amigoyvino

Thursday, February 16, 2012

cosas buenas

AHHH! I am ecstatic today. I ran errands with Cristina earlier and we finally found Mango! (my beloved/favorite Spanish store...other than Desigual in Barcelona, of course.) After about 45 minutes of walking around and asking numerous different Spaniards how to get there, we finally did.
I was also excited to go to 'lupa' the grocery store here - to buy larger toiletries.. which may sound weird.. but it made me feel like my stay seems a lot more permanent/real. :)

anddd... I came back to find a Valentine's Day package from my mommy!...which consisted of girl scout cookies :)

I then proceeded to buy my plane tickets and start to make plans for Barcelona with some of my group from March 16-19.
Ahhh... good day. Ahora, escuela!

Monday, February 13, 2012

por la noche

love the people in my group! it's definitely a group full of characters :) makes for some seriously hilarious nights out... just the way it should be!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

day to day

to explain how timing works here, i thought i'd blog about it! only because timing for skype dates, etc. has been hard. primero, i am 6 hours ahead of US time.. so for example, if it is 12 pm there.. it is 6 pm here. i also wake up and eat breakfast a little later.. therefore lunch is around 2 and then we have siesta! (nap time!) all the stores close and a lot of people leave work just to sleep for an hour or two. awesome right? then everyone gets back to work and dinner is around 9 or so. young people go out around 1 am which sounds crazy.. but since the day is pushed forward it makes sense. then you sleep in, depending on whether it's a week day or weekend and then you start all over again. :) i think the spaniards have figured everything out quite nicely!

speaking of everyday things...

there's a drink here called vip. it's a combination of vino tinto (red wine), rum/any random cluster of liquors, and orange soda. i thought it deserved it's own special shout out on my blog. my group will appreciate this!

mas de vida cotidiana

mi cuarto! my dad asked specifically for me to post more pictures of everyday things.. so here's a start. so tiny! haha

Friday, February 10, 2012

vida ocupada por excursiones

Lo siento! I haven't had much time to blog this week because we've been touring Santander and have been on excursions across the basque region every day! Today we went to a replica of the Altamira caves because the real ones have been destroyed by tourists. Even the replica was cool, I thought. We've also been to Los Picos de Europa - the nearest, most beautiful little town - because the weather was too terrible to climb to the top. We also went to Comillas which is a tiny little town with some Gaudi architecture and an even smaller town called Santillana del Mar where we ended up just eating paella and drinking cervecas. The beginning of the week was rather harsh as we suffered through wind, rain, sleet, and snow during the excursions but today and yesterday were just a little chilly. here are some photos of the past few excursions:

la ciudad debajo de Los Picos de Europa

fue hecho por Gaudi en Comillas

la vista encima de Santander

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

un poco de cotidiano

i have now successfully learned how to take the bus, navigate el centro (more or less), obtain a cell phone, and call a taxi by phone. all in one day! i'm no longer sleep deprived and could frankly use a little structure in my life. today we tour the city - for real this time. and orientation is tomorrow. this weekend we have excursiones! besos. meg

Sunday, February 5, 2012

primer entrada

¡Hola todos!

Everything is going really well here in Santander. I slept a total of 19 hours last night!! My host mom is so sweet.. she is super hospitable. (My director told me she gets paid 24 euros/day to take care of me, so i'm glad i like her! haha) and she is definitely going to be my biggest vice in learning Spanish. She lives by herself and her mom is here visiting for 2 weeks so she doesn't have too much to do.

Today at 5 we go on a tour of the city and then later I think we're all going to watch the super bowl somewhere. I really like everyone on my program so far.

Funny story, especially for those who know my luck- I've been a little airheaded so far, so my group is already picking with me. I forgot my book (The Help) on the plane, so my friend Patrick brought it to me at customs. Also -- I get to customs and I have misplaced my wallet. The entire group goes through customs except for me. Awesome. A nice bilingual black man who works for security has to go search for it for me. Everyone was very nice and humored by the situation. So the whole group watches me talk and flirt with about 8 policemen while the security guy goes backkk to my plane to fetch my wallet complete with passport. A dios mio. He found it and I gave him a great big American hug only to remember in the middle of the hug they give kisses. -- Needless to say it was an awkward hug. Haha, so everytime we get back on the bus someone yells something like.. do we have Meg?! :) Other than that everything has gone very smoothly and I'm happy to know im only a 5 min. walk from the University. Also - I can see the ocean from the office window of my apartment, not bad huh?

More to come!

Xo - Meg