3 x 5

Thursday, 6:07 p.m.

I wrote the following while staring out the window on the drive home:

There is so much beauty in Spain, and photos won't do the scenery justice.

Ever listened to John Mayer?

In 3 x 5 he sings:

"Didn't have a camera by my side this time,

Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes."

We're on the bus home from Burgos right now, making our way through the Spanish countryside, and I can't even begin to describe it's beauty. Photos don't do it justice - and believe me, I've tried to capture the beauty.

To continue John Mayer:

"Today I finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame."

I did. I realized that some things can't be captured. Too often I find myself looking at everything through my camera rather than actually appreciating what's right in front of me. Some moments just need to be enjoyed without anything distracting us.

Right now I see lush green hills with grass rolling like waves as the wind moves it along. Heavy gray clouds are casting dark shadows on the grass, creating a mottled black and green pattern. The hills are dotted with trees, flowers, and the occasional quintessential Spanish home - small and white with a red roof. Cows and horses graze and roam, contained to their pastures by low stone walls.

It's peaceful and beautiful. Here's the one shot I snapped with my phone before realizing that some things just have to be enjoyed:

English Night

Friday, 1:02 a.m.

I know what you all are thinking – how in the world was Abbie up so late? In Spain terms, however, I called it a night tonight rather early. The streets were just starting to get loud and the night was just beginning for most. I, on the other hand, was extremely tired and knew I’d only become more of a party pooper as the night wore on, so I decided to call it an evening.

I’m sitting here without internet once again, so this post will have to wait until I can get to Mercado del Este later. I really despise not having internet. I used my phone over here to make a one minute, 17 second phone call to Jonny, just so I could have some contact with him…but that probably cost me at least a euro…which is like a dollar fifty. I’m not complaining though! It was worth every euro cent, but it just bums me out that getting in touch with people back home is so difficult without the internet.

Tonight a big group of us (almost our entire group) met up to go to Café Retro, a bar that features an “English Night” every few weeks.

I treated myself to the most delicious mojito in the world:

Then I got down to business! The bar has a trivia game for all of us English-speakers to play, so we formed some teams and set out to answer random questions. Not going to lie – these were difficult. They involved kilometers and random facts about things I had not a clue about.

I did pretty well in the facial recognition part of the game (thank you, Perez Hilton!), as well as in the music recognition (obviously everyone would get “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynard Skynard, but how many would get “House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals? Or know the title and artist of “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers? I owe my vast expanse of music knowledge to my dad and uncle).

The response I felt most proud of was one that only my group answered correctly – all thanks to my love of words. The question was something along the lines of “What commonly consumed food’s name literally translates to ‘cooked twice’?” I sat there saying ‘bi…bi…bi…bi…’ to myself for the next few questions. We moved on with the game and when the questions were repeated at the end I declared the answer to be “biscuit” and called it good.

I was so excited when the scores had been tallied and it was announced that only one group got the correct answer – biscuit. I literally shrieked in celebration – a lot of these questions were really difficult and only answered correctly by European English-speakers, so being the only one in the entire bar with the right answer kind of went straight to fluffing my ego.

I felt like we had won after that…it didn’t matter that we pretty much failed the game overall. That one question made it all worth it!

After the game was over, we wandered to another section of town. By that time I was dragging and exhausted, so I called it a night and now I’m getting ready to hit the hay.

Tomorrow (today) is Saturday and should be a pretty good day in Santander. Sara and I are going to meet with my conversation partner in the afternoon, then I hope to get a run, some studying, and a nap in before the evening’s festivities. I’m not really into the whole “going out” experience, but it sure beats sitting home alone on a Friday night! That’s considered lame even in U.S. standards, so in Spain it just wouldn’t fly.

I love and miss you all and hope to talk to you soon! Keep crossing those fingers (and maybe toes) that I find internet again soon!

♥ abigail