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)

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.

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.

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

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

inside joke....

i love my family!!! hahahahhaa

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)

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