Flashback time III

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Ahh, the tranquility (sp?) of Sunday. Today was the first day that I got to sleep in since I've been here. I slept until about 11:30. I had gone to bed really late the night before since we went out dancing. It was soo much fun. There were playing a lot of Spanish pop music, but also techno, some latin sounding tunes, and some old American dance favs like I've got the Power and I like to Move it move it, or whatever they are called. Those are songs you might find on an 80s or 90s dance party mix. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Misty sent me an email with all these questions, and since I sent her such an informative reply, I'm going to copy and paste it on here, since it has many details I have not said as of yet on here. Yes, I am having a blast! We went out last night to a bar and dancing and stayed out till 5:30 in the morning. It was nuts. People here don't go out until 1 or so, and the clubs are dead empty until 2, and are hopping at 3 or 3:30. I have to drink 'cafe con leche' (expresso and milk, think latte) in order to stay up and on my feet that long. the scenery is breathtaking. Iron balcones on the apartments and renaissance churches everywhere. It's like walking into a history book. I am going to be here in Valladolid for 4 more weeks and then I am going to travel around Europe with a friend from high school who is meeting me up here. He's the one who lives in Boston. He's been to Paris a bunch of times, because he worked in Switzerland one summer. We're going there for sure, and then maybe to Switz or Germany or back to Spain. This thing I like the best here besides all the scenery and culture is the fact that it's a great life. I dont have to cook my food, no work, no housework, just school for 4 hours a day, and then shopping, tanning, and sleeping. Oh, and going out almost every night. Also the wine is cheap. It's .90 to 1.50 € for a glass of wine, and that's only like a buck or 2 bucks. The wine here is sooo good. A lot of the boys are cute here, but no more than the US. Hit or miss, as they say. here they are just different by their hairstyle (80s and mullets are back!) and dress (nicer, and more trendy). They usually won't come up and talk to you, but when they do, they are usually just interested to know why you're here, because no matter what we do, we are obviously American. The people here are defiantely not nearly as nice as they are in TX. I would immediatly describe them as rude. There is no customer service in stores, it's just whatever. they won't look at you in the steets or smile or say hi. This city is pretty introverted, usually, and they are really into fashion and having the best and latest this and that, Almost snobby in a way. The weather here is nice, dry and kinda cold for this time of the year. Average is about 40 to 50 at night and in the morning and between 70 and 80 for the high. This cold front is rare for Spain in May, so most of us weren't prepared for the cold. There is no AC here, so I'm glad it's not too too hot. People do tan nude here, and sometimes it's really gross. Let's see, what else? The weekend here was a lot of fun. While a lot of the people go out everything, I am definately going to only go out-out on the weekends. Some weeknights it's nice to go to a nearby cafe bar and enjoy a glass of wine before bed. I don't get a lot of homework, but today I am going to go over all my irregular verbs for the preterite, and make a list. I am also working on a list of vocab that I learn each week and will hopefully be able to add to it every week. I love the siestas! BURGOS! The excursion to Burgos was beautiful. About 1.5 hours away to the north east is a city called Burgoes. We went up there for the day on Saturday and toured some old tombs in some church, the beautiful late'gothic cathedral (omg so detailed and breathtaking) and an old castille (castle grounds) that had a beautiful view of the city and the catherdral, red tiled roofs and countryside with farmlands and mountains in the distance. It also was an awful climb to the top of that (we were trying to sing the Rocky theme song as we jogged upwards, but then we got tired and it slowed down tremendously. The city was also having a medieval festival and it was neat to look at all the booths. There was a food booth with the meat being roasted whole, so you could see the pigs on stakes by the fire. They were selling old cheeses (stinky), fresh flavored teas, insense, jewelery, pastries etc. There was also this tent with exotic birds: harks, vultures and owls that would fly between trainers for fresh meat. There was a snowy white owl, and I took a picture of it. I think it was Hedwig. :) People like to dress up in Spain a lot for these festivals, and wear elaborate costumes from medieval times. It was neat to look around. I am getting hungry. I'm glad food is soon. I hope people are reading and enjoying this! have a great day!