Four finals, two birthdays, and one new stereo later...

So happy to have finally made it through the disaster that was finals. I don't want to talk about them too much because, let's face it, that shit's boring. But I'll give you a quick synopsis of my last two weeks. My first final, Estructura Social de España, turned out to be on a different day than the professor had told us for the entire year. Luckily one of my EAP friends stopped by her office hours a few days before the final to find out it was earlier and in a different classroom. I missed my second final, Historia Contemporánea de las Américas, because Danielle and I heard the teacher say the test was at "dos y media", when all along she had said the test was at "doce y media". Luckily the test was offered again at 7:30pm that night, so we came home napped and studied a little more before taking the final for real. My third final on Cervantes was probably the scariest of them all, because for some reason Erin and I thought our final was on Thursday morning. But when Erin went to a study group Tuesday night she found out the final was actually Wednesday at 8:30 in the morning. Needless to say, I pulled my first all-nighter ever (for school purposes, of course). There was no major disaster with my fourth final on literary myths of Spain. I basically got to write another essay on Don Quijote.

After all the stressing and cramming, I'm so happy to be done with those classes. Those early mornings, the fight to stay awake (as you can observe in my extensive note-taking), and many a "cafe con leche para llevar por favor", has paid off and I probably learned a few things this semester like... the US civil war was fought between the northern whites and the southern slaves (???), Don Quijote is a lunatic who thought a flock of sheep was an army, Spaniards don't really like immigrants (unless their Chinese, since they're hard working), and... yeah I can't think of much else.

In between studying for finals I got to celebrate the birthdays of my two roomies, Danielle and Erin. When the clock ticked midnight on Danielle's birthday we surprised her with handle pulls, loud music, and we even made her do a birthday dance. Later that day we went to a delicious sushi restaurant off of Gran Via called 19 Sushi Bar. I ordered the dragon roll and it was delicious but I'm not so sure it rivals the dragon roll at Kyotos in Santa Barbara. Oh how I miss California food. Anyways, later that night we had a raging botellón (pregame) at our piso and then went out! Here's some fotos (not released on facebook yet by the way!).






Last night we celebrated Erin's birthday by going to La Mordida, a mexican food restaurant in Chueca. Santi and I shared nachos and fajitas de pollo. Q rico los nachos! While they don't even begin to rival Freebird's nachos, they do the job. Mexican food has definitely been one of the things I miss most about home. I'm shocked at how uncommon good Mexican food is here. I understand that Spain and Mexico have completely different cultures and blah blah blah, but c'mon, why does my Spaniard boyfriend not recognize refried beans on our plate of nachos? And why did he confuse the words frijoles and jalapeños once? I'm not surprised because he's spanish and should know, I'm surprised because I think EVERYONE should know the difference between jalapeños and frijoles.

We had a debate the other night when Santi claimed that spanish food had more variety than american food. Not possible. I've lived here for a solid 5 months and I've even grown to appreciate spanish food, but there's no way it has more variety than american food. The main ingredients of spanish food are: jamón, manchego cheese, bread, egg, jamón, olive oil and potatoes. How can spanish food have that much variety when you don't even know what beans are? But Spain, it's not your fault you don't have that much variety in your food, the only real neighboring country that would influence you is France, and we all know Spain and France aren't besties...and it's pretty obvious you haven't taken any pointers from France...since their food seems to be danker.

Now America, although you have high levels of fuel consumption and obesity accompanied by a steady decline in levels of education and literacy, your food es de puta madre. How lucky you are to have such a bountiful selection of native foods from North, South and Central America to choose from. The world can thank the Americas for avocado, chili peppers, tomatoes, vanilla, pineapple, peanut, papaya, corn, and chocolate since all these foods first originated in the Americas.

Anyways, back to Erin's birthday. After dinner we came back to our piso to drink and play with our new stereo! Our old ipod player broke somehow so we decided we needed a new one in time for Erin's birthday party. I didn't realize this, but we live literally one block away from the street in Madrid most popular for having stereo system stores. Although the stereo is really too big for our piso... Danielle and I couldn't resist such a good deal.

Even though I've had finals, I managed to make it to two soccer games in the last few weeks! The first game was Real Madrid vs. idontremember. We ended up arriving really late to the game because someone thought it started like an hour later than it did. Not fun paying 50+ euro to see half a game from the highest possible seats available. The second game was much better! A bunch of people in my program all got together at cien montaditos before the game and then we went to together. It was Spain vs. Colombia and there were a lot of roudy fans on both sides. The stadium was so full of excitement and cheering and weirdly...drum rolls. It felt like I was in a modern day Colosseum. K I can't blog anymore, tengo resaca.

Here's some more random pictures I haven't loaded on facebook for all those who have requested more photos! These are pictures from nights in Madrid and there's also a picture of the salad I like to make.

Bitter Coffee

The other day my roomie, Erin, got to witness my mini-breakdown at the cafe we always stop at before class on Mondays and Tuesdays. Not sure why I was so crazy that morning, but I woke up really missing my parents. So since I felt a little homesick I decided I wanted to wear the purse my mom left me. She bought the purse before her trip to Spain so that she could have a small sling-over purse, good for outings in the city. I loved it, because it was from Fossil, cute, brown, had studs on it. Although the purse couldn't fit any of my books, I decided it didn't matter and could just carry my books instead.

So after the commute to school, Erin and I stopped for our usual coffee and croissant mixtos. However, I was feeling a little queasy...from all the fun I had the night before so I wanted a water instead of coffee. But no...I accidently ordered coffee somehow, didn't have enough money for water, took my first sip of coffee...and bam, the cup top falls off and spills ALL OVER my mommy's purse. Then, as the barista concerns herself with wiping what little coffee spilled on her counter instead of handing me a napkin, I feel waterworks approaching. Yeah, embarassing. I start sniffling and crying at the Cuidad Universidad metro stop cafe. As ridiculous as it sounds though, I WOULD cry about spilling coffee on a brand new really cute purse. I love my leather. But the fact that it was my Mom's and that I missed her so much that morning, made the tears inevitable. Luckily the purse has made a full recovery and I haven't cried since :-p.

I can't believe I have a little less than six months. It's so rare that I ever feel homesick and I'm glad because I don't want to waste any of my time here feeling like I want to be somewhere else. Madrid has truly become my home in the last two months. It helps that I've stayed in Madrid and haven't traveled anywhere. Traveling is a luxury and a privilege. But after the Granads, Dublin, and Gran Canaria, it almost felt like more of a chore. Taking a break from traveling has been refreshing and it's allowed me to make some great friendships. However, I think I'm getting in the mood to travel again, hehe. I booked a trip to Berlin to visit Cat in April! I'm so excited to see her and her city. There is also a trip to Tenerife in the works right now... my roomies and I are aiming for end of March. Laying on the beach sounds amazing right about now.

Finals are coming up. So my roommates and I decided to limit ourselves to only going out twice a week. HA, so much for that. It's so hard to say no to nights of getting ready, playing poker, pregaming, laughing, and dancing when you have a FIVE day weekend. I keep thinking I can go out tonight, and just start studying in the morning. But by the time I wake up, it's already between 2-4pm. This week we had poker at our house on sunday night, went to Orange Cafe (see picture) on Wednesday, Reina Bruja on Thursday, and yesterday I kept it chill and just went shopping and then to dinner with Santi.

It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in Madrid. The skies are clear, the bells from the church close to my house are ringing, I'm sippin' green tea, making lesson plans, and studying for antropologia. Today's a good day :)

Día de los Reyes Magos

Every January 6th Spaniards celebrate a holiday dedicated to the Magi, or three kings, that brought presents to the baby Jesus! The parable says that King Herod, a crazy baby killer, asked the three kings to find Jesus and tell him where he was at, so that he too could pay homage to the little one. Luckily the three kings had a dream, realized that Herod just wanted to shank the baby, and decided to ignore King Herod's wishes. Although I'm not sure about the actuality of the three kings, I was more than down to eat "roscon" y and drink chocolate caliente in celebration of this "event". Dia de los Reyes Magos seems to be valued equally if not more than Christmas, here in Spain. I don't mind that. Seems better to focus on three baby-saving kings than on a judgmental, cookie scarfing Santa Claus.

I tried two different types of roscon, one with "nata" (cream) and one without. But of course, being the "gordi" that I am, I liked the Roscon with whipped cream in the middle. Santi, his mom, and I all failed to find the porcelain "sopresa" in our first pieces of Roscon. Although I did find it in my second piece...apparently you don't get any good luck from that. Oh, and can't forget, our roscon was accompanied by thick, rich, and creamy valor chocolate! Hot chocolate in Spain is so different from America's. It incredibly thick and filling... yet whenever I have it, I seem to be the only one who can't finish the whole thing. Spaniards drink it like milk. Such bosses.



After breakfast and a few cat naps, Santi's mom and her friend prepared a feast for lunch! We had chicken adobo, fried rice, langostinos (shrimp), salad, some anchovy fish dish (that I wasn't adventurous enough to try), and my favorite wine in the world, Lambrusco Dell'Emilia Tinto (basically just bubbly red wine < 2e at your mom&pop supermarket in Madrid). I feel so lucky I get to have real homecooked meals at Santi's. I may not miss Spanish food when I come home, but I'll definitely miss Josefa's filipino food!


That night I went to Reina Bruja with the gang (minus my roomies who were still recovering from the night before), and had a really good time. Reina Bruja never fails to have great music and good company. I feel like a regular these days.

New Year, More Blogging

One of my new year's resolutions is to start blogging again! I know my blog has been kind of a failure, but I'm going to give it another go.

After looking back on the last year, where I've been, the friends of made, the lessons I've learned, I'd say I've had a pretty fabulous 2010. Let's look at some highlights:
-Took all UD courses winter quarter, 3 of which were literature, and managed to get all A's! (...k, one A-)
-Enjoyed the sun, sorority stuff, and some well needed relaxation during spring quarter..
-Spent the summer traveling to Montana, Las Vegas, Florida, NorCal and New York...all while dreaming/ thinking/ preparing for my year abroad.
-Dealt with a significant relationship in my life ending.
-Arrived in Madrid, struggled through culture shock, a little homesickness, and some really disgusting dorm food.
-Made new bestfriendships with my amazing roommates. We are practically family now :)
-Traveled to Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam, Dublin, Gran Canaria, Granada, Córdoba.
-Found romance unexpectedly. I met Santi one night at a club in Madrid... I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I knew he could be someone special in my life :) Not only has he taught me Spanish, he has welcomed me into his world of amazing friends and delicious comida filipina. He's changed the way I view life and love and made my abroad experience all that much better.
-Welcomed my parents to Madrid for Christmas and New Years! Having them here was the best present I could have asked for. After the holidays I realized how important it is to me to eventually live somewhere close (or at least closer) to home when I grow up.

And now here are a few things I'm looking forward to in 2011:
-Becoming fluent in Spanish.
-Seeing my best friends Linda & Stephen, at least a few times, in EUROPA!
-Visiting London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Brussels, Paris, Venice, Florence, Greece and hopefully more places!
-Living it up for the next 6 months in Madrid.
-Coming home to California and it's amazing food <3
-Turning 21, heading to VEGAS.
-Turning 21, heading to NAPA.
-SENIOR YEARRR, LIVING ON DP!!!


Thinking about coming home makes me excited but sad at the same time. I don't want to get ahead of myself, I still have 6 months left! In a few days I'll be celebrating Dia de Los Reyes with Santi and his mom! I guess it's a Spanish tradition, every January 6th, to eat "roscon" for breakfast. Roscon is a doughy sweet bread that has a hidden porcelain surprise of sorts! Whoever gets the surprise in their piece of roscon has good luck for the rest of the year. Hope its meee! Later on thursday we're going shopping! Apparently stores here do this "Rebajas" thing after the holidays every year. There's supposed to be mad sales... And I want new boots.

Oh and update: Soy profesora de inglés! That's right, Marissa Morimoto, English Teacher at your service! I currently have two students. One is a 40 yr old, mas o menos, professional who needs to perfect his English for his new job. I spend a lot of time preparing for our classes because they are each TWO hours long and I'm scared of running out of things to do. My other student is a 12 yr old girl. Our class starts next week, but I have a feeling I'll have more fun with it. It's pretty easy money, considering I just get to speak in my native tongue, play games and do grammar exercises... pero mi jefa es una puta! If I didn't want the extra money so bad I wouldn't take all her shit. Maybe on my way out of Spain she'll get a piece of my mind.

That's all for tonight, folks. Over and out.

Barcelona, Rome and Back

Although I have failed at writing in my blog often, it is only because I am too busy enjoying my life abroad! A few weeks ago I went to Barcelona with a group of people in my program and I had a blast. I saw the beautiful yet unfinished La Sagrada Familia and took an elevator ride up into the towers. The view was amazing...the climb down, not so much. Another highlight of my trip was going to the Market de la Boqueria.



I had a blueberry banana smoothie, MMM! Before heading back Madrid I also bought some brie and bread for the bus ride, so sophisticated.

While in Barcelona, I also got to reconnect with Annie Mickle, eat the BEST MEXICAN FOOD I'VE HAD SINCE HOME (Go to Rosa Negras!), go clubbing on the beach, see the Museo de Picazzo, and experience hostel living for the first time! The name of our hostel was Equity Point Centric. It was pretty clean and we met a lot of cool people in our 12 person room.


The last day in Barcelona my wallet was stolen. Yeah, dude. Two middle aged women stampeded me as I tried to get on the metro. My purse was crossed over my body and zipped in front of me, a suitcase in one hand and a bag of food in the other. Two seconds after making it onto the metro, I look down, my passport is on the floor, my ipod speakers are hanging out of my purse, and my wallet is gone. Those two ladies even had the audacity to STAY on the metro with me! So for the whole metro ride I was screaming at them and they were only responding with "que?" and had smirks on their faces. What the fuck, Barcelona? Luckily I had made copies of all my credit cards and had my parents cancel all my cards within 10 minutes of the attack.

Anyways, later that day I was back in Madrid and wallet-less. Two days later I was in Roma, visiting Whitney! Rome was a blast. We did a Colosseum Pubcrawl...which would've sucked if it wasn't for the insane break dancers at the final club we went to! Felt like I was in Step Up or something, not that I've seen the movie.

I got to eat REAL food, AUTHENTIC gelato, and take lots of pictures! Whitney's friends were really fun and one of them was a total history buff! I got to see all the major sites like Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Forum, Colosseum, Campo, Vatican, and more while also receiving a history lesson!


Now I'm back in Madrid and Courtney is here visiting! I LOVE HAVING HER HERE :) We've gone out every night since she's been here. And now, 4 bottles, 3 discotecas, and 3 nights later, we are TIRED! We managed to make a day trip today to El Escorial. It was only 3.5e to go there via charter bus. We went to the museum at the famous monasterio there and met Jahel and a friend for lunch after! (Jahel is an exchange student my family had when I was 5 years old, now she's a grown woman and she's showing me around her country!)

Monday and Tuesday I have class and then Wednesday Courtney and I are going to Toledo for the day! THEN AMSTERDAM FROM THURSDAY - SUNDAY! Thanks for booking a 5 star hotel for us, Mom & Dad! It's going to be a REAL vacation :) I love my life!

Plans after Amsterdam: Cordoba, Granada, and then Dublin in November!

A rough week.

I still love America.

The Spanish public education system makes me appreciate the UC system SO MUCH. I started class at Complutense on Monday and it was definitely a cultural experience. First of all, I'm not officially enrolled in any classes yet because EAP doesn't allow us to matriculate until a week after classes start. We also wont know if the classes we attended during the first week of school are even on the "approved course list." Disorganized much? Anyways, here's a run-through of my day:
Cervantes, my first class- I've never fought so hard to stay awake in my entire life.
Teatro griego- couldn't find the classroom, gave up. Would it really break the bank if the university put some signs on the front of their buildings?
Mitos (Myths)- professor doesn't show.
Literatura española desde 1975- professor says the class will be "mierda" if all the foreigners try to take it.
Literature hispanoamericano I- professor says the class will be too difficult for you.

The second day was much better. Cervantes was slightly more interesting. I attended a history class of the americas, very interesting from the spanish point of view. The mitos professor showed up and told us class was cancelled for the next two weeks (woo hoo)! (Who does that?) And I plan to take an anthropology class at the other Complutense campus starting next week!

Campus reminds me of a scene that should have been in Inception. The literature buildings are modern looking, with clean lines and lots of stairs and there is a large courtyard with overgrown weeds and randomly a few beds of roses. The mixture of modern architecture, with weeds, roses, benches, and graffiti everywhere is just kinda spooky.

Most of the graffiti I see everywhere is about women's rights, Latin America, or Israel. I had no idea that there are Spanish people who think that the government should be helping Latin America. It's an interesting topic and I want to look into more. Also I didn't know that there was still a strong anti-Jewish sentiment in Spain. I thought that was over centuries ago, but apparently not. The graffiti about Israel basically accuses the country of committing genocide.


Anyways, as my last post said, I was supposed to be in Brussels right now. But thanks to the Belgian and Spanish national strike, I have been deprived of the waffles I so seriously desired. Who is begging to go to Brussels? Uh, I guess I was. I think everyone should just boycott Ryanair instead of going to work. Ryanair es mierda. My roomies and I had to call 5-6 times before they promised to refund our flights... and I had a bad feeling that's not even going to happen. So much for going to Brussels. I don't think I'm going to try again... I already spent all the money and time I had in me for Brussels. I hope Easyjet is better.

Toledo & Plans!

A lot has happened since my last entry and I don't think I'm going to be able to write about everything that went on simply because I have no free time and I'm a little lazy.

TOLEDO
Last weekend Danielle, Erin, and I went to Toledo! We arrived at the Atoche Renfe train station in Madrid thinking that 30 minutes would be enough time to buy tickets and find the train. Oh no, I'm beginning to figure out that it's better to expect everything to take a long time and be unnecessarily complicated. Well, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if we bought our tickets online.

We arrived in Toledo around 6ish, found Hotel Imperio, dropped off our stuff and then began exploring. After shopping, taking pictures, and eating ice cream (yum), we met up with some girls in our program for dinner. It was nice to be with some native speakers. The way they can just communicate with everyone is envious. I really need to be fluent now. Dinner wasn't bad and the wine was delicious! After we finished dinner, the seven of us went out to a small bar, don't know the name, and had mojitos. It was a much older crowd in the bar but we got to practice our Spanish a little bit.

Toledo is such a cute town and I definitely would like to go back once more before I go home. I'm a big fan of the jewelry :)

CLASS
The ILP is practically over! I take two finals tomorrow and I'm done! After the finals we get to drink with our professors in the cafeteria too. I love Spain. In America it would definitely be inappropriate to get crunk with our professors, but here it's an event! I really want to get a picture with my favorite professor, Antonio. He made fun of me and called me out during class all the time, but I know he loves me. He was substituting the other day and called me out for having a lentil face? I guess that means I looked expressionless (it's a phrase here)? But before I figured out what he said, I definitely turned to Danielle and said, "...Did he just ask me if I like lentil soup and if it's expensive?" The miscommunication that goes on between the spaniards and me can really lead to some hilarious situations.


PLANS!
Next week Danielle, Erin and I are going to Brussels and Brugges! Can't wait to see the capital of Europe and eat some waffles. Then the second week in October I'm going to visit Whitney in Rome and Megan in Siena! AND THEN, Courtney is coming to Madrid and we are going to AMSTERDAM for Halloween weekend! Too much excitement headed my way.

Oh yes, and I have finals tomorrow and a lease to sign tonight. So I really don't have any more time to write. Hope the next entry is better!