::Mad-town::

Gahhh!!! Forgive me, peeps - this week past week has been such a whirlwind I have had absolutely NO time to tell you all about my FANTASTIC weekender to Madrid.  One word can sum it up: wow.  The culture/the people/the places are just incredible.
So...I'll start from the beginning:
We (8 other chicks and I) flew out on Friday night and quickly had to learn how to navigate the metro system (let us just say that good thing i was not by myself otherwise I probably would have been a) stuck at the airport or b) riding around the metro forever). Note: it is NOT fun lugging around a wheely-suitcase in a metro car that is chuck-full of people. We kind of got lost trying to find our hostel, but it was NOT our fault because the building with the street sign on it (yes, they don't have regular street signs, the names of the streets are on plaques on the side of buildings - NOT  a fun game) was under construction, so the sign was not visible.  All there was left was a piece of cardboard with the street name penciled on. Cool...NOT! But, we did find our hostel, but the guy on duty ended up walking us to the sister hostel, which was only 2 blocks away, and we got all settled.  Our room was pretty sweet, but we didn't have much time before we had to leave to go to a bar-crawl!  This bar-crawl was kind of a bust.  We really didn't know where the meeting spot was because in the directions it was super oober vague - should've been our first clue to NOT go.  When we saw this old, wanna-be cool dude, we knew that was our guy.  After giving us bracelets, we were off to the bars.  The first stop: the 3rd dimension.  This tiny bar was jam-packed with some crazy characters and played music from Shania Twain to 50's jams.  We were all VERY confused as to what the heck we got ourselves into.  Our guide disappeared for a bit and of course we were ready to leave....so we waited and attempted to make the most of it - harder than expected.  When trekked to the next bar which was DEFS more fun :)  Then, after we took our 2 free tequila shots [LALALA - parents!], we walked to another bar that was wacky crazy.  At that point, some of the girls were FEEL-IN' IT ("present" company not included), as well as our tour guide.  GREAT!  We ended up at a discoteca (bumpin' dance club) and by this time, our guide was shot - I had to stop him from walking away and somewhat scolded him for leaving us.  But, we got in without a problem and sin (without) our guide.  We were groovin' and jammin' and I was in need of a beverage, so I mosied on over to the bar and order a drink...which to my surprise was TEN EURO!!!  Good lord have mercy on my bank account.  As I'm waiting for my change, I feel a tug on my purse.  I look over and see some dude's hand in my (what was zipped) purse!!! OH HELL NAW!  So I look at him while slapping his hand and yell "NO!" in his face, and he just casually disappears.  Thank goodness I just had my lip gloss and gum in there. PHEWF.  So after that, it was just time to go.  But wait....we had NO idea where we were.  Right.  Oi vey.  So, I just followed whoever "knew" where they were going and we finally made it back to the hostel around 7am (after a bit of a cat fight....not fun at all).
Needless to say, Celina, Tessa, Aimee, Alice (my roomies) and I slept til about 3pm - it was glorious.  After getting ready and attempting to look like human beings, we set off for Gran Via - a major shopping street.  WE.FOUND.STARBUCKS.  It was like a god-send.  I had a venti Soy Chai Tea Latte and I about died.  We walked around for a while, shopped a bit, and then headed back to the hostel to get our tickets for....a REAL MADRID SOCCER GAME!!!  It was absolutely incredible.  The energy from the crowd was so crazy - we were all pretty jazzed that we were watching CRISTIANO RONALDO play soccer (**please see picture below).  Pure epic-ness.  It was truly a once in a life-time opportunity.  AND Real Madrid won 2-0 against Levante.  Boooooyah baby!
After going out to dinner and attempting to find our way back to the hostel, we all slept like babies.  On Sunday, we got going around 10 and set off to see the sights of Madrid.  We took a tour of the Palacio Real (the palace) which was INCREDIBLE!  Even though we only saw 50 out of the 2,800 rooms, I was awestruck.  As we were leaving, there is this grand marble staircase, and I, being a princess in another life, just HAD to have my shining moment - this moment was caught by Celina who asked "Liv...are you pretending you're a princess?"  GAH! She knows me too well.  We left the palace and headed towards some food - I'm not going to say where we ate because some may judge, but we got bang for our buck.  ANYWAY, we then walked to La Plaza Mayor, which had a huge horse statue and so many different kind of artists (painters, magicians, weird people, and the bubble man).  It was the perfect spot to just chill and people-watch....Spain has some winners, let me tell you. After the Plaza Mayor, we hiked over to Puerta del Sol which had some crazies...like legit crazies (**please see pictures below) but it also has the statue "Oso y el Madroño" (the bear and the "strawberry" tree), which my friend Aimee (aka Twinner, aka Kip/Kipper) was in LOVE with.  And finally, as all of our feet were ready to fall off and our bodies ready to crumble, we made it to the Prado (famous museum).  I even have a contraband picture of Adam and Eve that was being renovated! SHHHH!  Don't tell.  The Prado is truly amazing - and a bit hard to maneuver through - but, honestly, crazy cool.  I even saw an altarpiece that was done by a Fra Angelico in the 1430s - whom I wrote a fantastic religion paper on, if I do say so myself.  I would have never thought that I would have the opportunity to actually see one of his pieces, up close and personal.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it was.  But, we all had turned into slugs and were ready to peace out and hit the hay.  After going out for tapas (like appetizers), we walked back to the hostel...in the rain (I thought we could get away from rain for ONE weekend....I thought wrong!).  Again, we slept like babies and then next morning we headed to the train station to go to Toledo!  What an incredible city.  Breathtaking.  The only drawback (besides the pebble roads which did NOT like my feet) was that most of the tourist attractions were closed on Mondays!!! POO.  Aside from that, our day - which had flip-flop weather - was pretty nifty!  We saw El Greco's house (an artist, who's house was converted into a museum...that wasn't open), a fun little park where we frolicked, Alcazar (the palace...which was closed), the cathedral, and we even went to a torture exhibit (weird/strange, I know) (**please see pictures below).  We left Toledo in the nick of time (clouds were rolling in) and headed back to Madrid were we grabbed our bags, checked out of the hostel and trekked it back to the airport.  At this point, we were all exhausted and loopy - always a great look.
All in all, Madrid was absolutely amazing and if I am lucky enough to make it back here (Spain, in general), I would LOVE to go back to Madrid!  There's just too many things to see in one weekend.  


Pictures (in no particular orderrr):

The fountain in front of the Palacio Real

Me in front of my new residence (lucky #14)

The girls! (Celina, Tessa, Me, Alice, Aimee)

BOB ESPONGE y PATRICK in Puerta del Sol

Chewbacca....in Spain??

In front of "Oso y el Madroño"

-Plaza Mayor-

"Love Locks" - people write their initials on padlocks and lock them to something (in this case, on a gate encompassing a statue).  How precious!

BUBBLES!!!

El Prado (museum)

Adam & Eve

Toledo!!! How COOL!?

My knight in shining armor. 

Lovely ladies in ze park (Alice, Aimee, Me, Tessa, Celina)

The new and improved Kipper!

Alcazar (I think...)

The Cathedral - which was free for Spaniards but 8euro for anyone else...NOT cool

Torture Exhibit! We were all quite nauseous afterwards...

Leaving Toledo...

The wall of a bar - wacky banans!

A gift from God himself.

Me at the Real Madrid game!!! (Our seats were 2 rows from the back = outside space)

Cristiano Ronaldo - "OLIVIA! I LOVE YOU!"

But my loves, I must get to studying for my test tomorrow...it's not going to be pretty. Wish me luck!!!  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow - and how my new volunteering place (Os Tilos - an after school/work program for kids from babies - teens) goes.  

xox Sending my love home, over five thousand miles! xox

PS - got a package from Adi and Derrick (with some things from Jimmy Jambo and Aunt Kim) today :) VERY HAPPY! Now, just waiting on my mommy's package to get here!!!!

I'm still here!

I know it's been a while - not too much has gone on with me lately. But here's the low-down that has "accumulated" over these past couple of weeks:

A) my "gay-dar" has literally chucked a spazz.  Men dress so nicely here I'm totally thrown off...and they (for the most part) are all so pretty.  In the US, a girl is lucky to see a guy in jeans and a nice shirt, but in Europe - jeans, a nice shirt, a sweater, nice shoes and a sexy scarf.  Gah! I could just die.  They are all just so....CUTE!

B) as you all are aware (because of my constant complaining), we are required to do 40 hours of community service and I was signed up for "Hospilandia" - an after-school program for kids who have cancer and are in the hospital and I do believe for other students as well.  As it turns out, there are literally 20 helpers, and about 8 kids at MAXIMUM.  So, needless to say the 3 Americans were of absolutely NO help. Epic fail.  But, last week Tuesday, the mean/crotchety/rude boss asked for one of us to help a young girl, Sarah, with her English.  I volunteered and sat down next to her.  I introduced myself and you could tell we were both VERY nervous....I take that back, she was nervous and I was a nervous WRECK!  My oh my.  She didn't have her english book with her, so another girl went to get hers, but supposedly the weren't the same book - I don't know.  I was just so overwhelmed at that point.  So I asked her what she wanted to know/have clarification on and what not and she was just staring at me.  Cool.  So the boss lady was like "Why don't you teach her the verb 'to be'?"  HAHAHA! Ummm OKAY.  Let me get right on that, lady.  Now, for those of you who may not know, in spanish they have 2 verbs for the verb "to be" -- "ser" and "estar".  (**How you feel and where you are, always use the verb "estar" - I swear this is my lifeline).  So, I had to think of examples in english, write them in spanish, and then have her translate them back into english - much easier said than done, that is for sure.  I was very surprised with her vocabulary.  But, man oh  man that probably was one of the most, if not THE most difficult thing I have had to do since being in Spain.  But although I was "lucky" enough to help Sarah, Tessa and Tonya had the privilege of making soda-tab bracelets....oh joy!  When I "finished" helping Sarah (I think she had had enough of me), I went over to help with bracelets - because all of the kids have homework in Gallego, a different form of Castellano - "normal" Spain spanish (Gallego = mix between Castellano and Portuguese), and obviously we have enough trouble with spanish so we were kind of useless there.  The boss lady even said that they had too many helpers and that we should look for another place to volunteer.  GREAT.  I am just SO over the disorganization that is in my program here. Oi vey.  So, I guess we will just see what is available for me next week - wish me luck!

C) today (Wednesday the 16th) we had an "international student" outing where we learned about (and attempted to perform) a traditional Galician dance.  They instructors took us through the traditional instruments, their clothing and then, finally, song and dance!  It was so crazy - I, of course not being quick to pick up on things, was struggling with the song (which I ended up, as Celina said, sounding like a Cherokee Indian more than a Chica Espanola). and don't even get me started on the dance.  But once they demonstrated about 30 gazillion times, I think I started to get the hang of it (but there was a lot of jumping and hopping and such - NOT a good look for me!).  After practicing on our own for a bit, we got in 2 lines and were dancing with partners.  My partner was the fabulous Tonya - and we were ON POINT, if I do say so myself.  Hot damn! I ended up just letting loose and, although my dance steps weren't always 100% correct, I had a blast!  We were there with other international students - mostly from Japan - and they were....interesting/funny/I have no clue how to describe them!  But I know they definitely added funness to the atmosphere.

Here's a youtube link to see what we learned (YES, those are Galician bagpipes playing!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EaQfp8rsVA&feature=related
**Sidenote: they are professionals and we didn't look like this in the least :)

Annnnnddd I totally fell for our instructor - 91% chance he plays for the other team, but a girl can dream.  He was just so cute, he could dance and he had the sharpest RayBan "nerd" glasses everrr! Ugggghhhhhh.

D) the weather is freezing and WACKY! Today, there were at least 5 torrential downpours, interrupted by 15 minutes of sun.  My mind cannot fathom what is going on.  I need my bombie.  I need my sunglasses.  I need my bombie AND my sunglasses.  I need my winter jacket (which, of course, I was told that I didn't need - LIES!).  I don't need a jacket.  JUST PICK A TEMPERATURE AND STICK WITH IT! Gah!  My wardrobe and hair are just so confused.


So my friends, this is my life in Spain.  Nothing TOO wacky.  I'm just keepin' it real.  This weekend I'm off to Madrid with 8 other chicks, so it should be a ball - I'll be sure to take a million pictures.

Much love to all <3

OUUUUCH!!!

So, my lovies - we all know that I am VERY clumsy.  A prime example would be that I broke my ankle in gym class...because I stepped on Harrison's foot. COOL! I guess I thought that if I jumped overseas, my clumsiness would not follow me. Buuuut, I found out yesterday that was not the case.

EPIC FAIL:
Because no one wears comfies to school like I do in the US (uggs/tennies, sweats and possibly a hat if my hair is really having a good day), I actually have to dress like a human (jeans/leggings, boots, sweater, scarf, jacket, hair in a little chignon).  Ugghh it totally cuts into my sleep time, but whatevs.  Anyyyyway, I was walking to school with my friend Tessa and I was wearing, as we call them, my "cat-woman" boots - gorgeous, knee-high leather boots with a hard heel (the kind of heel that makes the really cool noise when you walk; one of my favorite sounds!). As I'm crossing the intersection, which by the way is SUPER OOBER busy (way busier than usual, probably because we were running a bit behind schedule), I totally WIPE OUT.  Literally.  I just fall to the ground.  I was in shock. I had no idea what was happening, except that I needed to get up and off the street ASAPPERS!  Of course I was laughing the whole time - I mean, imagine if you were in one of the trillion cars stopped at the intersection and you see this chick walking like her s**t don't stank and then all of the sudden she just disappears!  Wow. I'm laughing as I'm typing this because I am reliving this very traumatic experience and I cannot believe it happened.  So, yada yada walking some more and then....IT HAPPENS AGAIN!!!! I have no clue what happened but my foot slipped out from under me and WHOOOOSH!!! I slam my knee into the cobblestone and watch my apple roll down the hill. This time, I started mumble-yelling some very choice words as tears streamed down my cheeks.  This time, I was NOT laughing. Really, Olivia...? TWICE?!?  My body cannot handle this. And today I am feelin' it - OUCH-III-WAWA!  I feel as though I have a peg-leg *said in British accent* [NAME THAT MOVIE - The Great Mouse Detective]
To continue with my horrible day that probably started because Lourdes woke me up at 8:20, when I don't actually wake up until 8:43 (the kitchen clock was set WAY fast and she thought that that was the real time... Lord knows I was NOT a happy camper!), my phone fell out of my pocket and skidded across the floor.  And obviously I was unable to bend at the knee, since I swear it was broken [NOT actually broken, readers - it just felt that way].  ANNNDDD we had a test during first period.  At that point, I was ready to just bust out the doors and walk back home.  Needless to say, I was in pain, sleep deprived and just wanted to cry my eyes out and NOT be bothered. But, I persevered :) YAY ME! My knee, on the other hand, has not recovered as quickly...poo!  It doesn't help that I walk EVERYWHERE.  Just give me a patch to put over my eye and I would be the best real-life pirate with a peg-leg ever. 

Anywhoooo...my life is just kinda the same (plus some added pain and humiliation).  Today, though, I feel a bit more home sick than usual. So, I think I am going to snuggle into my bajillion blankets and have a movie marathon.  These AMERICAN movies will include: Beauty and the Beast (my all-time favorite), Love Actually, Mama Mia!, Atlantis, Fantasia, The Holiday, Chocolat, The Pink Panther (every time I see a "smart" car, I start laughing uncontrollably because I envision the parking scene!), Hercules ("Coming, your most lugubriousness!"), Titanic, The Phantom of the Opera (mmmm Gerard Butler), and last but certainly not least, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  **Thank you Mumsie for the MUCH NEEDED package :)

Sending my love home - over almost 5,000 miles <3