I don't know if it's the spanish air or the fact that I watched Rocky Balboa in Spanish the other day, but it seems like everyone wants a piece of me. Last night my friend's bag got stolen so she went to talk to the bartender about it but while she was gone I just pulled her things closer to me (so nothing else would get stolen) but coincidentally a guy was walking past and he thought I was pulling the chair closer to me because I was afraid HE would steal something...which I wasn't!!! But he started yelling at me!! Now I'm not a fighter but I wasn't going to let him think that....so we kind of got into it!!! It was SO fun!!! And the best part is, i'm pretty sure I WON the argument!!!
THEN this morning I went to the supermarket to get some bread and I was waiting in line with this older woman behind me. I was going to be next until another cash register opened up so I started to walk over there but then little miss sass tried to cut me!!! So I walked a little faster and got back in front of her..............HA! I won that one too!!! I know she was trying to start something with me........
On the way home from the supermarket I started singing Eye of the Tiger (in my head, not out loud...well...i'm actually not sure) It might be a good idea to stay away from those movies for a while...
PS here our pics of me and my friends at the Barcelona game on Saturday!! They won!!! 4-0 vs Valencia. The game was fun but it doesn't compare to baseball games....but I'm slightly biased.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
pooping logs, prince harry, etc etc
well hello!!!!
my lovely family and friends, i know what you’re thinking...i’m the worst “blogger” ever!! I have two (in my opinion) very good reasons for being so...1) i have been extremely busy and 2) i don’t have internet in my NEW apartment!
yes, that’s my number one update: i moved!! I really liked the people I was living with before but they were a little older and our lifestyles kind of clashed. You can ask me for details later on...but I decided to just move because it would have been a long year living there.
So far, so good! I really enjoy the people I live with although I haven’t seen much of them (we all have opposite schedules). They are cousins, a guy (28—Fernando) and a girl (26—Silvana) from Argentina. They’re accents are really different from anything I’ve ever heard but I’m catching on little by little. Silvana is dating a guy, Juan, who is super funny and awesome to be around. Other frequent visitors are Claudio, Fernando’s brother, and Gabriel, Silvana’s brother. Gabriel is super cute but I think he might have a girlfriend. (lame) Claudio and Gabriel, sadly, are moving back to Argentina because they truly can not find work here. The unemployment rate is going up and up and up and it’s constantly harder to find work. It’s really scary. Fernando is also unemployed but he’s not giving up quite yet.
So I love the people I live with, but I feel like I’m living in an ice-box. I am, at all times, wearing the following at home: thick sweatpants, a hoodie (with the hood on), at least one pair of socks, and slippers. I just bought new sweatpants actually and I love them!!!
Not this past weekend, but the weekend before I was in London and I got to stay with Lindy!! She came to Barcelona a few weeks before so it was so great to see her again. Plus, she let me stay with her!! Her and her friends took me out and about in London and I really had a great time. It was fun to be in a foreign country that spoke the same language because it was fun to understand everyone perfectly. Their accents are so cute/funny. I had a little mishap when I got to London. For some reason I forgot the pin number to my phone and I couldn’t get it to unlock. In other words, I had no way of contacting Lindy when I got into London!!! Thankfully, she had given me her address and I found the building okay. She lives in a dorm-like building so anyone can walk in but you have to go through locked gates and stuff. Well I had no way of getting a hold of her and the SUPER MEAN SECURITY guy wouldn’t call her for me!!! It was “too late” even though I had told him 1,000,000,000 times (not an exaggeration) that Lindy was expecting me and stuff. So I lost the first battle but then I turned on the “desperate-sad-exhausted (the 3rd part was true) face until the other security guard went up to her room and asked her if she was “expecting a visitor” which of course she WAS. ugh! but the moral of the story is that my desperate-sad-exhausted face always works!
It’s so funny how dependent we are on phones. It was a huge bummer not having a phone in London because I met Prince Harry! He told me I was the most gorgeous girl he’s ever laid his eyes on and that I desperately needed to give him my number. WELL I don’t know my number and it’s in the phone’s memory (true story) so I wasn’t able to give it to P.H. I really would have made a great princess.
Anywho, my favorite parts of London were Big Ben, the sauce at this one place we ate at called “the rocket”, and the museums (which were free)!!! We went to the British museum and the Tate Modern museum (it's an art museum). I loved Camden market, which Lindy took me to on Saturday. It’s the biggest market I’ve ever seen with all kinds of fun things to buy...!!! Also, ladies, guys in London are gorgeous.
Here's me in front of Big Ben:
Here's me and Lindy at the Camden market:
Last Thursday was Thanksgiving (duh) and I really didn’t miss any of you at all. HA just kidding, I did. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be because my program made us a great big thanksgiving dinner. We had to carve our own turkeys!!! There was one turkey per 6 people and they were delectable (cool word). Also, my mom and sister made me a great big batch of choc-chip cookies and molasses cookies!!!! It was just like t-giving at home!! I brought them to share (not my idea) but I’m glad I did because my friends and professors LOVED them. Two huge platters were gone before dinner even started...just like at home! I personally hate the rule “dessert after dinner”. I love having dessert before, during, and after!!!! my own little tradition continued....! One of my friends was so happy I brought the cookies, the very first thing she said to me (with a cookie still in her mouth BTW) was “you just made my f***ing day! oh and happy thanksgiving!!” it was so funny. home made anything makes everyone happy...
Then last friday I had people over (which was something I wasn’t allowed to do in my last apartment) for fajitas!! I cooked fajitas for 10 people!! It was so fun. We even had coronas to go with the mexican theme....everyone said the fajitas were good too!! I’m becoming quite the little cook...
Since living in this new apartment I’m also kind of a clean-freak. I dust and mop at least once a day!! And my room is organized!!! I know none of you who have ever seen my previous rooms believe that...but I swear!!! stop rolling your eyes
Barcelona never fails to intrigue me...I recently learned about "caga tió" which is a cataluna tradition. It looks like this:
I think tió is "trunk" in catalan. caga is poop. Starting this upcoming Monday, December 8 (feast of the immaculate conception), each family is supposed to give caga tio a little bit of food every night. Come christmas eve or christmas morning, caga tio "poops" out small gifts like candy or something. isn't that the weirdest thing ever??? I feel like Tim would have fit in well with Cataluna's christmas traditions...
School is fine...I got one of my midterms back and I got an A+! woooooo! haha, i hope it will be the same for the other two...duh duh duhhhhh. working at Raval is still so much fun, I hope my schedule will allow me to work there more days a week next semester.
well...that’s what’s new with me! I’m happy in Barcelona. It’s still really hard to be away from everyone but I’m changing (in a good way...i think) and becoming way more independent. It’s a great feeling :)
xoxo-jess
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
CoOoOoOoOLD weather!!!
My mom and my friend Elle told me that the weather has severely changed back home....I can relate!!! The high tomorrow is 16 degrees :( ....oh wait...that's celsius...haaaaahahhaaha that equals approximately 60 degrees F!!!! Poor babies :(
It was this time last year I really started to get excited to come to ESPANA!!!
I honestly hope everyone stays safe and warm!!!
OH!!! other good news. I've finalized my winter break plans.
Dec 18-24 Skiing in Andora (3.5 hours away) (never been skiing before!)
Dec 24-29 Athens, Greece with Steph!!
Dec 29-Jan 1 Brussels, Belgium
Jan 2 Madrid and I get to see MOM DAD AND AMANDA!!! YESSSS
xo
jess
It was this time last year I really started to get excited to come to ESPANA!!!
I honestly hope everyone stays safe and warm!!!
OH!!! other good news. I've finalized my winter break plans.
Dec 18-24 Skiing in Andora (3.5 hours away) (never been skiing before!)
Dec 24-29 Athens, Greece with Steph!!
Dec 29-Jan 1 Brussels, Belgium
Jan 2 Madrid and I get to see MOM DAD AND AMANDA!!! YESSSS
xo
jess
Sunday, November 2, 2008
visitors!!!
I had my first visitors this past weekend!!! Here's me, Lindy, and Pablo Picasso in the background. Last night me, Lindy, and some of her friends went to see the fountain show near plaza espanya. They really liked it because it's a gorgeous view of the city and the show is pretty to watch. Today we went to the Pablo Picasso museum. I LOVE pablo picasso. Plus it was free today! sweet!!! I feel bad for them because it's literally been raining on/off for a week straight so the weather isn't great to sight see.
This past Thursday I got to see Mr. Olson!! For those of you who don't know, he's my friend Maggie's dad, and he's an international pilot. He had a flight to Barcelona on Thursday so we got to hang out!! He took me out and I ate like a QUEEN!! THANKS MR OLSON!!! :)
PS don't you like his hat? We got one free witch's hat for every 3 pints of beer we bought.
oh, but there was drama. We were supposed to meet at 4 right in front of my university. It only takes 10 minutes for me to get there, and I had left at 3:40, PLENTY of time. GUESS whatttt!! the metro STOPPED working (randomly). So I was running around looking for another way to get there. I ended up taking the bus, which took forever. I was 15 minutes late and I was soooooooo scared he was going to leave, but he didn't! and i'm glad, because we had so much fun!!
At this Irish bar, we met a guy named Hans. He was from Holland. At first I didn't understand him and I couldn't tell if he was saying "Ireland" or "Holland". He told us he was going to school for "art" and for "painting", but we figured out he only paints walls...not pictures or portraits or anything. I didn't know you had to go to school for that?? Even though I could barely understand him, he was chatt and pretty entertaining.
Good news: Mari (one of the people I live with) knows how to cut hair!! She gave me a little haircut on friday night and it looks awesome!! I'm trying to grow my hair out but my ends needed some taking-care-of, and she did a great job! yesss
Hope everyone had a great halloween!!!
xo
jess
This past Thursday I got to see Mr. Olson!! For those of you who don't know, he's my friend Maggie's dad, and he's an international pilot. He had a flight to Barcelona on Thursday so we got to hang out!! He took me out and I ate like a QUEEN!! THANKS MR OLSON!!! :)
PS don't you like his hat? We got one free witch's hat for every 3 pints of beer we bought.
oh, but there was drama. We were supposed to meet at 4 right in front of my university. It only takes 10 minutes for me to get there, and I had left at 3:40, PLENTY of time. GUESS whatttt!! the metro STOPPED working (randomly). So I was running around looking for another way to get there. I ended up taking the bus, which took forever. I was 15 minutes late and I was soooooooo scared he was going to leave, but he didn't! and i'm glad, because we had so much fun!!
At this Irish bar, we met a guy named Hans. He was from Holland. At first I didn't understand him and I couldn't tell if he was saying "Ireland" or "Holland". He told us he was going to school for "art" and for "painting", but we figured out he only paints walls...not pictures or portraits or anything. I didn't know you had to go to school for that?? Even though I could barely understand him, he was chatt and pretty entertaining.
Good news: Mari (one of the people I live with) knows how to cut hair!! She gave me a little haircut on friday night and it looks awesome!! I'm trying to grow my hair out but my ends needed some taking-care-of, and she did a great job! yesss
Hope everyone had a great halloween!!!
xo
jess
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Excursion, part 2...read the lower post first please!!!
Sorry I had to break this into two parts. Here's me in front of the ruins (Belchite, Spain) I mentioned below.
Me and Sam---throwin up the peace signs!!! (not only because we're cool...but because we were in the middle of a war zone)
This is inside Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza. Pilar is the patron saint of Aragon (or maybe just Zaragoza...but i can't remember). During the Spanish Civil war (1936-39), three bombs were dropped in Zaragoza but only one went off and it is said that Pilar was watching over the city to keep its citizens safe. Zaragoza is a highly catholic city and Franco was a devout catholic, so that's why it was considered a "miracle". Professor Cardona told me otherwise---they were just old/bad bombs. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the cathedral, but Professor Cardona gave us special permission and he told us to just play dumb and say sorry a lot if we got yelled at...which we did :) He also got yelled at (for talking to loud) inside this cathedral by a priest who was praying...it was SO funny!!!
Now that I think about it the pictures were all over the place in these posts...but blogspot wasn't letting me upload the pictures how i wanted. You can see more pics of my trip HERE. I had so much fun...There is so much interesting history in Spain. It's overwhelming because there's so much information but it's fun nonetheless!!!
Me and Sam---throwin up the peace signs!!! (not only because we're cool...but because we were in the middle of a war zone)
This is inside Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza. Pilar is the patron saint of Aragon (or maybe just Zaragoza...but i can't remember). During the Spanish Civil war (1936-39), three bombs were dropped in Zaragoza but only one went off and it is said that Pilar was watching over the city to keep its citizens safe. Zaragoza is a highly catholic city and Franco was a devout catholic, so that's why it was considered a "miracle". Professor Cardona told me otherwise---they were just old/bad bombs. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the cathedral, but Professor Cardona gave us special permission and he told us to just play dumb and say sorry a lot if we got yelled at...which we did :) He also got yelled at (for talking to loud) inside this cathedral by a priest who was praying...it was SO funny!!!
Now that I think about it the pictures were all over the place in these posts...but blogspot wasn't letting me upload the pictures how i wanted. You can see more pics of my trip HERE. I had so much fun...There is so much interesting history in Spain. It's overwhelming because there's so much information but it's fun nonetheless!!!
Excursion-Zaragoza, Fuendetodos, and Belchite (part 1)
Hey Everyone!!
Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I really hope you were able to sleep at night, even though there was nothing to read in my blog :( (ha-ha)
It was a normal week for me but this weekend I went on an excursion to Zaragoza, Fuendetodos, and Belchite, Spain. All three locations had something awesome to offer. Here's a picture of some of the directors and my professor (in the back). They are all truly great people. The woman in the middle is Pilar, the director of the program I'm in. The guy on the very left is her husband, the guy on the very right is Jordi (another director) and the older guy in the back is Professor Gabriel Cardona. I love them all!!!! The directors are so helpful and my professor is AMAZING!!! I was talking to them a lot, it's not because I'm a brown nose, it's because they are SUPER cool!!! (although I am a brown nose, as well). Professor Cardona is really funny, and he's also famous!!! He has a wikipedia page. That entry says he was part of the civil war (against Franco) and he's written more than 50 books!! He teaches History and makes it really fun to learn. (I love having professors like that...they always inspire me to teach and ALWAYS stick out in my mind).
This picture of them is in Belchite, Spain, where a Franquista town was bombed by the republic during the Civil war. The ruins still stand as a reminder of how destructive the Spanish Civil War (as well as all wars) is/are. It was really moving. There are more pictures HERE. NOTHING was left after the bombings. Houses, churches, etc. One website said 6,000 died in that particular town (but I'm not sure about that). It all happened about 70 years ago.
me in front of another "building"
We stayed Friday night in to Saturday morning. We stayed in this town: Fuendetodos. Population ~100 during the winter and ~200 in the summer. (that's what our tour guide said...and she lives there!!) There was ONE restaurant in the town...which we ate at for dinner (fri) and breakfast/lunch (saturday). It was so cute!! It is also the town where Francisco Goya was born. The link on his name is a link to some of his works. He was crazy!!! Besides his paintings, he's famous for "caprichos" which are stamped works of art. He carved drawings into heated copper (i think) then put ink on it and stamped them. We saw some of the original works and they were SO detailed!! Some of his works were really disturbing (aka Saturn eating his son) but others are very beautiful.
This is called La Aljaferia. Inside there is the Aljaferia palace, the Islamic palace, the Christian Medieval palace, the Palace of the Catholic Kings, and a new part where the Aragon Parliament meets. It was so gorgeous but each part was built in a different era. Christopher Columbus was inside the Palace of the Catholic Kings when he met with Isabel and Ferdinand to see about funding a trip to america!!! (I stood in the very same room as him!) I don't really like Christopher Columbus, but I thought that was cool.
Lunch on Friday: Paella and wine!!! YUMMYYYYY
Can't see it...but this was so funny. There were like 3 weddings that I saw on Friday afternoon. I saw this couple (on the left) talking to each other and smoking a cigarette all by themselves right outside of the church. I also saw waht seemed to be their family and friends talking/socializing. I just thought it was funny they needed a cig IMMEDIATELY after the ceremony.
Here's Mo, Me, Janeth, Sam, Stephanie, and Derek in front of a pretty fountain. Derek is our main guy friend, but this past weekend he decided to hang out with other guys instead of us girls so we're kind of mad at him. just kidding derek :)
One of the cathedrals we saw in Zaragoza. It's called La Seo. This type of ceiling is characteristic of the Counter Reformation in the 16th century. The counter reformation was the church's fight against Protestantism. The protestants believed in the INDIVIDUAL and the relationship between God and the individual. The Catholic church was powerful (but threatened by the rise of protestantism) and wanted people to believe they needed a powerful, catholic church to feel closer to God. The high ceilings are supposed to make an individual feel small yet part of a powerful group while they were in church.
Me in front of Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.
OK, now read the post above!!!
Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I really hope you were able to sleep at night, even though there was nothing to read in my blog :( (ha-ha)
It was a normal week for me but this weekend I went on an excursion to Zaragoza, Fuendetodos, and Belchite, Spain. All three locations had something awesome to offer. Here's a picture of some of the directors and my professor (in the back). They are all truly great people. The woman in the middle is Pilar, the director of the program I'm in. The guy on the very left is her husband, the guy on the very right is Jordi (another director) and the older guy in the back is Professor Gabriel Cardona. I love them all!!!! The directors are so helpful and my professor is AMAZING!!! I was talking to them a lot, it's not because I'm a brown nose, it's because they are SUPER cool!!! (although I am a brown nose, as well). Professor Cardona is really funny, and he's also famous!!! He has a wikipedia page. That entry says he was part of the civil war (against Franco) and he's written more than 50 books!! He teaches History and makes it really fun to learn. (I love having professors like that...they always inspire me to teach and ALWAYS stick out in my mind).
This picture of them is in Belchite, Spain, where a Franquista town was bombed by the republic during the Civil war. The ruins still stand as a reminder of how destructive the Spanish Civil War (as well as all wars) is/are. It was really moving. There are more pictures HERE. NOTHING was left after the bombings. Houses, churches, etc. One website said 6,000 died in that particular town (but I'm not sure about that). It all happened about 70 years ago.
me in front of another "building"
We stayed Friday night in to Saturday morning. We stayed in this town: Fuendetodos. Population ~100 during the winter and ~200 in the summer. (that's what our tour guide said...and she lives there!!) There was ONE restaurant in the town...which we ate at for dinner (fri) and breakfast/lunch (saturday). It was so cute!! It is also the town where Francisco Goya was born. The link on his name is a link to some of his works. He was crazy!!! Besides his paintings, he's famous for "caprichos" which are stamped works of art. He carved drawings into heated copper (i think) then put ink on it and stamped them. We saw some of the original works and they were SO detailed!! Some of his works were really disturbing (aka Saturn eating his son) but others are very beautiful.
This is called La Aljaferia. Inside there is the Aljaferia palace, the Islamic palace, the Christian Medieval palace, the Palace of the Catholic Kings, and a new part where the Aragon Parliament meets. It was so gorgeous but each part was built in a different era. Christopher Columbus was inside the Palace of the Catholic Kings when he met with Isabel and Ferdinand to see about funding a trip to america!!! (I stood in the very same room as him!) I don't really like Christopher Columbus, but I thought that was cool.
Lunch on Friday: Paella and wine!!! YUMMYYYYY
Can't see it...but this was so funny. There were like 3 weddings that I saw on Friday afternoon. I saw this couple (on the left) talking to each other and smoking a cigarette all by themselves right outside of the church. I also saw waht seemed to be their family and friends talking/socializing. I just thought it was funny they needed a cig IMMEDIATELY after the ceremony.
Here's Mo, Me, Janeth, Sam, Stephanie, and Derek in front of a pretty fountain. Derek is our main guy friend, but this past weekend he decided to hang out with other guys instead of us girls so we're kind of mad at him. just kidding derek :)
One of the cathedrals we saw in Zaragoza. It's called La Seo. This type of ceiling is characteristic of the Counter Reformation in the 16th century. The counter reformation was the church's fight against Protestantism. The protestants believed in the INDIVIDUAL and the relationship between God and the individual. The Catholic church was powerful (but threatened by the rise of protestantism) and wanted people to believe they needed a powerful, catholic church to feel closer to God. The high ceilings are supposed to make an individual feel small yet part of a powerful group while they were in church.
Me in front of Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.
OK, now read the post above!!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
San Sebastián-Donostia
This past weekend I made my way up to the Basque country to visit a town called San Sebastián. SS is home to one of the most famous film festivals in Europe!! I think it takes place in September...so there weren't any famous people.
Anywho, I went with 7 of my friends (most of them with whom I went to Valencia). San Sebastián is beautiful!!! I took lots of pretty pics. We took the bus there...it was an 8 hour ride but we took it Thursday night...slept through the ride so we would be ready to go Friday morning. We got to our hostel on Friday morning and rang the doorbell but no one was answering!!! so we just kept ringing it until finally we got in (about 15 minutes later) haha. Here's where San Sebastián is in comparison to Barcelona: (SS is right on the border of France and Spain...Barcelona is SE of it on the med. coast)
So once we got settled into our hostel friday, we took a nap and then ventured out. We sort of hiked/walked up a LOT of stairs to this mountain where we saw an amazing view of the beach and the city:
as well as an enormous statue of Jesus. The guy who was in charge of our hostel called the mountain the "jesus mountain" but that is NOT the real name of it! You can see pictures of the statue as well as many others here. The name of the album is very cleverly called San Sebastian. On the same mountain there was a FREE museum that had a lot of history of San Sebastian. Nothing TOO interesting. Mostly just wars..same old same old
My friends and I LOOOOOOOOOOve gelato so we got that both days we were there. This was a dog outside our gelato place....hahhaa
We didn't do anything AMAZING or see a lot of important places in SS. Part of it is there's not much to do or see in SS but we probably could have planned a little better. we had fun anyway. My friends are the besssstttt. Here's a picture of all of us in front of the beach the night we went out to eat.
Well I am exhauuuuusted! My classes today were kind of boring but I had the cutest substitute teacher for one of them so it ended on a good note. I was thinking about ditching that class too!!! good thing i didn't
i'm going to take a nap...hopefully i fall asleep. ernesto keeps singing "beautiful girls" which is a song that was popular about 2 years ago...he only knows the words "beautiful girls" and just makes noises for the rest of the words haha. i think it's funny but now that i think of it i do that to songs in spanish...darn it!
if you have time write me an email!
take care...jess
Anywho, I went with 7 of my friends (most of them with whom I went to Valencia). San Sebastián is beautiful!!! I took lots of pretty pics. We took the bus there...it was an 8 hour ride but we took it Thursday night...slept through the ride so we would be ready to go Friday morning. We got to our hostel on Friday morning and rang the doorbell but no one was answering!!! so we just kept ringing it until finally we got in (about 15 minutes later) haha. Here's where San Sebastián is in comparison to Barcelona: (SS is right on the border of France and Spain...Barcelona is SE of it on the med. coast)
So once we got settled into our hostel friday, we took a nap and then ventured out. We sort of hiked/walked up a LOT of stairs to this mountain where we saw an amazing view of the beach and the city:
as well as an enormous statue of Jesus. The guy who was in charge of our hostel called the mountain the "jesus mountain" but that is NOT the real name of it! You can see pictures of the statue as well as many others here. The name of the album is very cleverly called San Sebastian. On the same mountain there was a FREE museum that had a lot of history of San Sebastian. Nothing TOO interesting. Mostly just wars..same old same old
My friends and I LOOOOOOOOOOve gelato so we got that both days we were there. This was a dog outside our gelato place....hahhaa
We didn't do anything AMAZING or see a lot of important places in SS. Part of it is there's not much to do or see in SS but we probably could have planned a little better. we had fun anyway. My friends are the besssstttt. Here's a picture of all of us in front of the beach the night we went out to eat.
Well I am exhauuuuusted! My classes today were kind of boring but I had the cutest substitute teacher for one of them so it ended on a good note. I was thinking about ditching that class too!!! good thing i didn't
i'm going to take a nap...hopefully i fall asleep. ernesto keeps singing "beautiful girls" which is a song that was popular about 2 years ago...he only knows the words "beautiful girls" and just makes noises for the rest of the words haha. i think it's funny but now that i think of it i do that to songs in spanish...darn it!
if you have time write me an email!
take care...jess
Sunday, October 5, 2008
sharks can have over 20,000 teeth come and go throughout their life
That is just one of the amazing things I learned this weekend in Lisboa (Lisbon), Portugal. Lisboa was gorgeous!! The streets where we were staying were really pretty. We stayed in this semi-famous hostel called Lisbon Lounge. It was super funky and decorated solely by the local artists of Lisboa.
We got to Lisboa on Thursday night and we just had some dinner and went to bed early so we could wake up and start sight seeing. Friday morning we went to the oceanarium which was SOOOOOOO much fun. If you didn't know, I LOVE animals. I guess the oceanarium in Lisboa is the second largest in the world and the first largest in Europe. It didn't seem to be enormous or anything but it was cool nonetheless. Here's a pic (dedicated to Auntie Linda) of some penguins at the oceanarium:
If you didn't know...Penguins mate for life (awww) and they have impermeable feathers!!! It also said that both parents have chores when it comes to taking care of the kiddies. This fact was also near the penguins: "It would require 100-500 trees to absorb all the CO2 emitted by a computer left on for a whole year". Sounds crazy to me!!!!
We also saw sharks, seadragons (they looks just like seaweed), and a thing called an Ocean Sunfish. It was ENORMOUS... the PICTURES don't do it any justice. It was also really ugly but it seemed to be perfectly content in the water. We also saw what "fish" looked like in the times of dinosaurs. In my pictures, there's a picture of one of the dinosaur-fish and it's size in comparison to a human scuba diver...SUPER scary!!!
I also learned that humans take over 37,000,000,000,000 kg (that's 37 trillion) kilograms of food products out of the ocean every single year.
Here's a picture of me, Stephanie, and my Portuguese boyfriend that I met at the oceanarium Friday afternoon. His name is Luciano and he's a very nice guy.
We also saw the St. George Castle (Castelo de São Jorge). Here's me and Sam pretending that we are in jail and very happy about it:
sidenote: I wish my name had one of those funny a's in it. Jessicã Collins
You can see more pictures of the castle in all it's greatness if you go Here. There was also a watch tower built for the castle...which you can also see....I need more details on the history of them, I couldn't find any!! :( Sowwy
Here's me, Sam, and Steph at an ADORABLE little bar called "chapito". (I promise that I have more friends than just them, but they are great friends!!). You can see everyone I went with if you look at my pics. Anyways, Chapito was really artsy and we listened to Fado, one of the most well known versions of Portuguese music. There were 4 guitars and a single singer. There were about 4 singers in total and they all had beautiful voices. I was really happy to be there, it felt very "european". There's two videos of "fado" at the bottom. I hope it works...
See that TINY little person sittong on the steps on the right?? That's me. I'm in front of the "Igreja de Santa Maria Maior; Se Patriarcel de Lisboa Seculo XII". I'm missing a few accents but you get the point. In English it is the Church of Santa Maria Maior; Lisbon Patriarchal Cathedral. 12th century (second half). That's so old...but the cathedral was gorgeous. There were a bunch of really cool cathedrals, but this one is the most famous.
The church kind of made me mad because you had to pay to see certain parts....that's another story though!!! grrr
The airplane home was interesting. I was in the window seat, a man next to me, his daughter on the aisle (she had to be like 3.5) and his wife across the aisle on that aisle seat. Well he got up to go to the bathroom so I did too. His daughter was sleeping. When I got back he was already seated so I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if I could get in. Well he told me to just climb over both his daughter (who was again...sleeping) and him. Now I consider myself a pretty agile person, and I'm not fat. But honestly, how do you expect me to climb over TWO people in that small of a space?? OH and I forgot to mention I had a cup of water in my hand. So I hold the cup with my teeth as I try to push myself up and over them (without waking the angel). It DIDN'T work and I spilled my water all over my seat (NONE got on him). 2 seconds later he was pretending to be sleeping. grrrrrr
His wife was a trip too. She was eating an apple (eating apples is normal). She would take a bite...chew it (with her mouth open (EW))...then spit the skin out...IN HER HAND!!! OK now where I come from that is disgussssssssting.
Back to her husband. So right before we landed, we got a yummy piece of candy. I was SO happy to have some candy. But the guy next to me had his face like literally right next to mine (my face was looking outside). If I turned it to look towards the aisle, I probably would have hit heads with him...that's how close he was!!! helloooo...personal space!!! To top it all off he kept loudly sucking on the stupid candy we got!!! grossss
It was so funny because Sam was across the aisle (next to the wife) so she understood what I was going through hahahaha.
To top it all off there was a guy about 8 rows back who was snoring so loudly I thought he was right behind me!!! It was really funny.....
This weekend was so much fun. I'm really glad I got to go and I would recommend Portugal to anyone who asked!!!
Well that's my trip in a VERY condensed nutshell.
Today I'm really homesick!!! I'm getting nervous about the holidays and stuff but I hope it will just pass. It seems like forever until I'll be home again. Homesickness always hits me when I'm not busy or when I'm tired/sleepy. It also hit me today when I made myself a really gross pot of mostaccioli and realized i'm a disaster in the kitchen...
how can you mess up mostaccioli??
i love you all! thanks for reading, once again. email me if you get a chance :)
and lets go bears!! and illini!!! muck fichigan...!!
We got to Lisboa on Thursday night and we just had some dinner and went to bed early so we could wake up and start sight seeing. Friday morning we went to the oceanarium which was SOOOOOOO much fun. If you didn't know, I LOVE animals. I guess the oceanarium in Lisboa is the second largest in the world and the first largest in Europe. It didn't seem to be enormous or anything but it was cool nonetheless. Here's a pic (dedicated to Auntie Linda) of some penguins at the oceanarium:
If you didn't know...Penguins mate for life (awww) and they have impermeable feathers!!! It also said that both parents have chores when it comes to taking care of the kiddies. This fact was also near the penguins: "It would require 100-500 trees to absorb all the CO2 emitted by a computer left on for a whole year". Sounds crazy to me!!!!
We also saw sharks, seadragons (they looks just like seaweed), and a thing called an Ocean Sunfish. It was ENORMOUS... the PICTURES don't do it any justice. It was also really ugly but it seemed to be perfectly content in the water. We also saw what "fish" looked like in the times of dinosaurs. In my pictures, there's a picture of one of the dinosaur-fish and it's size in comparison to a human scuba diver...SUPER scary!!!
I also learned that humans take over 37,000,000,000,000 kg (that's 37 trillion) kilograms of food products out of the ocean every single year.
Here's a picture of me, Stephanie, and my Portuguese boyfriend that I met at the oceanarium Friday afternoon. His name is Luciano and he's a very nice guy.
We also saw the St. George Castle (Castelo de São Jorge). Here's me and Sam pretending that we are in jail and very happy about it:
sidenote: I wish my name had one of those funny a's in it. Jessicã Collins
You can see more pictures of the castle in all it's greatness if you go Here. There was also a watch tower built for the castle...which you can also see....I need more details on the history of them, I couldn't find any!! :( Sowwy
Here's me, Sam, and Steph at an ADORABLE little bar called "chapito". (I promise that I have more friends than just them, but they are great friends!!). You can see everyone I went with if you look at my pics. Anyways, Chapito was really artsy and we listened to Fado, one of the most well known versions of Portuguese music. There were 4 guitars and a single singer. There were about 4 singers in total and they all had beautiful voices. I was really happy to be there, it felt very "european". There's two videos of "fado" at the bottom. I hope it works...
See that TINY little person sittong on the steps on the right?? That's me. I'm in front of the "Igreja de Santa Maria Maior; Se Patriarcel de Lisboa Seculo XII". I'm missing a few accents but you get the point. In English it is the Church of Santa Maria Maior; Lisbon Patriarchal Cathedral. 12th century (second half). That's so old...but the cathedral was gorgeous. There were a bunch of really cool cathedrals, but this one is the most famous.
The church kind of made me mad because you had to pay to see certain parts....that's another story though!!! grrr
The airplane home was interesting. I was in the window seat, a man next to me, his daughter on the aisle (she had to be like 3.5) and his wife across the aisle on that aisle seat. Well he got up to go to the bathroom so I did too. His daughter was sleeping. When I got back he was already seated so I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if I could get in. Well he told me to just climb over both his daughter (who was again...sleeping) and him. Now I consider myself a pretty agile person, and I'm not fat. But honestly, how do you expect me to climb over TWO people in that small of a space?? OH and I forgot to mention I had a cup of water in my hand. So I hold the cup with my teeth as I try to push myself up and over them (without waking the angel). It DIDN'T work and I spilled my water all over my seat (NONE got on him). 2 seconds later he was pretending to be sleeping. grrrrrr
His wife was a trip too. She was eating an apple (eating apples is normal). She would take a bite...chew it (with her mouth open (EW))...then spit the skin out...IN HER HAND!!! OK now where I come from that is disgussssssssting.
Back to her husband. So right before we landed, we got a yummy piece of candy. I was SO happy to have some candy. But the guy next to me had his face like literally right next to mine (my face was looking outside). If I turned it to look towards the aisle, I probably would have hit heads with him...that's how close he was!!! helloooo...personal space!!! To top it all off he kept loudly sucking on the stupid candy we got!!! grossss
It was so funny because Sam was across the aisle (next to the wife) so she understood what I was going through hahahaha.
To top it all off there was a guy about 8 rows back who was snoring so loudly I thought he was right behind me!!! It was really funny.....
This weekend was so much fun. I'm really glad I got to go and I would recommend Portugal to anyone who asked!!!
Well that's my trip in a VERY condensed nutshell.
Today I'm really homesick!!! I'm getting nervous about the holidays and stuff but I hope it will just pass. It seems like forever until I'll be home again. Homesickness always hits me when I'm not busy or when I'm tired/sleepy. It also hit me today when I made myself a really gross pot of mostaccioli and realized i'm a disaster in the kitchen...
how can you mess up mostaccioli??
i love you all! thanks for reading, once again. email me if you get a chance :)
and lets go bears!! and illini!!! muck fichigan...!!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Raval
Hola todos!!!!
How is everyone?? I hope you are all doing well. I know it's hard, because the cubs lost yesterday...but don't give up on them!!!! I just called my mom, expecting her to be excited to hear from me but she sounded a little off. I said "wahts wrong?" and she's like "ehhhhhhhhhhh the cubs lost yesterday". YOU GUYS!!!! they're going to do it!!!! ANYTHING is possible in sports...don't forget about the world series between the yanks and the red sox when the red sox were down 3 games to 0. THEY WON 4 in a row!!!
Rumor is that a lot of my family was at yesterday's game...you have the right to be in a bad mood. But only you guys. And it needs to be gone by the time they play tonight!!!! GO CUBS GO!!
Okay so back to Spain. I started my volunteering on Tuesday and I LOVED it. It's basically an after-school program for kids in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona. Depending on who you talk to, Raval is the "bad" part of Barcelona. I disagree with this, since you have to be careful wherever you go in a big city. Anyways, I got to the place I met all my co-workers and they seemed GREAT. They are all really friendly and they have common interests as I...pedagogy and making sure kids have a successful future. That comes with the nature of the work we're doing. I work mainly with Veronica, and we have a group of about 8 kids, who range from 3-5 years old. They are absolutely adorable!!! Veronica introduced me to one little girl, Maria, who IMMEDIATELY gave me a huge hug and we were best friends all Tuesday.
I think anything they do is histerical, so I'm really not good at keeping them in order (I think the language barrier could have something to do with it as well) but when we were eating snacks at the table, Veronica turned around and one kid, Adria (it's a boy), stole one of her crackers (very slyly...I was the only one who saw it). Then he turned to me and he gave me the biggest grin ever...it was so funny. Veronica never even noticed!!
There's also a little girl (don't remember her name) who is older than the kids in my group but I got to talk to her for a bit. She reminded me SO much of Kaylee because she was a chatterbox and kept singing! I felt like she was the Spanish kaylee! :)
Alright well I need to go pack for Portugal!!! I leave tonight!! I'm super excited and I hope to hear good news about the cubs when I get back!!!! PLEASE cheer them on for me!!!
Much love from Espana
xo, Jess
How is everyone?? I hope you are all doing well. I know it's hard, because the cubs lost yesterday...but don't give up on them!!!! I just called my mom, expecting her to be excited to hear from me but she sounded a little off. I said "wahts wrong?" and she's like "ehhhhhhhhhhh the cubs lost yesterday". YOU GUYS!!!! they're going to do it!!!! ANYTHING is possible in sports...don't forget about the world series between the yanks and the red sox when the red sox were down 3 games to 0. THEY WON 4 in a row!!!
Rumor is that a lot of my family was at yesterday's game...you have the right to be in a bad mood. But only you guys. And it needs to be gone by the time they play tonight!!!! GO CUBS GO!!
Okay so back to Spain. I started my volunteering on Tuesday and I LOVED it. It's basically an after-school program for kids in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona. Depending on who you talk to, Raval is the "bad" part of Barcelona. I disagree with this, since you have to be careful wherever you go in a big city. Anyways, I got to the place I met all my co-workers and they seemed GREAT. They are all really friendly and they have common interests as I...pedagogy and making sure kids have a successful future. That comes with the nature of the work we're doing. I work mainly with Veronica, and we have a group of about 8 kids, who range from 3-5 years old. They are absolutely adorable!!! Veronica introduced me to one little girl, Maria, who IMMEDIATELY gave me a huge hug and we were best friends all Tuesday.
I think anything they do is histerical, so I'm really not good at keeping them in order (I think the language barrier could have something to do with it as well) but when we were eating snacks at the table, Veronica turned around and one kid, Adria (it's a boy), stole one of her crackers (very slyly...I was the only one who saw it). Then he turned to me and he gave me the biggest grin ever...it was so funny. Veronica never even noticed!!
There's also a little girl (don't remember her name) who is older than the kids in my group but I got to talk to her for a bit. She reminded me SO much of Kaylee because she was a chatterbox and kept singing! I felt like she was the Spanish kaylee! :)
Alright well I need to go pack for Portugal!!! I leave tonight!! I'm super excited and I hope to hear good news about the cubs when I get back!!!! PLEASE cheer them on for me!!!
Much love from Espana
xo, Jess
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
random
This has no cultural significance at all to Spain but last night I had a dream that I was at the cousin party and we were all eating twizzlers. For some reason the aunts were there. Anyways, we had two ENORMOUS bags of twizzlers (there was like 1,000 twizzlers in each bag) and I took 5 twizzlers and Melanie got really mad at me because I took "so many". She wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the night :(
why do i dream things like this??? Anyways I miss you all!!!!!! (and i guess twizzlers too)
why do i dream things like this??? Anyways I miss you all!!!!!! (and i guess twizzlers too)
Monday, September 29, 2008
i guess there's a first time for everything...
I don't know how this could have slipped my mind, but I forgot to include in my past post that on Saturday I saw my very first "neo-nazi parade". It was actually really scary, because one of their most hated groups are people from South America and I live with a Columbian family. There is ignorance EVERYWHERE!! Anyways, I decided to google neo nazis in Spain and a lot of times they have some sort of parade and proceed to a soccer game, which is exactly what this lot did. When they were at the soccer game they set off a couple of explosives but I don't think anyone died or got hurt. Spain is actually a REALLY racist country and with more and more immigration it's getting worse. Here is a site of a "former skin head" who is speaking at U of I. I got an email about it today...it was just a coincidence but stories like that are really interesting.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
great day
I woke up today feeling under the weather. it PROBABLY had something to do with having too much fun last night. But that's neither here nor there. Anyways, it was a gorgeous day so I decided to cure my hangover by walking around Montjuic, a park really close to my house. It's a huge park with several gardens, museums, and the site for the '92 olympic games. It was about 70 degrees out, not a cloud in the sky, and I had a really nice time. I was kind of nostalgic because every 5 steps I saw something that reminded me of someone back home!!! I lucked out because there is a botanic garden that is FREE on the last sunday of the month...perfect!!!
Here's me in front of a cool staircase...checkout homegirl and her boyfriend. their face expressions are like "wtf". Also note that I am wearing skinny jeans. I actually bought TWO pairs. I'm officially a European
Here's me and ernesto at the fireworks on Wed for Merce! I live with Mari, Nelson (they are bro and sis) and this is their cousin Ernesto.
Check out the rest of my pics HERE. I uploaded 4 albums...so please check them out!! There are a bunch of captions in the one about the botanic garden.
Here's me in front of a cool staircase...checkout homegirl and her boyfriend. their face expressions are like "wtf". Also note that I am wearing skinny jeans. I actually bought TWO pairs. I'm officially a European
Here's me and ernesto at the fireworks on Wed for Merce! I live with Mari, Nelson (they are bro and sis) and this is their cousin Ernesto.
Check out the rest of my pics HERE. I uploaded 4 albums...so please check them out!! There are a bunch of captions in the one about the botanic garden.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
yikes!
WOw!! Haven't updated in a while...lets see what is new? Life is kind of slow right now...
I don't know if I've written this already, but I only have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays this semester, which is GREAT but currently I'm a little bored. I've emailed a couple of people looking for volunteer opportunities so I hope to hear good news soon :)
Last night was the festival of Merce, which is a HUGE festival in Barcelona and it actually lasts anywhere from 7-10 days, but yesterday everyone was off of work to celebrate! So of course me and my friends have been taking advantage of the celebrations :). I'll post pictures this weekend. Merce is the patron saint of Barcelona...if you want to read more info on the festival go here.
More news....not exciting...but I just joined the public library and I'm currently using their WIFI! See, I told you it wasn't exciting but I'm getting to know my community more. All the little shops and side streets are so fascinating to me, I love just walking around and exploring :)
I hope this post finds everyone well. Sorry for the BORING post but hopefully life will get juicy pretty soon. Maybe I'll meet a gorgeous spanish-speaking man who falls desperately in love with me at first glance. ....maybe
PS Shout out to REENIE who's birthday was the 21st, to SCOTT who's birthday was yesterday and to my DAD who's birthday is on SATURDAY!!!
I love you guys!
xo-jess
I don't know if I've written this already, but I only have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays this semester, which is GREAT but currently I'm a little bored. I've emailed a couple of people looking for volunteer opportunities so I hope to hear good news soon :)
Last night was the festival of Merce, which is a HUGE festival in Barcelona and it actually lasts anywhere from 7-10 days, but yesterday everyone was off of work to celebrate! So of course me and my friends have been taking advantage of the celebrations :). I'll post pictures this weekend. Merce is the patron saint of Barcelona...if you want to read more info on the festival go here.
More news....not exciting...but I just joined the public library and I'm currently using their WIFI! See, I told you it wasn't exciting but I'm getting to know my community more. All the little shops and side streets are so fascinating to me, I love just walking around and exploring :)
I hope this post finds everyone well. Sorry for the BORING post but hopefully life will get juicy pretty soon. Maybe I'll meet a gorgeous spanish-speaking man who falls desperately in love with me at first glance. ....maybe
PS Shout out to REENIE who's birthday was the 21st, to SCOTT who's birthday was yesterday and to my DAD who's birthday is on SATURDAY!!!
I love you guys!
xo-jess
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
how is this fair?!?!
okay...i feel like what's happening in my life is too good to be true. I LOVE it here.
This past weekend I went to Valencia, Spain with a group of about 10. Don't have pictures yet. On Friday we walked through a garden that is about 4 miles long and stretches throughout a good part of the city. At the end of it is the oceanarium, which is located right off the Mediterranean coast. On friday we went on a pub crawl which would have been really fun but i was SOOO tired. We got to sleep in on Saturday then we hit up the beaaaach!! The beach just doesn't get old to me...I'm scared that I will have to settle down somewhere where I always have the beach close by. That's neither here nor there. Anyways, the water was gorgeous and we swam really far out into the sea!!! Really far meaning about 1/3 of a mile out...but still!! It was scary!!! I love swimming though so it felt wonderful :) Saturday night we drank in a park (classy right?) but I really got to know the people in my group. it was a bonding night, for sure. Then we went out!!! We just don't stop. It was a late night, I was out until about 5 am.
So I have slept in my new piso for two nights so far!! I live with a woman named Mari, who I already told you is one of the sweetest women i've ever met!!! She's sooo caring and there to listen. Today she surprised me and let me eat with them!!! She's a great cook too. She made us some yummy stew, steak, rice, and friend bananas!!! YUMMMMYYYYY. She cooks better than i can, fo sho!
I also live with Mari's brother, Nelson, and their second cousin Ernesto. Me and Ernesto are closest in age and we've definitely been bonding. Today we bought some hotdogs (he loves hotdogs) and we're going to eat them later as a snack hahahaha. We also bought some dominoes and we played dominoes together!!! He told me today he was happy that I'm here because he finally has someone to hang out with. I feel so special!!! He said before he worked and went home but now he has someone to talk to!! AWWW :)
They are all really close though, and they're so open to include me. We talked together for like an hour at the lunch Mari made us, it was so fun! I think i might have even cracked a few jokes in spanish...who woulda thought?!?
I'm so happy to be here. I feel like I don't deserve any of this but I'm just going to go with the flow!!! I love you all and am anxious to hear how you are doing or if anything is new.
Please write whenever you get a chance :)
xoxo-
jess
This past weekend I went to Valencia, Spain with a group of about 10. Don't have pictures yet. On Friday we walked through a garden that is about 4 miles long and stretches throughout a good part of the city. At the end of it is the oceanarium, which is located right off the Mediterranean coast. On friday we went on a pub crawl which would have been really fun but i was SOOO tired. We got to sleep in on Saturday then we hit up the beaaaach!! The beach just doesn't get old to me...I'm scared that I will have to settle down somewhere where I always have the beach close by. That's neither here nor there. Anyways, the water was gorgeous and we swam really far out into the sea!!! Really far meaning about 1/3 of a mile out...but still!! It was scary!!! I love swimming though so it felt wonderful :) Saturday night we drank in a park (classy right?) but I really got to know the people in my group. it was a bonding night, for sure. Then we went out!!! We just don't stop. It was a late night, I was out until about 5 am.
So I have slept in my new piso for two nights so far!! I live with a woman named Mari, who I already told you is one of the sweetest women i've ever met!!! She's sooo caring and there to listen. Today she surprised me and let me eat with them!!! She's a great cook too. She made us some yummy stew, steak, rice, and friend bananas!!! YUMMMMYYYYY. She cooks better than i can, fo sho!
I also live with Mari's brother, Nelson, and their second cousin Ernesto. Me and Ernesto are closest in age and we've definitely been bonding. Today we bought some hotdogs (he loves hotdogs) and we're going to eat them later as a snack hahahaha. We also bought some dominoes and we played dominoes together!!! He told me today he was happy that I'm here because he finally has someone to hang out with. I feel so special!!! He said before he worked and went home but now he has someone to talk to!! AWWW :)
They are all really close though, and they're so open to include me. We talked together for like an hour at the lunch Mari made us, it was so fun! I think i might have even cracked a few jokes in spanish...who woulda thought?!?
I'm so happy to be here. I feel like I don't deserve any of this but I'm just going to go with the flow!!! I love you all and am anxious to hear how you are doing or if anything is new.
Please write whenever you get a chance :)
xoxo-
jess
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
love it here!!
I'm quickly falling in love with Espana....I've had a great day today. Nothing spectacular happened today either. I just feel myself getting comfortable and it's the best feeling ever...
Tomorrow I'm moving into my new apartment!! It's located in the Plaza de Sants, if that means anything to you. Then friday morning I'm going to valencia with a bunch of people!! It's going to be soooo awesome!!! We're taking a train there. Valencia is just south of barcelona, but still located in the auntonomia de catalunya.
Today I took my final exams for the intense language program. that means i have tomorrow, friday, saturday, and sunday off===trouble. BUT i'll be safe, as always :) :)
What else happened today??
I went on a run today! I've gotten back into my running habits and I'm feeling great. The lifestyle here is already active because people walk/bike everywhere so I am feeling more motivated to be outside. But anyways...about my runs....the best part of running in a new area is that every time I go I found a new park or trail filled with beautiful flowers and cool new sites.
When I was on my run, however, I went all the way up a small hill (it felt big at the time ha-ha) and when I got to the top I had an awesome view of the city and just beyond it the sea. sooo awesome!!! But i stretched and just thought about things at the top and I decided that I'll be running the half-marathon in Chi town next year!!!! If you're interested...lemme know!!! :)
Universitat classes start Monday!!! I'll only have classes Monday and Wednesday for now, which means i'm going to have four day weekend every weekend....trouble again!! But i'll get to travel a bunch which is awesome :)
Here's a random, funny picture I thought you'd like: (i'm so photogenic...not)
Tomorrow I'm moving into my new apartment!! It's located in the Plaza de Sants, if that means anything to you. Then friday morning I'm going to valencia with a bunch of people!! It's going to be soooo awesome!!! We're taking a train there. Valencia is just south of barcelona, but still located in the auntonomia de catalunya.
Today I took my final exams for the intense language program. that means i have tomorrow, friday, saturday, and sunday off===trouble. BUT i'll be safe, as always :) :)
What else happened today??
I went on a run today! I've gotten back into my running habits and I'm feeling great. The lifestyle here is already active because people walk/bike everywhere so I am feeling more motivated to be outside. But anyways...about my runs....the best part of running in a new area is that every time I go I found a new park or trail filled with beautiful flowers and cool new sites.
When I was on my run, however, I went all the way up a small hill (it felt big at the time ha-ha) and when I got to the top I had an awesome view of the city and just beyond it the sea. sooo awesome!!! But i stretched and just thought about things at the top and I decided that I'll be running the half-marathon in Chi town next year!!!! If you're interested...lemme know!!! :)
Universitat classes start Monday!!! I'll only have classes Monday and Wednesday for now, which means i'm going to have four day weekend every weekend....trouble again!! But i'll get to travel a bunch which is awesome :)
Here's a random, funny picture I thought you'd like: (i'm so photogenic...not)
Saturday, September 6, 2008
ketchup!!!!
note: i have been here since august 16th, 2008 and i didn't have ketchup until 2 days ago (sept 4, 2008). for those of you that know me...that's a really really really really really long time!!! i think i'll have to invest in it. what's most amazing is everyone here loves ketchup as much as i do!!!! everybody was so happy. it was like Christmas morning
i actually have done a lot since i last updated. well, a lot depending on what perspective you're coming from. i've been busy every day...but laying on the beach all day then going out at night probably isn't considered "doing a lot". lets start on tuesday night:
it was my friend Kelly's brithday. Kelly is the sweeeeeeeetest girl in the whole world!!! she turned 21 so we went to this place called "Espit Chuptitos". Chupito=shot. This place had over 600 different shots to choose from. Here's an example of the "boyscout chupito"
The shots are lit on fire (they must have already blown the fire out) and you can roast a marshmallow over the fire before taking the shot. Creative eh???? They are very amusing to watch!!!
I got home that night around 4 am. I had to wake up at 7 30 am the next day for an excursion to the museo de la historia de catalunya. (Catalunya history museum...that one's not too hard). So i was realllllllllly tired the next day but i got up in time and the museum was actually awesome. We learned a lot about Catalunya's perspective during Franco's era. Franco was a meaaaaaaaaaaan Fascist dictator who messed up everybody. He was BFF's (best friends forever) with hitler and mussolini. if you want to read more, here.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures in the museum. There was a "catalunya classroom" that represented times during Franco and times post franco. the classroom during Franco had a picture of him and some other dude on the wall, as well as a cross, because Franco was devoutly catholic. I'm pretty sure all the kids had to say prayers and speak only in spanish (instead of catalan) because he was a nationalist. Post franco the classrooms used catalan and spanish and franco was not on the wall.
now that i re-read that, it doesn't sound as interesting as it was to me. BUT from a teaching perspective, it would have been very frustrating to have to follow the strict regimen that Franco laid out without any freedom whatsoever, even if you DIDN'T agree with his values.
We also walked a long time around the old part of Barcelona. If you didn't know, the Romans came into Barcelona and their architectural influence is still seen:
I'm pretty sure this was the very first entrance into Barceloneta, which is the little city the romans created when they came here. All of the streets are VERY narrow but are still used regularly!!! it's super cool to see. come visit
This buliding is the catalan government building. As you know, Catalunya is an autonomy, meaning they have laws besides the laws set by the country of spain. Similar to the state law and federal law in the US. Barcelona is pretty much the center of Catalunya's business because it is such a big city.
The flag on the left up there is the Catalunya flag. The one to the right of it is the Spanish flag and i can't see or remember what the one all the way on the right is.
Okay...so that was tues night/wednesday. Thursday i went to a bar and had a lootttt of fun. too much probably, but that doesn't exist. everyone was just crazy and we got kicked out for making too much noise. bummer.
the next morning (yesterday morning) i laid on the beach all day. it was a different beach, called Sidges (sounds kind of like seeches). this was outside of the city so the town was much more "spanishy". It looked really mediterranean, and the sand was so soft. the water, unfortunately, was kind of sea-weedy but i think we were just in a bad spot. it was fun to get out of the city and see different parts of spain.
last night i went out with some cali people and we went to a club called "Otto Zutz". It is 4 floors with different music on every floor. it was SOOOO fun. I danced until 5 in the morning!!!! I'm getting cooler by the minute!!!
today i tried to go back to the beach but we decided it was too cloudy (the 2nd cloudy day since i've been here) so we just went out to eat. i'm going to try and get some hw done so i can go to the beach manana!!!!
ALRIGHT well that's my life so far.
I miss everyone and I think about ya'll allllll the time!!!
take care and love,
jess
i actually have done a lot since i last updated. well, a lot depending on what perspective you're coming from. i've been busy every day...but laying on the beach all day then going out at night probably isn't considered "doing a lot". lets start on tuesday night:
it was my friend Kelly's brithday. Kelly is the sweeeeeeeetest girl in the whole world!!! she turned 21 so we went to this place called "Espit Chuptitos". Chupito=shot. This place had over 600 different shots to choose from. Here's an example of the "boyscout chupito"
The shots are lit on fire (they must have already blown the fire out) and you can roast a marshmallow over the fire before taking the shot. Creative eh???? They are very amusing to watch!!!I got home that night around 4 am. I had to wake up at 7 30 am the next day for an excursion to the museo de la historia de catalunya. (Catalunya history museum...that one's not too hard). So i was realllllllllly tired the next day but i got up in time and the museum was actually awesome. We learned a lot about Catalunya's perspective during Franco's era. Franco was a meaaaaaaaaaaan Fascist dictator who messed up everybody. He was BFF's (best friends forever) with hitler and mussolini. if you want to read more, here.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures in the museum. There was a "catalunya classroom" that represented times during Franco and times post franco. the classroom during Franco had a picture of him and some other dude on the wall, as well as a cross, because Franco was devoutly catholic. I'm pretty sure all the kids had to say prayers and speak only in spanish (instead of catalan) because he was a nationalist. Post franco the classrooms used catalan and spanish and franco was not on the wall.
now that i re-read that, it doesn't sound as interesting as it was to me. BUT from a teaching perspective, it would have been very frustrating to have to follow the strict regimen that Franco laid out without any freedom whatsoever, even if you DIDN'T agree with his values.
We also walked a long time around the old part of Barcelona. If you didn't know, the Romans came into Barcelona and their architectural influence is still seen:
I'm pretty sure this was the very first entrance into Barceloneta, which is the little city the romans created when they came here. All of the streets are VERY narrow but are still used regularly!!! it's super cool to see. come visit
This buliding is the catalan government building. As you know, Catalunya is an autonomy, meaning they have laws besides the laws set by the country of spain. Similar to the state law and federal law in the US. Barcelona is pretty much the center of Catalunya's business because it is such a big city.The flag on the left up there is the Catalunya flag. The one to the right of it is the Spanish flag and i can't see or remember what the one all the way on the right is.
Okay...so that was tues night/wednesday. Thursday i went to a bar and had a lootttt of fun. too much probably, but that doesn't exist. everyone was just crazy and we got kicked out for making too much noise. bummer.
the next morning (yesterday morning) i laid on the beach all day. it was a different beach, called Sidges (sounds kind of like seeches). this was outside of the city so the town was much more "spanishy". It looked really mediterranean, and the sand was so soft. the water, unfortunately, was kind of sea-weedy but i think we were just in a bad spot. it was fun to get out of the city and see different parts of spain.
last night i went out with some cali people and we went to a club called "Otto Zutz". It is 4 floors with different music on every floor. it was SOOOO fun. I danced until 5 in the morning!!!! I'm getting cooler by the minute!!!
today i tried to go back to the beach but we decided it was too cloudy (the 2nd cloudy day since i've been here) so we just went out to eat. i'm going to try and get some hw done so i can go to the beach manana!!!!
ALRIGHT well that's my life so far.
I miss everyone and I think about ya'll allllll the time!!!
take care and love,
jess
Saturday, August 30, 2008
La playa!!!
OKAYYY here's the beach!!! that's me, in the middle. the water is soooooo gorgeous. it's clear and perfect temperature :)
i'm so scared of jelly fish and stuff. i'm constantly looking down to make sure there's nothing around me, but my shadow kept freaking me out because i kept confusing it for some sort of fish. i need to calm down
This is on the street on the way to the beach. gotta love this stuff
here's more of a scenic view...pictures just don't do it justice though :\ there were no clouds today...hence my sunburn!!!
here's what i did last night. this is what my neighborhood looks like...it's called Placa de Sants. (plaza day sanz). the flags up there say love, friendship, happiness or something like that. peace too, in the back. last night was so fun....there was great music and we were dancing machines. I hung out with people from california. They are great!!! Some californians say things like "bro" and "gnarly". I just laugh
OKAY i know that was a super quick post. i will post more later. but at least it's an upd ate right??? It's good i'm getting busy. Sometimes I'm so homesick, but that happens more when I'm about to fall asleep. during the day I am really busy and have a lot on my mind, so it doesn't affect me as much.
I'm about to go back to the fiesta...tonight is the last night.
I love you all and Thanks so much for reading this. Keep emailing!!! I will post more pictures up tomorrow.
take care and write when you get a chance.
jess
i'm so scared of jelly fish and stuff. i'm constantly looking down to make sure there's nothing around me, but my shadow kept freaking me out because i kept confusing it for some sort of fish. i need to calm down
This is on the street on the way to the beach. gotta love this stuff
here's more of a scenic view...pictures just don't do it justice though :\ there were no clouds today...hence my sunburn!!!
here's what i did last night. this is what my neighborhood looks like...it's called Placa de Sants. (plaza day sanz). the flags up there say love, friendship, happiness or something like that. peace too, in the back. last night was so fun....there was great music and we were dancing machines. I hung out with people from california. They are great!!! Some californians say things like "bro" and "gnarly". I just laugh
OKAY i know that was a super quick post. i will post more later. but at least it's an upd ate right??? It's good i'm getting busy. Sometimes I'm so homesick, but that happens more when I'm about to fall asleep. during the day I am really busy and have a lot on my mind, so it doesn't affect me as much.
I'm about to go back to the fiesta...tonight is the last night.
I love you all and Thanks so much for reading this. Keep emailing!!! I will post more pictures up tomorrow.
take care and write when you get a chance.
jess
Thursday, August 28, 2008
mullet findings
So it's old news that mullets and rat tails are "de moda" in Europe, but i just wanted to prove it to you. The pics are pretty dark (my bad), but you get the point. Didn't get any pics of rat tails either. The other day, however, i saw a guy with a mullet AND a rat tail. i'm not making that up!!!! I will keep posting mullet pics as i get good ones. Maybe i'll get one.
love jess!
back to school, back to school, to prove to dad i'm not a fool!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER!!! AMANDA I LOOOOOOOOVE YOU!!! :) :) :)
hey folks....what movie is that title from?!?! anyone who gets it right i love. anyone who doesn't know...i guess i still love
anyways, here's my school:
pretty sweet huh?? it's gorgeous. there's a courtyard too, but they were filming a movie there today so the pictures would have been bad. that girl is stephanie, she's my friend who i met here but she also goes to U of I. that picture was taken today!!
what is interesting is that they have a lot of cats here!! they might be stray but the university might take care of them too. i've seen bowls of water left out but the cats are super cute. here's a picture of one:
When i first saw a cat on the campus, i wasn't sure what it was, because i'm used to looking at cats like this:
oh, angel. my dear, fat fat fat fat fat fat cat!!!!
anyways, sorry i haven't been updating too much!!! the truth is that there's not much to update on!!! i've been super busy with school and homework. last night i finished my homework in time to go to "fiesta de sants" which is a street festival that will be in my future barrio (town). it was super fun. the last street festival i went to was "fiesta de gracias" but that was much bigger and there were a lot more people. we went to fiesta de sants but we probably went to early, plus it was a weekday. in general, it does seem to be more kid and family-friendly.
the night was really relaxed because we just sat and talked, although they did have great bands playing. i think i even heard them playing electric slide in spanish. oh!! there was a drum corps there too!!! they were sooooo awesome. below is a picture of the group i was with...i'm not in it, and they are all acting silly, but you kind of get a picture of how the people who live in the area decorate the streets. every street is unique which is the best part.
the only problem about going out on weeknights is that i'm SOOOOOOOOo tired the next day!!! i'm such an old lady. oh well. maybe spain will change that for me. i better not hold my breath on that one.
well folks, i know it wasn't interesting but its the best i can do. i have my very first test tomorrow!!! i have to study and read a bunch for my other classes. i won't upload pictures from last night or the rest of my school pics yet but i will let you know when i do.
if you have time, please write!! i always love to hear from ya'll. jcollin5@illinois.edu (yes, my email changed, but if you still use @uiuc.edu it will work).
please take care!!
love always, jess
hey folks....what movie is that title from?!?! anyone who gets it right i love. anyone who doesn't know...i guess i still love
anyways, here's my school:
pretty sweet huh?? it's gorgeous. there's a courtyard too, but they were filming a movie there today so the pictures would have been bad. that girl is stephanie, she's my friend who i met here but she also goes to U of I. that picture was taken today!!what is interesting is that they have a lot of cats here!! they might be stray but the university might take care of them too. i've seen bowls of water left out but the cats are super cute. here's a picture of one:
When i first saw a cat on the campus, i wasn't sure what it was, because i'm used to looking at cats like this:
oh, angel. my dear, fat fat fat fat fat fat cat!!!!anyways, sorry i haven't been updating too much!!! the truth is that there's not much to update on!!! i've been super busy with school and homework. last night i finished my homework in time to go to "fiesta de sants" which is a street festival that will be in my future barrio (town). it was super fun. the last street festival i went to was "fiesta de gracias" but that was much bigger and there were a lot more people. we went to fiesta de sants but we probably went to early, plus it was a weekday. in general, it does seem to be more kid and family-friendly.
the night was really relaxed because we just sat and talked, although they did have great bands playing. i think i even heard them playing electric slide in spanish. oh!! there was a drum corps there too!!! they were sooooo awesome. below is a picture of the group i was with...i'm not in it, and they are all acting silly, but you kind of get a picture of how the people who live in the area decorate the streets. every street is unique which is the best part.
the only problem about going out on weeknights is that i'm SOOOOOOOOo tired the next day!!! i'm such an old lady. oh well. maybe spain will change that for me. i better not hold my breath on that one.
well folks, i know it wasn't interesting but its the best i can do. i have my very first test tomorrow!!! i have to study and read a bunch for my other classes. i won't upload pictures from last night or the rest of my school pics yet but i will let you know when i do.
if you have time, please write!! i always love to hear from ya'll. jcollin5@illinois.edu (yes, my email changed, but if you still use @uiuc.edu it will work).
please take care!!
love always, jess
Monday, August 25, 2008
Estas con queso....
For any of the highly motivated who wish to learn Spanish, that's a phrase to describe someone who is HIGHLY attractive. It literally means "you're with cheese". I thought it was pretty amusing!!
This weekend was really relaxed. The only super fun thing I did was go to the beach on Saturday morning with my friend Stephanie...it was awesome!! The beach was gorgeous and the water was perfffect :) I love living by the sea!! Beaches in Spain are quite different from any beach i've been on in the states...i will let you guess why. It was awkward though!!!
Good News!!! I found an apartment. I'll be living with a lady named Mary (pronounced Mah-ree). She's older and from Columbia but super sweet and SOOOO patient with my Spanish. I can tell we'll get along great. I will be living in a wonderful neighborhood that's also near the art museum which i'm super excited for!!! :D :D :D
I will take pictures next week of the beach and I know I still have to put pictures up of my school!!! I'll get on it I'm sorry!!!!
Thanks to all of you for the emails!! It means the world to me :)
Love,
Jess
This weekend was really relaxed. The only super fun thing I did was go to the beach on Saturday morning with my friend Stephanie...it was awesome!! The beach was gorgeous and the water was perfffect :) I love living by the sea!! Beaches in Spain are quite different from any beach i've been on in the states...i will let you guess why. It was awkward though!!!
Good News!!! I found an apartment. I'll be living with a lady named Mary (pronounced Mah-ree). She's older and from Columbia but super sweet and SOOOO patient with my Spanish. I can tell we'll get along great. I will be living in a wonderful neighborhood that's also near the art museum which i'm super excited for!!! :D :D :D
I will take pictures next week of the beach and I know I still have to put pictures up of my school!!! I'll get on it I'm sorry!!!!
Thanks to all of you for the emails!! It means the world to me :)
Love,
Jess
Friday, August 22, 2008
History Lesson (not boring!!!)
85---That's how many pics I took today!!!!!!!!! I went a little wild with the dig camera but that's what they're for. I can't decide which ones to put up on the PICTURE site though!!! Oh well. PS i forgot to show you guys where I live...so check out that picture above!!! It's called "Col-legi Major Sant Jordi". (Ko-lay-hee Ma-jor San Jor-dee) That's an example of Catalan, the official language of "catalunya", which is where Barcelona is located. Everyone in Catalunya is bilingual, they speak both Catalan and Castellano (Spanish). The locals are very impressed and especially warm hearted if you attempt to speak Catalan to them because they are very proud of their language as well as their culture. Catalan came to be when the Romans entered Spain and were speaking latin, making Catalan a latin-based (and i suppose a romance?) language.
ANYWAYS, Today was super exciting and interesting. We went to several places, including building and parks created by Antoni Gaudi, a modernist architect who was born in Barcelona. (making him a huge part of the culture here). Gaudi was heavily influenced by nature and included several arches in his work. These arches are supposed to have mimicked the way men and women stand upright (when we are standing, there is an arch between our legs).
Here's an example of the arches:
I know this isn't really as exciting as I'm making it seem, but this arch is located on the roof of "La Pedrera" which means the rock in Spanish or quarry in Catalan. This really isn't the best example of an "arch" used in his works, but this arch is a gateway to a great view of the city as well as an amazing view to Gaudi's first, last, unfinished, and probably his most famous work, "La Sagrada Familia":
Gaudi's main objective for "La Sagrada Familia" was to create the bible out of rock. He was a "die-hard" catholic and is actually buried in the crypt of la sagrada. He put prayers on this building, including "Hosana en Excelsis" (God in Heaven, I think) so when anyone read it (religious or not), they would be praying. (watch out mike!!!) Like I said before, the point of this amazing building is to have the bible in rock, so there are several bible stories on it. In the front is the angel telling mary that she will have God's child, as well as the birth of Jesus. On the back are the stations of the cross (see PICS for more little tidbits!!). The birth of Jesus (the front of SF) faces the East, the side that the sun rises (start of the day/start of jesus' life). The back of SF faces the west, where the sun sets (death of the day/death of his life). There are so many little details that I forget but I can't wait to go back and go inside (we didn't go in).His intention was to have 18 towers, and there are only 8. The other 10 are supposed to be taller than those you see in this picture. (can you imagine that??!) I have a ton of pics of La Sagrada, as well as little stories/tidbits so go to the PICS SITE.
Next we went to Park Guell. Guell is the name of one of Gaudi's main patrons and he was loooooooooaddddeddddd. Anyway, Guell wanted the park to be called park guell because it was influenced by english projects (and i think considered very sophisticated).
Here are some pictures of Park Guell:
Unfortunately, I don't know too much history except that the second picture you see is part of a road that Gaudi had included in this Park. Also, it is a small part of where TYRA and her models of AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (cycle 7) did a "crazy bride" runway. It was toooo cool!! When I watched this episode, I knew I was going to Barcelona, so it was VERY exciting for me to watch!!! :D To see the episode, go HERE and go to 2:10. (if you don't know what's going on, you might not understand, but it's just a model competition). I tried to do the same thing (sans the wedding dress), it came out like this:
I realize I wasn't walking down the same runway, but it was in the same place. My friend has a picture of when I was actually walking ON the runway, but I don't have it yet. That's the best I could do with my photos...do you think I resemble the models??? Don't answer that.Anways, I'm wiped out!! I hope you enjoyed this entry. It was a long day, but now I'm going to put the captions on all of the photos. Again, the site is HERE. There are many, many pictures in the album to go with it, but hopefully you can enjoy them with the captions!
Miss you all, Please write!! jcollin5@illinois.edu or jcollins7788@gmail.com. If you have a microphone or webcam, you can always SKYPE me. (it's a quick download and we can talk for free) My name on it is jcollin5. Actually, let me talk about skype for a second: it's amazing!! I can call anyone really cheap or I can talk for free with people who have it....it's like my best friend.
Otherwise, email is JUST fine!!
I hope to hear from all of you soon!
Take care!
Love Jess
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