Just hopping the border - no big deal!

Hello all!  This past weekend, I went on a weekend adventure with Celina (aka Ma), Tessa (aka boyf), Alice (aka big sis), and Aimee (aka Kip/Kipper/twin) to Porto, Portugal. Needless to say, I had an absolute BLAST! First off, it was a great group and secondly, we went to PORTUGAL for the weekend (---SAY WHAT?!?---).

We left on Friday around 4:30pm, and arrived in Porto around 11pm their time (12am our time).  I was the one to book the hostel, so, I was the one who had the information...or was supposed to!  Naturally, the ONE thing I forgot was the address of the Oporto Skyp Hostel.  When we got off the train, we naturally looked lost, but this very sweet security guard (who spoke English - praise the Lord!) took us under his wing.  He ushered us into an office, where there was internet and then we attempted to get directions to our hostel - the one they didn't believe existed.  I was freaking out.  I felt absolutely helpless.  Man oh man, we were all a bit freaked out to say the least.  But the guy ended up finding it and we, again, followed our own personal tour guide to where we had to buy metro tickets.  I seriously could not stop thanking him, and God for that matter, for all of his help - he even showed us how to purchase metro tickets (literally put our money in for us) and told us which stop to get off at.  After a quick little ride, we came to our stop: Lapa.  It was deserted.  I was truly TWEAKING out at this point.  I thought we may have been scammed or that we were going to get sacrificed (Celina, Tessa and I frequently think we are going to get sacrificed when freaky deaky situations occur/we feel uncomfortable).  But, by God's grace we found our Hostel (thank you Aimee and Tessa).  It was a hole in the wall - in Europe, I swear they do not believe in signs that stick out...only signs ON the wall.  UUGGGHHH - very difficult when one is directionally challenged, such as yours truly.

But we got a tour of the place and it was actually really pretty.  Who would have thought that hostels are actually legit!?  After our tour, we chatted in our room for a while (it was a 6-person mixed room and there was another girl who was staying in there) and then headed off to bed.  In the middle of the night, though, Celina woke up and was freaking out - she said she thought there was a man standing at the door (this, readers, was NOT true - there was NO man at the door).  I guess it was a sort of continuation of her dream she was having.  I'm not quite sure.  All I know is that we (me and Celina) were freaking out and it was SUPERRR scary.  [Alice I think had her headphones in, Aimee was sleeping...but freaked when Mama pushed her mattress up, and Tessa thought Mama was sleep talking.]  BUT WE ALL SURVIVED :)

In the morning, we got ready to hit the town of Porto.  After a long walk, we made it to the centro and ended up taking a double-decker bus and boat tour.  It was an AMAZING time.  We, naturally sat on the top so we could be tourists and take a bazillion photos [please see below].  Although there was some fab sun, it was quite chilly!!!  The bus tour was cool because you could hop on and off whenever you liked - so after a while, we got off and headed toward the river where we went on the 6-bridge tour.  Again, the scenery was breathtaking.
After our boat tour, we were all pretty hungry so we moseyed around and found the CLASSIEST pizza hut ever.  I swear we were all in heaven.  The food was absolutely incredible - yummy in my tummy for sure!
While walking around, we happened upon a winery and ended up taking a tour/wine-tasting (all for only 3 euro).  It was an absolute riot - gotta love my girls and vino!

Our train to go back to Spain left around 8am, so we couldn't rage...bummer!  We went back to our hostel after our wild tour day and took a little siesta - and woke up to a new roommate: a little Korean dude.  (He looked like the guy in 16 candles - we were all busting up laughing...not in a mean way though!)  We decided to give him the nickname "Ninja".  I'm sure he LOVED having us all crazy loons as roomies :)
After our siesta, we went on a wild goose chase for a restaurant that one of the staff members suggested - yeah....could NOT be found anywhere.  So we ended up going to this cafe that had literal glass boxes out in front for people to sit in and eat.  ["I'm in a glass case of emotion!" -Anchorman]  IT WAS FREEZING!  But the food was good (got veggie soup, cheese omelet with french fries and a delish coca-cola) and of course the company made the cold "bearable".  The walk home was hilarious - we are not allowed to be let out, because we are just plain LOONEY!
Prime example, my twin also known as Kip/Kipper:

Her sun glasses broke on our day trip to Vigo - so she popped out the lenses and now wears them around.

We figured that she looked like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. 

Now, we take random "Kip in [insert locale]" pictures and freak out the townies and have a grand ol' time :) 

But all in all, our little weekender was a fantastic, beautiful, HILARIOUS trip! 

Group shot in our room - Oporto Sky Hostel 

The stairs to our room, computer room and hang out room - CRAZY hard to ascend/descend. 

I felt as though I was a giant: FEE-FIII-FO-FUM!!!

The absolutely gorgeous town of Porto, Portugal. 

I loved it!!!

Wacky crazy bridge that we crossed a couple times

Getting ready for our boat tour :) 

The clouds were insane - SO very mesmerizing. 

At our wine tasting - yummm :) 

Total number of tickets to get to and from Porto, Portugal: 7

The number of times I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard: countless

The number of memories I have with an amazing group of girls: infinite 

But, it's pretty late and this whirlwind of a vacay has worn me out.  Time for beddy-bye.

Much love <3 

~Mixed Emotions~

So, right now I'm a bit peeved...my host mom is nice BUT she interrupts me CONSTANTLY. In our convo during dinner (which is actually me eating a grilled ham and cheeser and her watching me eat) she cut me off 9 times...I counted. I understand that listening to me "speak" spanish may be a bit difficult, but LET ME FINISH!!! She thinks she knows what I'm trying to say but she doesn't.  GAAAAHHHH! I'm just super frustrated right now.

Also, my internship is beyond boring. They showed me what pamphlet I will be translating - it's 70 pages long.  Over this past Thurs/Fri, I got half-way through.  I haven't even started the translation; the "half-way through" part is in regards to I am half-way through the booklet, finding words that I have NO clue what they are...I currently have 6 pages of notes.  Bring.It.On. Although I'm "getting somewhere" on the booklet, I just wish that someone would talk to me. Don't get me wrong, the people who work there are all super nice, but they are working.  So, I'm sitting in the front, nose in a dictionary when I want to be conversing and gaining a better grasp of the language. We make small talk for about a minute, then the rest of the 3 hours and 59 minutes that I am there, I am looking words/phrases up.  **I do NOT know how people did it in the past. My work computer hasn't been working the past 2 days, so I have to manually look words up instead of looking them up online - I know this sounds spoiled, but man oh man do I NEED technology. 

I just hope that things turn up - I gotta take each day at a time and appreciate the little things. 

But on a happier note :) I went with my group to Vigo yesterday for a fantastic day trip. The weather was beyond beautiful - not a cloud in the sky and we were all lovin' the sun.  We walked around, chilled at the marina for a couple hours (obviously had to soak up as much sun as possible!), and went shopping - my favorite kind of activity! Right now, in Spain, all the stores are having "Rebajas" which are kind of like after-Christmas sales in the US...such good prices on things! They end either in late February or early early March, and then, there are NO more sales - which means NO more shopping for me; so I'm taking advantage of what time I have left.  

Sitting on the dock of the marina, watching boats go on their way

                                                                        Modeling :) 

This upcoming weekend, I believe 4 girls (Tessa, Celina, Aimee, Alice) and myself will be travelling to Porto, Portugal.  We have been looking at hostels, and they seem to be really nice - much nicer than I had been imagining  -->  hostelworld.com is a really good resource.  A fellow Loras student, Kevin, who studied in Santiago 2 years ago, recommended a hostel that we should stay at - so, parents, don't worry.  The tricky thing is, we are not sure how to actually GET to Porto.  We could take a train to Vigo and then switch trains or we could take a bus.  I'd rather take a train, but that's just me --- I think prices will determine how we will get there. I'm really looking forward to my first weekend trip! I'm going with a great group of girls, so I don't think we will have any issues finding fun :)

Anyway, it IS Sunday, so that means I should go finish my homework....uugh!

Ciao-Ciao and much love <3

PS - GO PACKERS!!! You have someone in Spain who loves you///rooting for you :) 

The sun EXISTS!!!

Hello all!
So...GOOD NEWS! After about a week of overcast weather and rain, we had a SUNNY day yesterday!

[Picture: Me, ghostly pale, basking in the warm sunlight - "OH HEY SHADOW! Haven't seen you in forever!"]

And right now, after a little mist, the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds - looks creepy cool with the dark horizon - probs another storm coming in - and the bright sun.  You have no idea how happy the sun can make a person until you are thrown into another country, where you know only a bit of the language and it rains CONSTANTLY. I'm a very happy girl at this moment.  Thanks, Mr. Golden Sun!


This past weekend, a few girls in my group and myself took a day trip on Sunday to Padron - only a 20ish minute train ride.  At first, we were somewhat pissed that we brought our bombies since it was not raining, just a bit overcast (umbrella -> bumberella -> bombie  ---- pronounced bOmbee ---- yes, my imagination is a bit crazy).  But as we were walking around the mercadillo (kind of like the 7-mile fair), the skys, once again, opened up and it rained for the rest of the time we were there (so in the end, I thank God that I brought my bombie).  I swear that market had anything/everything you could imagine: fish, meat (smelled horrible!), cheese, bread, churros (SO delish), shoes, boots, scarves, jackets, socks, undies, trees, flowers, fruit trees, pig noses (absolutely DISGUSTING!), octopus and so much more.  It was also VERY fun to people watch - I love how wherever you may be in the world, there will always be some strange ones...HAHA :)

SNORT SNORT - eeewwww!

URRRRSULA - from the little mermaid.
Yep, that's what I think about when I see octopus...I'm five years old.

But, I must be going - Celina, Tessa and I are getting together a little bit later to plan out some vacations and see where our next adventure will be :)

Much love <3
Hasta luego!

Viajes Viloria

So today was my second day at my internship at "Viajes Viloria".  As of right now, I have spent 8 out of 8 hours on their website - although very cool to see what they do, it was a bit boring and my eyes were definitely a little crossed when I left!  But the boss, Manuel, said (I think) that I would be doing translation from Spanish into English for brochures and such, so I think once I acquaint myself with the website and get to know a little bit more of what exactly they do, it will be a lot better.  At first I thought I was going to be planning trips for people - excursions in the coastal area, El Camino, Exploring Santiago - which I wouldn't really be good at because a) I've only just gotten here (don't know much about the area/things to do/what to eat/yadda yadda yadda), b) my spanish is not really up to phone-talking standards, c) I can't plan a trip for myself, let alone someone else. So, in a way, I'm glad I'll be doing mostly translating :) 
*Google translator and my Spanish-English dictionary are now my BEST friends.

If you want to check out Viajes Viloria a bit more and see what the company is about, here is the main website (there are a LOT of activities). The second website is written by a guy in my office, Andres (he writes "news" articles, tells you what is fun to do, etc.):
- www.galiciaincoming.com/es
- www.berenguela.com/es

But, I'm going out on the town tonight (with a bunch of people from my school) so I best be getting ready :)
Buenas noches <3

Pictures!

This is my room :) A bit small, but it works! 

This is the cathedral - it's 800 years old...WOWZERS!

Ze piece de resistance (said in a frenchy-french accent) - the incense thingy :) 

My Internship...

Yoookay.  Here's the dealio:
In addition to taking 5 classes at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, I have to do 100 hours of work at my internship, "Viajes Viloria" - a travel agency (85 hours actually working and 15 hours meeting with one of my professors so I can have a portfolio of my work) - as well as 50 hours of service (place undetermined).  In our pre-departure class, we were told that the service was not going to be mandatory, but when we got to school yesterday, we were told that it was....GREAT!  Yes, service would be good and I'm not complaining about the idea of service, just that I am going to have NO time to do all of it plus my internship plus school.  Forget about having a social life or travelling...!!!  But trust that I sent a very strongly worded email to our director (whom, by the way is leaving Loras and going to another university in 10 days). Hopefully things can change, otherwise we are going to have an issue....
But anyway (enough complaining), today after school I went to meet "mi jefe" (my boss) for my internship.  But, when I got there with a professor from my school (thank the lord he was there), the boss was busy so we went to a cafe down the way to waste some time.  It was nice because Juan and I planned what days I could work/how many hours a week I would work, etc (4 hours per day, 2 days a week, mas o menos).  When we went back to the office, el jefe was still busy, so I met with the next person in charge and 2 of her employees (of course I cannot remember their names for the life of me).  They were all very nice, but they were talking so fast it was hard to decipher what they were saying...and they weren't really talking to me, they were more so talking to my professor, Juan (I didn't really mind because I wouldn't have been able to tell them exactly what he did).  So, after all of the talking and the head nodding and me saying "Si" a lot, we figured out that my first day would be this upcoming Thursday, from 4pm-8pm, and my second day would be Friday morning from 10am-2pm.  They said that I could change "mi horario" to two afternoons a week instead so that I could have Fridays off, but I will have to see when/where I am doing my service.
As of right now, I feel so stressed and overwhelmed.  But, it's still my first week here, so hopefully things will turn for the better :)
Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Okay!

Alright. I have survived my first weekend abroad :) YAHOO! Last night, a group went out on the town and it was a blast.  There was some difficulty in finding pubs/bars that could fit a group of 9, yet there was some success.  But, I still need to get used to going out at 11pm or even 12am....I guess that is when the night life begins.  Today, my host mom took me and my friend Tessa on a mini tour of the city - we saw our campus (which is quite large - hay muchos edificios), the park that separates the Old Town of Santiago from the New Town (I live in the New Town) which is absolutely gorgeous, as well as the cathedral.  And, we also stayed for mass (misa) which was pretty cool (figuratively and literally - it was FREEZING in there)!  This is for you, parentals: I think I was in the presence of the largest incense thing ever - pictures coming soon. (Right now, I am using the home computer because there is wifi, but of course I lack all technology skills and cannot connect to the damn thing - after an hour of trying pretty much everything to connect, I gave up - but apparently, my brother-in-law will help me tomorrow after lunch, so keep your fingers crossed!)

So, a promise that I made to myself when I came to Spain was that I must try everything, even if it is nasty and I know I wouldn't necessarily eat it at home.  Thus far, here are the food items that I have tried:
-mini shrimp (marisco pequeño)....yep, still do not like them
-mushrooms (I think in spanish they have the same name, but I could be wrong)....not bad, but I would not miss them
-flan (a jello-like cake thing)...not a big fan because of the weird texture, but the flavor is good
-tuna pasta salad....it actually does taste like chicken (but I like chicken better)
My host mom says that I don't eat much, but that is because there's so much to eat!  Honestly, I can't even finish what is on my plate let alone have more...oi vey!

But, it's getting late, and I have a school orientation thing tomorrow, so I best be getting my beauty sleep :)
Ciao xox

I AM HERE!!!

WOW. Has this day (more like a day and a half = 28hrs, minus 57 minutes of horrible plane "sleep") been nuts.  From saying goodbye to the parents at the airport (obviously I was a blubbering mess), to the 8 hour flight to Madrid (with crazy turbulence which I thought was a sign that I was not meant to be a world traveler) and then the 4 hour layover (which of course I thought was only an hour..). Oh and how could I forget the other TREMENDOUSLY bumpy flight that took me to my final destination, Santiago de Compostela.
Although, I was quite surprised that it was not raining - since it IS the rainiest city in Spain - when we followed Gene, the person in charge of my Loras Group, out of the airport. But of course I just had to have 2 suitcases and a duffel bag and felt as though i was carrying an at-home gym inside it...and then....cue the rain. Per usual, I was a hot mess. Nevertheless, I kept my game face on and was excited to meet my host mom, Lourdes.  But, of course as I´m stepping off the bus to meet her, the thunder gods open fire yet again, and I was pelted with a bazillion very cold rain drops....and had to WALK what seemed like FOREVER to get to my apartment on the 8th floor (with my 3 bags in tow and PRAISE JESUS FOR ELEVATORS!!!).
Needless to say I am exhausted and my brain is mush; I am sure Lourdes is wondering how the heck I was allowed on this trip with my 3-year old child spanish :)
But I just wanted to fill y'all in on my very hectic and emotional day. Yet, as I said....I AM HERE and that is what matters!
Much love xox

So very close...

Okay - so I leave in technically 3 days. And I'm officially FREAKING out. Of course I have not packed yet, but I did make a list - which is pretty good if I do say so myself.
I have been waiting for YEARS for this adventure to come, but now that it's finally here, I don't know what to do or how to feel. I guess I have to take it just one day at a time...