the week seven wall

9:22 p.m.

Folks, I seem to have hit the week seven wall.

After a few weeks of a new term, the novelty starts to wear off. Once that happens, you're left with sheer motivation to do well. But once that wears off? The week seven wall. It's a beast of a wall that is hard to get past. I didn't realize that it existed in Spain, but here I am, face-to-face with it.

I think this wall is even bigger in Spain than it is back home. The week seven wall here is magnified due to already having passed the I'm sick of speaking Spanish wall, the Please, oh please, can I sleep in my own bed again? wall, the Can I go home now? wall, the Are you sure this is edible? wall, and the No, seriously, can I go home now? wall.

All of these walls are stacked up against one another, and them boom. Week seven comes around and you realize all motivation is gone, and all that it keeping you going is knowing that you're going to see your wonderful parents (who don't feed you rice and eggs at the same time), your lovely sisters (who speak perfect English at an extremely rapid pace; Hi Samantha and Kendall!), your precious yet precocious brother (who does not use a potty chair to poop in the living room like other young boys I know...Ramón...ew, right? Thank you for never doing that Zachary), and your sweet boyfriend (who is probably twice as tall as the average Spanish man) in approximately 24 days.

But who's counting?

I'm hoping to push through until the end of the term. I love what high GPAs can do for my cumulative GPA, which has been climbing steadily this year. I know that as long as I keep working hard I can do well in all of my classes...I just have to get past that darn wall.

I'm working on it.

In other news, I have a lot of random thoughts swimming around in my head...observe:

- Today my host mom told me I was getting really tan. And then said, "Que horror". Excuse me? How is my lovely brown hue a horror?

- This afternoon I was jogging. The sidewalk was packed, so I was on a narrow strip of it on the other side of the flower beds where no one goes unless they're moving too fast for the crowd. There's only room for one person, so I moved over for the legit runners I encountered, and they all gave me that runner nod that apparently isn't meant to be intimidating but to communicate appreciation or acknowledgment or something. It made me feel cool.

- I saw someone who looks exactly like my Great Uncle Len on the Paseo this afternoon. Granted, he was probably a foot shorter...but still. I see so many look-alikes when I'm here! But this one was almost spot on, except for the height difference.

- In class today we talked about house I admire from the beach every time I see it. It belongs to the owner of the Bank of Santander, whose last name (ironically) is another word for "thief".

- My birthday is in approximately 32 days. So is Samantha's graduation. Just throwing that out there.

- I kicked butt in my grammar class today. Is it bad that I relish when a certain person gets answers wrong? Only because they think they know everything and I find it amusing when they're completely off. And when I'm right. At the same time. Oh, sweet victory.

- I want raw veggies. Really badly. And a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Some cheddar cheese wouldn't hurt. Or ice! I miss ice.

- I always feel like someone is going to come over and kick me out of the market when they realize I'm stealing their WiFi...one of these days I should buy something here. I pay to use their bathroom, does that count?

- Public restrooms are few and far between here. There are random "pay-per-use" toilets strewn about along the Paseo, but I try to avoid those...I've used the market's bathroom before, and it was worth the 20 euro cents. Cleanest "public" restrooms in Spain, hands down!

See? Random.

Hope you all had a simply lovely Tuesday. Don't let the week seven wall get you down!

♥ Abigail

cuatro de mayo

Wednesday, 7:55 p.m.

This week is flying by. I can't believe it's already Wednesday! I wrote a post yesterday but it's currently hanging out on my laptop and I'm on a school computer at the Paraninfo, so I'm just going to try to remember what I wrote yesterday and then go from there!

Yesterday was a pretty good day school-wise. My class arrived at school to find out that our professor was sick, so we received worksheets to work on during our class time. I, being the annoying over-achiever that I am, took advantage of this time and actually did the worksheets, then spent my time catching up on correspondence (aka Facebook and e-mail time).

We then started our España Actual class, which is going to be really interesting. We're learning a little about the history of Spain mixed with current events by reading articles and stories, as well as giving presentations in class. It seems like an easy A...but forget I said that, in case it jinxes me.

Next we had our culture class and got our tests back. I got an A and was quite pleased with myself. I like when my studying pays off, and this time it really did. A lot of people in the class didn't do as well as they liked, an occurance that they blamed on the class being 'too hard', but was something I attributed to their lack of studying.

I got home for lunch on my 'I just got an A' high, and my host mom could tell. We talked during lunch about my classes and how I'm doing well. She was singing my praises, telling me that it's so great that I have the ability to balance everything in Spain, from classes and studying to actually enjoying myself. Being the nerd that I am, I told her that I actually enjoy studying, to which she responded that she can tell. I'm that big of a nerd...I'm just going to go with it!

There are a lot of people on this trip who I feel are struggling with finding a good balance. I'm usually pretty good at managing my time, and here I'm even better at it. The lack of internet coupled with the motivation to do really well in all of my classes are all it takes to force me to buckle down and work hard. I never feel too crunched for time, even when I have a lot going on, because I know that I have enough time to do everything.

My time management has allowed me to start and finish seven books here (If my count is correct. And I've only been here for five-and-a-half weeks, so I'll let you do the math), while in Corvallis I can usually only finish one or two books a term...I guess this means that when I'm back in school in Corvallis I need to limit my internet usage and TV watching and my senior year can be an enjoyable time rather than a stressed one.

We'll see if that ends up happening. Old habits die hard, you know?!

I went for a run along the Paseo before returning home to study and (surprise, surprise) read before bed.

Today was another decent day. My teacher was sick yet again, but we had another teacher come in and teach us for an hour. I spent the remaining 45 minutes of class in the computer lab figuring out my schedule for next fall. I used the new 'MyDegrees' program and was thrilled to see that I am right on track for graduation - success!

We had España Actual, which went well, but then there was culture class...and that's where it all went downhill. Not that it was that bad. I was just extremely frustrated the entire time. A lot of my classmates were talking during the entire class, and it was really starting to irritate me. I find it incredibly disrespectful to the teacher and the other students. I was so distracted by the talking and eventually took to shooting people dirty looks (though I was tempted to chuck my eraser at someone) before finally resorting to shushing people (an act I try to avoid, as it makes me look like more of a goody-two-shoes than I actually am and reminds me far too much of high school).

I went home for lunch, went for a run, had a nice little Skype date with Jonny, then headed to the Paraninfo to get some serious internet time in. I'm currently trying to find a job in either Eugene or Corvallis, but it's proving to be difficult from so far away. If anyone hears of anything, feel free to let me know!

Tomorrow brings the last day of school for the week. My grammar test has been officially moved to sometime next week, so I have a nice homework-free night ahead of me. Book number eight has been started...I think I'll see how far I can get before bedtime!

♥ Abigail

El seis de abril

I need to take a moment and tell you all how tired I am. SO tired. Falling asleep during class (turn the lights off and I'm gone!), falling asleep at the beach, falling asleep while taking a test this evening...not that I'm complaining! I actually enjoy being tired - it makes falling asleep somewhere that isn't home much easier, plus it means that my day wasn't a complete waste.

Today I had my usual classes, then raced home to scarf down lunch before heading to the beach with most of the group. The beach we went to (Playa de Sardinero) is about a 40 minute walk from my house, so it's a bit of a schlep, but it's such a pretty walk!

For instance, this is what I saw on my way:

It was definitely another beautiful day in Santander - it was 27˚ C, which means it was 80˚ F...pretty nice for the start of April!

Everyone keeps telling us that this weather is out of the ordinary for this time of year in Spain, but I'm just going with it. I've decided that it's a reward for all the rainy days during spring term last year.

We stayed at the beach for around at hour-and-a-half (with sunscreen this time, so no sunburn for me!) before going to take a test to determine our language aptitude. Or something. We'll take it again at the end of our time here, obviously improving by leaps and bounds. I think.

The test was more annoying than anything else - it didn't specify how long we needed to write for, and the spoken portion was a pain in the butt! We had to wear headsets and speak into a microphone, which is really odd to do in a silent classroom. We all sat around looking at each other for a while before the first brave person finally started talking and we all followed suit.

I came home and ate dinner (early tonight - it was 8:30) and have been studying for my quizzes tomorrow for the past hour. Tomorrow brings a shorter day of classes and some more lovely weather - beach time once again!

♥ abigail

Another interesting meal...

3:12 p.m.

This afternoon I managed to choke down another interesting meal. I am afraid to ask what it is, lest I really despise it and proceed to gag, so I ate as much as I could stomach.

It was the same thing I had right when I got here - some sort of pea-looking vegetable with a few potatoes doused in some sort of tomato sauce...I helped myself to plenty of "bread" (it's the shape of a very tiny piece of bread with a crouton-like consistency) to help force it down. Tomato sauce really isn't my thing, and mixed with the texture of the peas (?)...blech!

Yesterday I spent my afternoon doing homework - it was pretty challenging. Then Sara and I went to Lupa and got snacks to take to school, plus dental floss (my teeth are so happy now!), then wandered down the Paseo for a while.

This morning I had my usual classes - grammar, conversation, and culture. I fell asleep in the culture class again...it's a struggle to get through! It's from 1:00 to 2:00, so at that point "breakfast" is a distant memory and my hunger makes it hard to focus. Add in a dark classroom and just being tired in general, and you have a sleepy girl who nods off for at least 10 minutes per class.

I hope I didn't miss anything important.

Sara and I decided we need to run at least three times a week, so that will be happening at some point this afternoon. I have no homework today, so after the run I'll probably wander around with my friends until dinner time, after which I will (somewhat) promptly fall into bed. My classes start at 9:00 instead of 9:15 tomorrow, but those extra few minutes of sleep are crucial to me (they are the difference between being awake for the entire culture class or not).

I'll try to find something interesting to take pictures of today so my next post will be more interesting...it's looking like a beach day, so it might be something in that area :)

♥ abigail

An interesting meal...

3:06 p.m.

Picture the following food:

- White rice

- Canned tuna

- Some sort of white cheese

- Deli ham

By themselves they're all decently passable food (I say passable because I don't really like white rice and I prefer turkey to ham).

Are you picturing all those foods?

Now picture them cold.

And now - here's the kicker - picture them all mixed together.

That was lunch today. Rice with chunks of tuna, cheese, and ham, all swimming happily together in the tuna water.

I feel as if it is an acquired taste...one that I don't expect to acquire any time soon.

I chased it down with four cups of water (my host mom's cousin commented that I seemed very thirsty today) and an orange.

I am one of the pickiest eaters in the world, but while I'm here if I'm picky, I won't eat. I've learned that I'd rather eat gross food than no food, but today's eating was really forced.

In other news, I have a lot of homework today. It's strange.

And in other other news, today is my lovely Aunt Gwen's birthday. Happy birthday Gwen!

[[Gwen and I at the Library of Congress in June 2008.]]

Now I am off to brush my teeth and gargle with mouthwash until I can no longer taste lunch. And then I will be doing homework until Sara and I go to Lupa (the grocery store near us) to procure nail polish remover, dental floss, and candy. The lack of sugar in my life is becoming a problem. Hope you all have a good day!

♥ abigail

Palacio de Magdalena

So this was my Friday afternoon...

[[Brooke, Kyla, me, Becca, Amanda, and Sara on our way to the beach.]]

This was my Friday evening...

[[Sara and I enjoying a glass of cava.]]

For those of you who don't know my "night life" habits...there's really not a lot to know. I tend to stay in - I would much rather watch a movie or relax than go out and drink. I figure I should experience some of the night life while I'm here, but honestly? I'd much rather stay home and curl up with a book. It's cheaper (free even!) and it makes me happy.

The group of girls I've been hanging out with seems to be a little more adventurous than I am, but after our long day in the sun yesterday, we were all ready to call it a night at 12:30 a.m. (very early in Spain - Brooke's host mom wasn't going out until 1:00 a.m.).

This morning I slept in a little before Sara and I met up to wander around the shopping district of town. We do a lot of looking but not a lot of buying. This isn't due to lack of interest, but to lack of funds. I've decided that "Well, I'm in Spain" isn't going to be a good enough excuse for me to drop 15 euros on a shirt that I would probably only be willing to spend $15 on in the U.S. (15 euros is about $22 USD).

Another note on shopping - today two women in two separate stores came up to me and started to talk to me because they thought I worked at the store. I must look like I belong here or something!

We returned home for lunch (delicious garbonzo bean soup) and then met up with our friends at 4:00 to go to the Palacio de Magdalena.

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was at Alton Baker Park in Eugene...

[[These are one of the exhibits at the "zoo"...there are also penguins and seals.]]

Clearly we weren't at Alton Baker when we saw this:

[[This is the back of Palacio de Magdalena. It was built in 1908 to be a vacation home for the royal family, if I understood the sign correctly.]]

Or this:

[[The lighthouse by the palace.]]

And then we got to this:

[[The front of the palace.]]

And that was my day in a nutshell. I am immensely tired and am going to be what most would consider lame tonight - I'm staying home to do homework, and Skype with people back home...I think it will be a lovely end to this week :)

♥ abigail

Friday afternoon

This is what my Friday afternoon looked like:

This morning Sara, Becca and I went on a run and were out for an hour (no Zach, I wasn't running the whole time...so don't be too proud of me). We went home and got cleaned up and ate, then went to the beach for a half hour (plus the hour walk, round-trip) before returning home for lunch. After lunch we left for the beach and were in the sun for another three-and-a-half hours.

So that explains the sunburns I have...my shoulders are cooked and have clear tan lines from that lovely purple dress pictured above. I also sport a swimsuit burn line, an apple-shaped burn line from my necklace, and a cross-body bag burn line.

It's so pretty...

Not!

I blame Spain's strong sun and lack of sunscreen - we went to several pharmacies, a couple grocery stores, and some convenience stores looking for it. Apparently it's only sold at make-up stores, where we never thought to look. I was wearing sunscreen at the beach, round two, but by then it was too late.

I'm planning on buying a big ol' bottle of it, plus a huge floppy sun hat (sorry Jonny!) to protect me from burning any further.

Regardless of the burn, I had a lovely day in the Spanish sunshine :)

♥ abigail

Culture Shock!

I think what I'm experiencing these days is culture shock. I feel completely out of my element, but not in a bad way. Everything here is so different...there's no organized way to explain it all, so I thought I'd make a list of things that are different from back home...

• The street signs here are hard to find. They're on the sides of buildings most of the times, but not consistently. They're often really hard to spot, so I really only know a few streets (the one I live on, the one near the university, and the one near the water).
• The meal times are definitely throwing off my groove! Breakfast is usually around 8:00 a.m. (before I leave for school) and consists of hot chocolate, peach juice, and a few tostadas. Lunch isn't until 2:45 p.m. (when I get home from school). I'm so hungry by lunchtime, it's crazy. It's usually a random assortment of fried food, eggs, and potato chips, followed by a piece of fruit. I haven't really had anything I've enjoyed yet. I don't eat dinner until 9:00 p.m., and it usually consists of something small - a weird omelet type thing, a little chicken...I get a little container of yogurt for dessert. I haven't really seen any vegetables since I've been here...I really need to find a multi-vitamin!
• The store hours are different because they coincide with mealtimes. Cafés tend to be open most often, but everything else is on a pretty weird schedule (to me, anyway). Shops don't open until around 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., then close around 2:30 p.m. for lunch before opening again at 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. A lot of stores close around 10:00 p.m., but places like bars are open later (I'm not sure how late, but people in my group were out until 5:00 a.m. on Saturday night).
• The menus in restaurants are hard to come by. Foods they serve are often listed somewhere on a wall or behind a counter, but prices are never listed. Service is much more relaxed (aka slower), and the check takes forever to get to your table. Water isn't offered to you (I don't ask for it either, because some places like to charge you for it).
• The napkins at restaurants are more like tissue paper. Try to wipe chocolate off your face (courtesy of your churros con chocolate, por supuesto) with that...ouch!
• Toilets don't have handles like they do at home. Instead they have a button on top that you push. Some of them have teeny tiny (maybe two inches long) handles instead of a button that are like miniature versions of many public restroom toilet handles in the U.S.
• Public restrooms cost money. I haven't investigated how much because they tend to be pretty dirty. I've seen kids escape the fee by crawling under the turnstile to get inside.
• Restrooms run out of toilet paper more quickly than they do here. The bathrooms only have one roll per stall, and often it's out. Thank goodness my Uncle Dru sent me over with an 8-pack of tissues! I keep one in my purse and one in my backpack, and have helped a few girls out because of his advice.
• Parents (and grandparents) push babies around in buggies, not strollers. They are so precious.
• People dress nicely for everything. Outfits that I've been wearing (that I would consider nice in the U.S.) don't hold a candle to what the locals wear! It seems that right now, no outfit is complete without stylish boots, a classy jacket, and a scarf. Looks like I need to do some shopping this weekend!
• People walk everywhere. I actually enjoy it. I have a lot of stairs and hills to climb everyday, but I figure the more I walk, the less I have to run! And the scenery here is beautiful. Plus there are so many things and people to see, that even if I walk the same route every day it would be completely different. This city is definitely made for walking.
• Drivers don't slow down for pedestrians. I'm very careful crossing streets and roundabouts...drivers don't slow down, so sometimes we brave it and sprint across the streets (which of course means that the drivers speed up and try to play "Hit the Tourist").
• Signs at crosswalks are different. They show how much time you have to wait to cross (I've seen up to 80 seconds), and then when you can cross a little green man on the sign runs. It's pretty cute.

That's all I can think of for now...I'm sure there's a ton more! None of these things bother me, it's just very different than back home and will take some getting used to!

Culturally Shocked,

Abigail ♥

A Glimpse of Spain

Today was my first day of school in Spain. This meant getting up at 7:15 to shower and eat "breakfast" (here that means I have a cup of hot chocolate, a teensy bit of juice, and tostadas, which are like little cookies) and get ready before meeting other people from the group to walk to school. It takes about 30 minutes, but is a really pretty walk. I finally have some pictures for you to see...enjoy!

Obviously I had to take a first day of school photo...this is in the entry of my apartment.

After taking my first day of school picture, I climbed down all 82 of these stairs to get outside. I do this several times a day and it really works my legs. I walk so much while I'm here, it's insane.

This photo is part of the view I have on my way to and from school, and the solid proof I'm in Spain! Today was really nice - about 60 degrees and sunny. It's starting to get cloudy (it's a little after 4:30 now), but I'm still sitting at my desk (stealing internet) with the window open.

This is Sara (my roommate at Oregon State) and I on our way home from school today. She lives just down the street from me here (although our streets have different names - her address is on Calle del Carmen and mine is on Calle del Sol).

Hope you enjoyed your first glimpse of Spain!

♥ abigail

Arrival (and meltdown) in Santander

Well everyone, I made it to Santander safe and sound. I'll try to get around to posting picture soon. Right now I'm too stoked about the fact that I found internet in my apartment to try and move at all to do much of anything.

This post is mostly about the journey here...it's not that interesting, but I don't want to forget anything about this trip!

At 5:30 a.m. (PST) on Friday, I started my journey to Santander – a journey that would lead me closer to confusion every step of the way, both literally and figuratively, over a 24 hour period.

I left my aunt and uncle’s house at 6:00 a.m. to go to the Seattle airport. After meeting Sara (my roommate at Oregon State), we started our real journey. Our first flight was from Seattle to Philadelphia. We left Seattle at 8:45, and arrived in Philadelphia at 4:40 p.m. (EST).

On that flight I accidentally broke a sink in the bathroom…I completely blame the sink because I swear I am not actually strong enough to break something with one hand. But I digress.

Our next flight left Philadelphia at 6:40 p.m. (EST) for Madrid. On this flight, Sara and I were cramped beyond good sense into our teensy-tiny seats. We arrived in Madrid around 7:00 a.m. (I’m not sure what time zone…but we definitely felt as if we had skipped over Thursday completely.)

This flight took us a little closer to confusion – more Spanish was spoken, and we were leaving the land of cell phone reception, no fees for debit cards, and all the comforts that English offers us.

We then went to our next gate and boarded a small plane for Bilbao around 8:15 a.m. (small is a relative term here, it still seemed pretty big to me). We boarded without too many problems – although there was slight confusion on when we boarded, since there were no back-up English announcements to the Spanish ones. I slept this entire flight (only an hour long), which somewhat helped me prepare for the journey ahead.

We got to Bilbao at 9:15 a.m., and immediately set off to find a city bus to take us to the bus station. I finally (bravely, I might add) asked a woman if the bus line we were in would in fact take us to our desired destination, and then we felt a little better about what was going on.

When we reached the bus station, a little more confusion set in – we had to figure out where to purchase tickets, where the bus was leaving from, and where to wait for it.

We had an encounter with a strange German man who took a liking to us – poor Sara got so much smoke exhaled into her face because this man had no sense of personal space and a love for his cigarettes. And singing random lines from popular songs by Michael Jackson...but again, I digress.

Eventually we boarded the bus to Santander, had a relaxing hour-and-a-half journey (for me anyway, I am thrilled by my ability to sleep on trips) to our home for the next few months.

Of course, we weren’t there yet – we arrived at the bus station in Santander, found a spot where we had Internet to update family and friends of our arrival, then set off to find a taxi.

The taxi took us to Sara’s apartment to drop off her bags, then we started what we thought would be a few-block trek to my apartment…it turns out that our houses are on the same street though, just with different names, so my apartment turned out to be about six down from hers.

We quickly dropped off my bags and set off to find a place to purchase phones so we could call home. We had no luck, since by this time it was almost 3:00 p.m. – the time shops close down so everyone can go home for lunch and a siesta.

After this quick trip (which took us to the paseo, the waterfront walkway only a few blocks from our house), we went our separate ways to join our host families for dinner...and that's when my freak-out started.

I began to panic - what was I doing here, so far from home and everyone that means the most to me? So far from understanding everything going on around me, so far from the comfort of having internet acces, so far from being able to contact everyone I need to at the push of a button.

I began to convince myself that I needed to go home - and now. I tried to nap, but couldn't fall asleep because I was too busy calculating how long it would take me to get back to an airport, thinking about whether or not I'd still get financial aid if I withdrew, figuring out how I'd navigate the confusion that is Spain by myself.

I wrote out an entry in my journal with all the important phone numbers I'd need - my advisors here and at home, financial aid, airlines, etc., so I could contact them once I found a phone. I even went as far as to repack my suitcase so I'd be ready to leave.

Sara and I met up at 7:00 to wander the streets again, and I told her I needed to go home. She didn't take it well at first...and who would? I clearly had not given the city a chance at all. She wasn't thrilled as I wrote e-mails and tried to get in touch with people (all without a phone, which further stressed me out), but eventually saw that I really was just homesick and sad that I couldn't talk to my family. She began to cheer me up as I began to acknowledge that the likelihood of me being able to go home soon was smaller than small - last-minute flights are incredibly expensive, and I definitely don't have an extra $3,000 lying around...not to mention so many people invested so much in me going on this trip.

After I talked myself through those logistics of money and potentially losing financial aid and having to navigate by myself, I realized that this experience won't be so bad.

Will it be challenging? Yes. In more ways than one - I know I'm going to miss my family and friends every day. I know the language is going to be difficult to grasp. I know I won't know exactly what is going on at all times. I know I won't be able to talk to whomever I want to talk with at every moment of the day.

I'm hoping that I'll overcome these challenges - sooner than later would obviously be best, but it's all a big process I suppose.

Sara and I decided that I need to stay busy right now. This morning we wandered around the city and finally got phones (I was able to make a quick call to Jonny, which helped me feel better about being gone. And family, I would have called you first but it was 2:57 a.m. and I figured none of you would answer). Later this afternoon we're going to take a walk to find the university and try to get our bearings in that regard.

Tonight we have a group dinner, so hopefully that will make me feel better too. In times like these, I really prefer to be surrounded by people...it's hard when I don't know where anyone lives and have no way to contact them! Tonight I hope to get to know some other people on the trip a little better and get to explore more of the city with them so I don't feel quite as alone.

Also tonight I hope to figure out how to use my phone card so I can actually call my family, which will help me feel even better about being so far away.

I knew I'd be homesick on this trip...I just didn't know it'd be this bad. I freaked out several people (Kendall, mom, Jonny, my advisors) by telling them I wanted to come home, but I'm hoping once I get settled in and start school and have more things to keep me occupied (as well as more available internet and ways of getting in touch with people), I'll start to feel smaller pangs of homesickness.

Any encouragement would be great - thanks to everyone who has sent me e-mails through this process...even when I don't have internet, if I've received them I can read them (and I read them over and over again, just so you know), and it encourages me to really try to enjoy myself. If anyone else wants to send me such e-mails, I wouldn't be opposed :) (silvaa@onid.orst.edu)

Hopefully I'll start taking more pictures here and be able to share a post with them soon. I'll also give details about my host family and all of that fun stuff.

Thanks for all your love and support!

♥ abigail