak Spanish. Spain Spanish is the way to go. It's beautiful.

Currently, we are just going through a bunch of orientation stuff, meeting our host families tomorrow, and attending some lectures about the program. Next week we will take placement exams and begin our two-week intensive language course, where, hopefully, my Spanish will improve some more.

It is nice to have American friends, but hopefully when regular university classes begin, I will make friends with some Spaniards. That should be interesting and really fun and help me learn more Spanish!

Hopefully everything in the States is good, I want to hear from all of you!

¡Ciao Ciao!

Un Día Más

I only have one more day left in the states. And I'm using it to do laundry, pack, and get a few last minute things done. Exciting, eh? Oh, also playing with my puppy. He is so cute!!

Anyways, I am excited for the new adventure that awaits me... but first, I will be spending lots of time on airplanes and at the airport. Two of my favorite places! Don't ask why, I just like to travel. I know I will miss everyone a lot, but I also know that I am going to have the time of my life! Send me mail, it will make me smile!

Kellie Balu - CIEE
C/o Francisco Diez
Oficina CIEE
Aulario II
Universidad de Alicante
San Vicente del Raspeig
03690 - Alicante, Spain

Oh, and post your mailing address and I'll send you a postcard!

Una semana más

I only have one week left in the United States and I am so excited/nervous/anxious/sad/glad that I barely know what to do with myself. My days consist of sleeping with my puppy until about 9 or so, showering, dressing, breakfast-eating, going to the gym with my older brothers, making time to catch up with friends, movie-watching with the family, everything shopping with myself, textbook reading, Spanish cramming, piano playing, car driving, Starbuck's drinking.... oh how it will all be missed.

I was up in Boulder yesterday visiting a friend and went to see her new apartment. So cute! Just hanging out in Boulder with friends made me realize how much I really am going to miss Boulder in the fall... and everything that comes with fall semester... football games (which we will inevitably lose), sunny days where the weather is just the right amount of warm, the sun over the flatirons making them look absolutely amazing, hanging out on the hill and running into about 20 people you know.... I'm going to miss it.

I LOVE COLORADO!

I am back in the States and absolutely loving it!

First things first, I believe that I have a new found appreciation for everything that comes with being in America. I can go get Wendy's at 1 o'clock in the morning if I'm hungry; if I go to the grocery store, there are way too many choices of bread (which I have realized is way better than two choices: molding wheat bread or stale white bread... hmm.... decisions, decisions); I can DRIVE MY CAR (which I missed oh-so-much); cell phones (although these are starting to annoy me a bit); everything is in ENGLISH! (even though I speak Spanish pretty well, English is just so much easier); I really missed my family and my friends; Starbuck's is heaven; I love American gyms; I can (usually) walk down the street without getting solicited by every man I walk past (except there is always the occasional car that honks and yells at you); Colorado has about 0% humidity (I can FINALLY straighten my hair); I live for Vitamin Water; internet connections are everywhere, and constant; the streets do not get muddy when it rains; movies in the theatre that are in English!; bookstores; and there is more, but I will stop here.

HOWEVER, there are things that I miss about Costa Rica, namely: waking up to look out on the balcony and see the ocean; days of torrential downpours when we just watched movies; watching the French channel; speaking Spanish every day; learning new things in Spanish; watching all the surfers on the beach; my girls (and Miguel); sunsets on the beach; hanging out by our pool; practically living in a bikini; Friday nights at Monkey Bar, all you can eat sushi for only $15; desserts at Pachanga; breakfast at Nogui's; jugo mixtos; hearing people say "con gusto"; snorkeling!; long walks on the beach....

Now that I am back in the states, I feel that I have so much to do before I leave, it's insane! I am working (a little), trying to do homework (I'm taking two self-paced classed to be completed in one year) which will not be finished by the time I leave, trying to figure out what I'm going to pack and bring with me, attempting to hang out with way too many people and still spend enough time with my family, driving up to Boulder to visit friends and pick up work, playing with a Delux puppy, going to the gym between 5 and 6 days a week with Jeremy, etc... It's all a little overwhelming, and I feel like time is going way too fast for me.

I flew to LA last week to obtain my visa, which was a fiasco and after spending about three and a half hours at the Consulado General de España, I finally got it. Afterwards, I spent some time with a few of my fraternity brothers hanging out in LA, which was really fun, and a total culture shock! I tasted some of the best tea I've ever had, and had some really authentic Asian food (most of it was good, a little different though). That was definitely an experience.

I have also been camping with my family, which was really fun. I love being up in the mountains, even though my allergies were driving me crazy!

We have been doing garage sales the past two weekends, which are interesting. The first weekend, we had SO many people and all these Mexicans showed up, so that was a great opportunity for me to utilize my Spanish skills, which was fun.

Other than that, during the week, I am attempting to complete all the tasks I have listed above, while still sleeping. I'm so excited for Spain, excited to start classes (because I'm a dork like that), excited to meet all the people from my program (I've talked to a few on Facebook, for you old people that is a social website where you can make friends and keep in touch with those who live in different states), and most of all, excited to get out there and experience a new way of life! If you guys want to see me while I'm in Colorado, just shoot me an email or call me! ¡Pura Vida!

Back in the States

I believe that after my short excursion down to Costa Rica for two months I have learned a few things. The first is that America isn't such a bad place to live after all. I actually WANT to walk into the supermarket and have about 50 choices of bread to choose from. Too many you say? Well, at least it's better than your choices being one loaf of moldy white bread or the stale wheat bread. Decisions, decisions.
Also, I have realized that I really do love to drive. There is nothing better to me than getting on the highway, turning up the music and just driving... taking in all the scenery, the beautiful mountains, Chatfield reservoir... It's perfect. And I'm going to miss it in Spain.
I have 29 days and counting left in the States and I feel that I couldn't be spending my time better. I'm hanging out with my brothers and my parents, doing a little bit of homework (though not enough), seeing my friends, going to movies and generally just hanging out a bit. And we can't forget, playing with my little Delux puppy, of course!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Today marks my last Friday in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It is a gorgeous day, and I am sitting at the office waiting to get off work and go on a wonderful boat tour! Sounds amazing, no? I am excited. I am also excited to come home and see my friends and family.... and play my piano!! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and I will be in the states soon!

Slight Change of Plans... The Countdown Begins!

With a slight change of plans, I have decided to come home a bit early. Now I will return to Colorado on July 17th and leave for Spain August 28th. This leaves me plenty of time to do everything I want to in Colorado. Costa Rica is a nice place to visit. But living here? I'd rather not. At least not right now. I always imagined that what I always wanted was to live anywhere but the United States, and I suppose I was wrong. I need civilization. I need the city. I cannot live in a small town where everywhere I go, I see all the same people I know. I can't walk down the street without running into twenty different people that I know, which is nice sometimes, but others, it's not.

I anticipate that I will enjoy living in Spain a lot more. It is more developed there, people are cultured and intelligent. Not to say that people in Costa Rica aren't, but I miss being in a town full of college students where there are people who are dedicated to education and where you can ask these people about the things they are learning and they eagerly tell you. So you learn a bit from them, and they learn a bit from you. I can't wait to travel and see Europe, visit Italy, visit France. I think I might even persuade my father to fly out for Oktoberfest... (whatcha think, papo?)

All in all, I am just very happy do be going home. I have done my thing in Costa Rica, and I did enjoy it enormously, but I think my return to reality is overdue, and I am excited to go home, drive my car, talk on my cell phone, and just be... American. For a while at least.

This is the countdown.... 11 days, 8 hours, 4 minutes and counting until I'm on a plane out of this country!

Oh, and ps, I need a job, anyone want to hire me??? Didn't think so.

Not too much has been happening that is worth any note. I was talking with Sarah today and it is interesting that after being here for this long, it's actually kind of boring here. I mean, there are the usual things to do, but this is a small town and I think we are all beginning to realize that. As Sarah put it so eloquently, "we have gone past the two week I'm-on-a-really-nice-vacation stage to the we-just-live-in-a-nice-place stage." And even though at times it is boring, I just keep telling myself that if I were in the States, I would be working around 60 hours a week in addition to taking summer school classes and basically wanting to kill myself because I have so much work.
So in the end, it's just so much better that this is probably the last time in my life (until retirement, which is so far away i can't even fathom it) that I will get to be this lazy for an extended period of time. Ahhh.... the life of a college student. :)
A few things that are worth noting: the surf competition we watched today on the beach was awesome! We even got hooked up with free food because the judges happened to sit down right next to us. Sweet! It was pretty cool. We saw this 14 year old girl just rip up the waves on her short board, which was quite a sight. I, on the other hand, have turned into an African-American from all the sun here. I don't even try to be out in the sun that much (and yes, Dad, I AM wearing sunscreen), but I suppose the real Mexican in me is coming out. So from now on, I will make it a point to limit my time in the sun, so as to not come back to the states looking like I changed ethnicities.
Despite being a little bored here, I have one month left, and I am going to make the best of it in paradise. I am studying a lot, which is fabulous. I am taking two online classes, American Foreign Policy, which I absolutely adore (yes, I am a political science dork), and a Geography class to fulfill required credits, which is more interesting than I give it credit for. I study almost every day and am doing really well in my PoliSci class, with a 93% average on my exams. I have not turned in my work yet for geography, but expect that I will do well. Since I have to send in my assignments through the mail, and the mail system in Costa Rica is all but non-existant, I am sending her 5 units worth at a time, which Sarah will take back with her to the States. She leaves on the 12th, and I am sad, but at the same time, excited for her to start a new adventure studying in Buenos Aires for the Fall.
Our friend Miguel, who is working with our friend Gabrielle, is leaving on Wednesday to return to the United States before he leaves for Spain, so we are all a little sad that our summer is quickly coming to a close. But Miguel and I have definite plans to meet up in Spain in the fall. He will be studying in Madrid while I will be on the Mediterranean in Alicante. Our plans include meeting up in Barcelona to spend lots of time shopping. Sounds perfect, right? So excited.
So in a couple of weeks, it will be just me and Gabrielle, living out the daily grind in Costa Rica, with Sarah in Buenos Aires and Miguel in Spain, and our trips home fast approaching. I can't believe I have already been here for a month and a half! It went by a lot quicker than I had anticipated it would. What I have come to realize is that the older I get, the faster time goes by, and no matter how hard to try to cling to a moment, it will eventually slip away. So you must enjoy it while it's there, make the most of it, and take pictures! So you never forget. I am definitely never going to forget the summer I spent living in Costa Rica... See you all in a month!

A Few of My Favorite Things

After having been in Costa Rica for a month now, I have realized that there are certain things that I truly miss about living in the States. Among them are these:

- My brothers
- My parents
- DRIVING MY CAR
- My cell phone (mostly text messages though)
- My best friends
- My little Delux puppy
- Playing my piano
- Camping in the summertime
- Concerts
- Target (I know, pathetic, right?)
- Big gyms to work out in
- Chorizo & egg burritos in the mornings
- How it's always sunny in Boulder

At the same time, there are a few things that I absolutely LOVE in Costa Rica...

- The phrase, "Pura Vida"
- Being able to speak Spanish every day
- I can always hear the sound of the ocean
- Sunsets on the beach
- My small group of friends, even though sometimes we act like the Real World Costa Rica...
- My job! It's nice to have a creative job with lots of flexibility
- The only time I ever get cold is at night when the AC and my fan are on
- I have a balcony, where I can sit and read, do homework, work on the computer, etc. and from it all I have a fabulous view of the ocean and our pool
- Meeting new people all the time
- The best part is, I actually have time to sit and relax and enjoy life... only 1 1/2 more months....

SKYPE!

Technology never ceases to fascinate me. I downloaded this thing called Skype - coolest thing ever. You download it and it acts like AIM (for you old people, this is like text messaging people on the computer). So I download Skype, go online and put $10 int0 my account so that I can use it, and I dial my best friends phone number. So I'm sitting there wondering what's going to happen, then the my computer starts ringing. I was so excited. I talked to her for about 15 minutes and it cost me less than 30 cents! And that's because her phone is a cell phone, which costs more to call than calling a land line. Even better, if you download Skype and I have Skype, and we are online at the same time, we can talk FOR FREE! So my suggestion to all of you that would care to talk to me at some point and time is to go to www.skype.com. Check it out.

Trabajando en Costa Rica... (working in Costa Rica for all you Gringos)

I absolutely LOVE Costa Rica! Today was my first day at work in Flamingo at Century 21. I met my boss, Pennye, and she is the nicest lady ever. After talking to her and Spencer about what I am going to be doing for their company (which will include lots of cool advertising projects), I went out to explore beautiful Flamingo. I think that this is going to be a great opportunity for me to do something creative and have something really interesting to put on my resumé. My boss asked me if I was a good writer, and I said yes, so tomorrow she is going to take me around to a few properties so I can write out a few good descriptions of them. Exciting! What a tough life, right? Walking around the some of the nicest homes in Playa Grande with my boss taking pictures.... I'll try not to work too hard.... :)

The girls and I have enjoyed our time here so far. With Sarah running nearly every day and Gabby working (a little too hard), and me just hanging out, life is pretty good. We have met a few people here, so we now have a consistent crowd of people to hang out with, which is always fun. Mostly we are all just kicking back and enjoying life, living up the summer where we all get to live in Costa Rica... just waiting until the real world comes crashing back upon us and we have to go do real work again.... ::shudder:: scary thought.

The girls, Miguel and me at Monkey bar

Evan, Miguel and Me at the condo

My parents and my Nana are coming into town tonight! They will be visiting until Monday, and I couldn't be more excited to share the Pura Vida lifestyle with them. I think they will love it!! Our beach is gorgeous and our pool is excellent as well. Even better is watching the sunset out on the beach every night. Life is so tranquil here, I don't think I'll ever want to leave.

Hopefully the rest of this week will include trips to all the best restaurants in town to show my parents how good the food actually is here (it's amazing), along with a bit of work, homework, laying out in the sun, catching a few waves at the beach, and just enjoying life. Don't forget that when all of you are reading about my life, I want to hear about your lives as well.... :)

Jobs and Thunderstorms

Every day I wake up here and I just feel more and more that it’s some sort of dream; that I couldn’t actually be here. There are so many things that I absolutely adore about Costa Rica. For instance, tonight while Sarah was making all of us dinner, I ran down to the supermercado to get some things to drink. I went to the counter and the man working asked me how I was doing, I said fine, then asked him how he was doing. He merely replied, “Pura Vida,” with a smile. I just smiled back. There was no need for any other words. “Pura Vida” is the phrase used down here, which translated literally means, “pure life.” I think this phrase more than any other reflects the attitude of the people down here. They just live day by day. I love it. I walked around town today looking for a job and one of the first places I went into, there was this man from South Africa talking on the phone. He motioned for me to sit down and we talked for a bit, I told him I was looking for a job, and after writing down my information and giving me his card, he told me that he had no openings in his office, but to sit and wait for a second. Once he got off the phone, he began calling all these other real estate offices where he knew people and asking them if they needed any help. There was no reason why he needed to do that – it was simply one person helping another. He then drove me over to another office where I talked to the owners and they said that if I e-mailed them my resume they would send it out to all the offices in Tamarindo to see if anyone needed any help. It was such a simple gesture, and yet, it will probably make a huge difference to me. It’s amazing how people here just take the time to help each other out in the little ways that they can. I absolutely love it. Today I got an e-mail from a lady at Century21, and I'm meeting with her on Tuesday to discuss my first project. So exciting!
Almost every night we can watch the lightning storm in the distance out across the ocean. The other night some friends and I walked out to the beach and just sat there watching the lightning make different colors in the sky. It’s probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I almost feel as if there’s something magical about this place. I haven’t figured it out, but I know when the time comes, I won’t want to come back to the states.

Buses are Fun

I have finally arrived in paradise as of three days ago, and it is wonderful. Watching the sunset on the beach, waking up to the beautiful sun every morning, and most of all, just living the experience. Today Sarah and I took the bus over to Santa Cruz because we wanted to see if we could get cheap cell phone plans to use down here, just between us and our friend Gabby who is also here for the summer. After an hour and a half bus ride where we were standing most of the time, we finally arrived in this city where we had no idea where anything was. We stopped at a local restaurant to grab some food (even with a huge bottle of water AND tip, our meal was only $10!). Then we asked one of the people who worked there where the main road was and just walked around looking at everything. Little did we know until later, that because it’s Saturday, we had no chance of getting a cell phone service set up that day. We’ll have to go back another day. Then we got back on the bus for the hour and a half ride home. Did I mention that Santa Cruz is only 33 kilometers from where we live? Yup. That’s how awesome taking the bus is. We were seriously the only white girls there. It was quite a sight, at least some people thought. As for Sarah and I, I suppose we get a kick out of traveling to towns where we have no idea where anything is, and what we’re even doing. Guess it’s all a part of the experience.

Lots of Rain and Things to DO!

I think I spent literally the entire day running around doing errands. There is so much to do before you leave the country for an extended period of time and you never realize how time consuming it can be. So here is my advice: Create a list. I made of list of literally 12 different things that I had to do today, and I actually completed them all. Probably only because I had to otherwise things would get very messy abroad. Prescriptions, vaccinations, visa applications, paperwork, everything. And people are always going to make it more complicated than it has to be. Kind of like how I waited for an hour to get three months worth of prescriptions filled when I had called in and explained the situation six hours prior to showing up. After completing the required tasks for the day, the drive home was ridiculous! I-25 was FLOODED. So there was traffic at 8 o'clock at night. Pretty fabulous. But where I'm going, there will be lots of rain, but probably not the massive amounts of traffic that I witnessed today. I have one more day in the states, and then it is off to paradise!

No More School!

After having final exams today from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 this afternoon I not only feel exhausted but I have still so many other things to get done before I leave for Costa Rica. Seven days... this is what I keep having to tell myself. Until then, study abroad paperwork, moving, and working like crazy will fill my time, while still trying to see all my friends before I leave. It's weird because some of these people I'm not going to see for the next 8 months. It is a little sad and yet, I know that there is so much excitement and adventure to come that missing people for a while won't be too bad. I can't wait to get into Costa Rica and just lay on the beach to watch the sunset every night... not such a bad life after all...

Travel Plans

It is official. I will be leaving for Costa Rica on May 16th and returning July 31st. Spending the summer doing a little school work, working, surfing, and mostly hanging out and enjoying life. Pura Vida! I don't think any phrase has ever spoken to me more than when I visited there last. As the epitome of an American who works too hard, I realized that there is a simpler way of living life, and I had the opportunity to seize it. So now I am moving to Costa Rica, to return in the United States for a month and then off to Alicante, Spain to spend a wonderful fall semester learning about Spanish language, politics, and culture. I don't think I could be more excited to immerse myself in a different culture, language, and way of living. In the advent of globalization, knowledge and experience with different cultures is becoming increasingly important, and I feel so lucky that I have the opportunity to do all these things.