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

Señorita Johnson

A common topic of discussion amongst my peers is how our first Spanish teachers "ruined our lives."

Clearly, this is an exaggeration. But let me explain.

When we all first start learning Spanish, we learned the present-tense conjugation:

o amos

as --

a an

See those little dashes? Our teachers all told us that we would never ever ever use the vosotros form. Unless we were in Spain.

We breezed right on past the vosotros form with Señorita Johnson in middle school. She insisted it wasn't necessary - you only use in in Spain.

That's all.

Just Spain.

Where I'm studying right now.

How were my teachers willing to predict that none of us would ever go to Spain? I don't think anyone else from my middle school has, but hey - shouldn't we at least have had the option to learn something that could be potentially useful?

It's really not that big of a deal. I'm not as bitter as this post is making me sound. I just find it highly amusing that most teachers in the U.S. (all that I have had anyway) have swiftly bypassed teaching the vosotros form, always saying it wasn't useful unless you were in Spain.

And here I am in Spain...and it is used all the time. Teachers here use it constantly when speaking with us, and we hear it a lot when receiving instruction. Luckily we all know about the vosotros form and understand its conjugation...but my advice to anyone studying Spanish would be to learn that form anyway.

Even if you only use it in Spain.

♥ abigail

Inspiración

Many of you know my love of quotes - my walls, bulletin boards, and desks have been adorned with them for as long as I can remember. Lately my obsession has been page-a-day calendars (I have five).

I decided to bring one of them with me to Spain, and it was as if the calendar knew I'd need an extra pick-me-up once I got here. Call it what you want (I say it was a God-thing), but this is what my calendar said on Friday, March 25 (the day I arrived in Santander):

"Bloom where you are planted."

- Nancy Reader Campion

By the way - I tried to take pictures of these and post them so it would be more believable and dramatic, but I couldn't figure out why it wasn't posting the photos rotated like they are in my iPhoto, plus my stolen internet is being rather poky this morning, so me typing them out will have to do!

The next day, I was still in my "I need to go home right now" stage, and this was the quote I was faced with:

"I have always believed that God never gives us a cross to bear larger than we can carry. No matter what, He wants us to be happy, not sad. Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't we?"

- Rose Kennedy

Not that studying in Spain is really a huge burden or cross to bear...but when you first get to a new place, far from everything you know and love? Yes, it's quite a burden.

A few days later, this was the quote of the day:

"Above all, challenge yourself. You may well surprise yourself at what strengths you may have, what you can accomplish."

- Cecile M. Springer

So whether you believe these to be a freaky coincidence or God telling me to give myself a chance here in this new city, these quotes have been helpful to me. They remind me to take everything a day at a time and to challenge myself while I'm here. I won't be gone forever, and when I arrive home I want to know that I took advantage of every opportunity on this trip, pushing myself to get the most out of it that I could.

I think that's enough cheesiness for the day, don't you?

It's been a lazy Sunday morning and afternoon here...I still haven't found a church (not for a lack of churches - they're more common than grocery stores here, I swear! - but for a lack of signs saying which type of church it is. Odds are that I'd walk into a Catholic one, but given that it's me and I'm confused, I could walk into a different denomination by mistake) so today I changed my sheets, cleaned up my room, and sent some e-mails.

This is probably how the day is going to go. Later this afternoon I might venture out, but it's supposed to be rather rainy this afternoon so it might be a day to study and read in my room. I'll keep you posted!

♥ 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