you're not going to get your patatas bravas.....!!!!!!!!!

This past wednesday, Barcelona won their third and most important championship of the year, the champions league!!! They played against the awful, dirty, and SMELLY Manchestur United in Rome (fair territory). There was a group of 10 of us who went to watch it together, and LUCKILY, about an hour before the game, we found a great little bar that had room for us right in front of a hi-def TV!! It was so fun watching it there, although there were was one little problem. We all ordered our "watching the game" beers, which are mandatory. (not by the restaurant, but because you're watching the game. And some of us were hungry (me included, obviously) so we ordered some patatas bravas, tortilla espanola, etc etc. These tapas are very easy and very accesible anywhere in barcelona so we didn't think there'd be a problem, but an hour after ordering them we still hadn't gotten anything. Now, service in Spain is SLOW, but an hour later is definitely a fair time period to say something. So I go up to the server, and I ask him (in perfect spanish because i had practiced silently in my head 10,000 times before i went up there) where are food is and he said, "oh, you're not going to get your patatas bravas, our cook decided he wants to watch the game and he's not making any orders". And he was 100% serious. OH ESPANA!!!!

The game was great though!!! We won 2-0, and there were a lot of hotties (above) to watch. That guy specifically is Xavi (pronounced Cha-vee) and he's the love of my life. He's also one of my "go to"jokes here in Barcelona. Sense of humor gets lost in translation very easily, but I always tell people that I'm dating Xavi from the FC Barcelona team and they laugh instantaneously. I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that they laugh so fast. :)

Miss everyone!! Yesterday was my 3 week countdown...now its 2 weeks 6 days!!
xoxo
jess

in an updating mood lately...

just kidding, i´m just putting off studying for finals.

I will tell you guys about Ireland....
it was very green!
I got to see my very best friend, Elle, and her lovely boyfriend...Ethan!!!! We were in Dublin for a few days and Galway for a few days...both were VERY FUN. Here are my favorite parts about Dublin:

1)The bar we went to on teh very last night where they allow anyone to come and play Irish folk music...there were probably about 12 musicians playing together without any sheet music...and they were great!!!!!
2)One day when we were walking to get some food we saw a group of 12-14 year olds playing a game but one of the boys was sitting to the side and all of a sudden I hear ¨HEY BABE!¨and he was looking right at me. So I laugh and I say ¨HI!¨ Then he proceeds to say (in his little Irish accent, mind you) ´I love you!´and this time I laugh even harder, and say Ï love you too! and then he turns to the others and goes ¨LADS!! SHE LOVES ME!!!¨ it was hilarious...! he´s gonig to grow up to be a heartbreaker

The best part about Galway was when we took a day tour to the cliffs of Moher and see the countryside...which is...VERY GREEN!!! so fun!!!!

OH!!! I almost forgot...when we were in a bar in Galway a girl was talking to my friend Elle and she was trying to guess wehre I´m from and she said SPAIN!!! HOLLAAAA!!!!! now if only the SPANIARDS thought I was from here... :)

Lost in Translation

I've been meaning to tell you guys a few stories about serious misunderstandings, mostly my fault (scratch that--all my fault).

When I was in middle school, high school, college spanish classes, we ALWAYS talked about "false friends" which are words in your second language that look extremely similar to words in your first language but DO NOT MEAN THE SAME THING. for example, "carpeta" looks like the english words carpet, but actually means folder in spanish.

1) well a few weeks ago I went to a carnival party for the kids at the after school program where I volunteer. I showed up early to help set up and stuff and when I got there one of the girls that works there, Maria, opened the door for me. I said "Hey, how are you, How are you doing" etc (in spanish) and she gives me this look and was like "i'm horrible! Estoy MUY constipada" I'm VERY constipada. I gave her a surprised look, thinking to myself, wow, that seems like a lot to share. But then she went on to say that her throat hurts, her nose was runnings, etc. The light in my brain finally switched on...Constipada does NOT mean constipated, it means congested............................................ ah ha! never stop learning haha

The next few stories are not "false friends" stories, but misunderstandings...

2) I was walking with my friend Andrea and there was a dog I wanted to pet, so I attempted to ask "does your dog bite" before I pet it. Unfortunately, instead of asking the owner "muerde este perro?" which means "does the dog bite?" I said "muere este perro?" which means "is your dog DYING?" The owner gave me a really mean look, said NO, and walked away....I did not end up petting the dog, and Andrea did not stop laughing...for an hour or so.

3) A few weeks ago we took a trip to Ibiza, a party island outside of spain, for a co-birthday party. We got to the dock because we were taking a night boat (about 10 hours) to the island. When I went up to the ticket window, the lady asked me "llevas un coche?" which means "are you bringing a car?" (You know, how you can bring a car on a big boat if you are planning to drive wherever you're going") Somehow, I heard "llegas en coche" (which means are you arriving by car) and interpreted it as "are you going to Ibiza (AN ISLAND) in a car". I answered "no! voy en barco" (I'm going on a boat). She laughed, realizing that I had misunderstood her completely........and repeated the question. She laughed, I laughed, my friends laughed, and the whole staff (there had to be like 5 of them) in the office started laughing....I'm really awesome.

xoxoxo
jess

PS barca won another championship game the other day!!!! Now on may 27 they play against Manchester United for the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!!

la copa de rey!!!

Okay, I know that I obviously haven't updated in forever and I'm overwhelmed with it, so I figured I would just update what's recent and do older trips when I have time...so here we go!!


This is a picture of the Barcelona football/soccer team after the won the Copa del Rei (Copa del Rey in spanish)....It was very exciting and the streets were FILLED with people celebrating and watching the game...I stayed at home and watched it with 4 Real Madrid fans (Real Madrid is Barcelona's biggest Rival...) so I also had a lot of fun :). It was exciting...a team that I cheer for has never won any kind of championship!!!!!!!!!!!! haha

more to come later...