:)

This crazy beautiful life.

Buenos Días!

It's 10:30 am here in Salamanca and I woke up to the rain hitting the patio. I feel good this morning! I am happy to be alive and my words cannot explain how happy I am to be experiencing my semester in Spain. I am so thankful. Thank you Mom for pushing me when I needed it and thank you friends and family for all your support and smiles. Most of all Thank you God for this crazy beautiful life. The days have been going by so fast here, right before my eyes. It's a fact that tomorrow is not always promised to us so we should live every day like it's our last and dwell on the good things in life rather than the bad. I need to go for a run before lunch and class, but just wanted to put in a quick note about how life is good and I am one happy camper right now.

besos manda-moo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF THE GREATEST FRIENDS IN ARIZONA, MY BEST STEVEN GONZALEZ! HAPPY 21st MY LOVE! ENJOY!!!

mas fotos

This little town called Salamanca

hola, que tal? I am here sitting in international marketing right now and am struggling to stay awake. This class, sorry to say this, but is not my favorite. I give the professor credit, but I think he googles a bunch of international business topics and throws it together before class to have some kind of class lecture prepared about anything that is relevant to international marketing. It's pretty funny. Oh well.. I'm embracing this class and the professor's ridiculously cute accent.

What's been going on lately?

Ever since J left I have been a little homesick here and there but nothing to complain about. The time is flying by SO fast, so I am definitely trying to live up the next 2 months here no matter what.

The weather in Salamanca has been in the 60's lately and it's gorgeous. I go running every other day and after sometimes just lay in the grass on the side of the track to enjoy the sun and awesome temperature. It's starting to smell like spring and I am falling in love with it.

Some new foods I have been introduced to...

DEVILED EGGS.. we had something very very similar to deviled eggs.. they just called them huevos, but they were delicious. We also had another amazing ensalada, but this time there was green olives, tomatoes, and garlic in it. DELICIOUS AS WELL! Had some more homemade pizza the other day that had mushrooms and little hotdogs on it. Paella here and there, fresh fruit of course, and this amazing cheese that I love... It is like chiwawa cheese, which I never liked before, but it's pretty good here.

The dumb cats broke the coffee pot the other day in the middle of the night so Vicky went and got a new one. Two days later she was cooking dinner in the kitchen and all of a sudden I heard a huge thud and someone scream. I waited for a second and after about 10 seconds I heard dead silence and thought Vicky fell and passed out or something. It ended up being the coffee pot somehow fell on her head and she was just huffing and puffing in pain. When I went in the kitchen she had coffee all over her head and I thought it was blood! I was sooo scared! Thank God it wasn't blood, because to be honest I wasn't sure what number to dial because I know 911 wouldn't have done nothing as far as help goes. lol, sad i know. BUT now I am aware it's 112 for future references. I feel so bad that's the 3 coffee pot she has gone through in the past 2 months.

Classes are going good... learning something new every day in Spanish and enhancing my Spanish vocabulary as well. I had a dream in Spanish the other night so that is a plus. :)

This past Sunday I went to Sierra de Francia, which is about an hour away from Salamanca. It's a small little town that is filled with little pueblos. In fact Victoria is from a pueblo in that area. She said one weekend Daryl and I will go there and stay with her family. I am actually looking forward to that because the more traveling and experience the better. Sierra de Francia was gorgeous though! It was so sunny and a good time out in a different town.

I learned that going to a University in China or Norway for college is free from some international students, so if anyone wants to save money and just deal with transferring your credits DO IT! I couldn't believe it!

¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí. ¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión, una sombra, una ficción, y el mayor bien es pequeño; que toda la vida es sueño, y los sueños sueños son Stay healthy and live life every day like it's your last with peace and love in your heart <3

besos y abrazos

luego

mandalou

fotos

Grenada and Cadiz and everything else in between

Que tal?!

It's been a while! Lo siento but i just haven't had the time to sit down and write ALL the good things I have been meaning to lately. SO here it goes!

FIRST and FOREMOST... I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNT AGAIN!! My sister Alexis is pregnant!! I AM SO HAPPY AND EXCITED!! I WOKE UP TO THAT WONDERFUL NEWS YESTERDAY!! I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT AND SMILING! The baby is due in November so at least I will be in the states for the big day!! CONGRATULATIONS ALEXIS AND DERRIK!

So last weekend when Daryl and I went to Granada, of course we started the trip off on the wrong foot. We left on Thursday right after class. Our bus was scheduled to leave Salamanca at 3:00 pm... We got there at about 2:50 and was about to get on the bus and check in. Not to mention we saw our names on the itinerary sheet the doorman was holding. The driver said we had to go get new tickets and directed us the wrong way. After realizing that we were in the right and he was in the wrong we came back and our bus that we were initially suppose to be on left us. WE WERE SO FURIOUS!! SO MAD!! So we had no other choice but to buy the next available bus to Madrid which was at 5:00pm. With that being said we were going to be late for our scheduled bus to Granada from Madrid, so we had to change that bus as well. So now at this point we were scheduled to get into Granada at 4:30 AM. When we went to book all new tickets the teller tried to tell me that we had to pay the full price for new tickets. There was no way I was going to. I told the guy off in Spanish that his bus driver was in the wrong. After me releasing out some steam he let us change our tickets for only 1 Euro. :)

The bus ride from Madrid to Granada was soooo long. When we got there at 4:30am we got a taxi to get to our hostal. He dropped us off in the little town of Granada. Of course we ring the night service to assist us and no one answers. At this point we were so exhausted and not to mention we had 9:00 am reservations to the Alhambra. We just wanted to get some sleep. After a couple minutes we get let in and go straight to bed. Upon entering our room we were welcomed to DOWN COMFORTERS on the bunkbeds!! We were in heaven. I haven't sleep with a down comforter since the states. We also shared the room with 5 other strangers who were backpacking Spain. It wasn't weird at all, we just didn't leave any of our passports or wallets in the room while we were out.

We got about 3 hours of sleep and woke up and started our journey in Granada. First stop was the Alhambra. The great Alhambra complex is an ancient palace and fortress built for the Moorish monarchs of Granada. Its greatest claim to fame is not just in its beautiful representation of Middle Eastern architecture, but also in its unique location atop a 35-acre plateau overlooking the beautiful city of Granada in Southern Spain. It was so beautiful.

After a whole afternoon of touring the Alhambra we met up with Daryl's friend who is studying in Granada and she showed us more of the city Granada. I must say there is a lot more hills in that town compared to Salamanca and Madrid. That night we went out for tapas. The tapas in Granada are FREE after 8pm as long as you buy a drink. That definitely saved us a handful of euros! They should make tapas free in every city of España. The next morning we had to wake up early to catch our bus to Cadiz so we called it a night and went to bed.

We woke up bright and early the next morning with a cup of coffee and headed to the bus. When it comes to Carnaval you HAVE to dress up. It doesn't really matter what you dress up as JUST as long as your wearing something besides normal apparel. The group of girls we went with put our costumes together and decided that we were going to go as "a boy band/magicians/waitresses/street performers/backstreet boys".. i have no idea what we were, nor what half the population of the people in Cadiz were either but it was quite the experience. There were people dressed as human dog poop, disney characters, astronauts, babies in diapers, NAKED, and God knows what else.. It was crazy I must say.. It was one HUGE festival in the street all day and all night.. The amount of garbage there was was unbelievable. I have never saw anything like it. There was garbage in the streets that were up to my waste, it was just horrible. After a while we got sick and kind of fed up with the people's behavior in the streets so we decided to head back to the bus at 3:30 am to catch it at 4. We knocked out on the bus back to Granada, it was a 5 hour bus ride. When we got back we caught out next bus to Madrid and knocked out on that one as well and than finally caught another bus from Madrid back to Salamanca. We finally got back home at about 11 pm. It was quite possibly the longest day of my life. BUT the trip was all worth it. I loved Granada and Cadiz and also got to meet other people which is always a plus. :)

When we got home Victoria had prepared SALAD for us. It's my favorite! I was anticipating it actually. lol..

I had my first exam of the semester that Monday. It was in Arte de España. It was fairly easy so I can't complain. That has been my first exam so far so you guessed right classes haven't been too difficult lately to say the least. This past weekend J Quiles came to España for his spring break. I must say it was wonderful to see a familiar face in person. I met him in Madrid on Sunday afternoon. I was soooo nervous because he wasn't at our specified meeting point we discussed prior to his departure. I started to panic because I had no means of communication with him WHATSOEVER! I was looking for him in Terminal 1 for about 2 hours and than decided to make sure that his flight got in safe. Ended up being that his flight got into Terminal 4 which is separate from T1, T2, and T3. SO I hopped on a bus to go see if he was there and with my luck didn't find him. At this point I am freaking out. When I head back to T1 to look for him again I see him walking while I am coming down the escalator. THANK GOD!! I was sooo scared something happened or would never find him at all.

It ended up being that he thought he was at T1 the whole time.. he spent 5 hours there waiting until he realized he wasn't at our meeting point. LOL I felt bad but who cares we FINALLY found each other. SO from there we went to our hotel and stayed a night in Madrid. We toured the city and went out for tapas that night. The next day we went shopping and toured the city some more. We went to El Parque de Retiro, which is a gorgeous park and had beautiful scenery. Later in the afternoon we caught a bus back to Salamanca to make it for my programs famous tapas every Monday night. J loved it! He had a great time and so did I. He only stayed a night in Salamanca, but a night was enough to show him as much as possible. The next day he left around 5 but me and daryl had time to still show him more of the city before he left. I was so happy he decided to come out here and glad he had a great time.

What else has been going on in Salamanca?!

The other day Daryl, Steph, and myself were sitting outside having a cup of coffee and were just talking about the United States and how privileged we are to have such a great country. We went along and talked about the differences about the life in Europe verses the life in the states. OH MY LANTA how different these two countries are. I honestly must say The USA is beyond spoiled and we do not appreciate half of the things we are entitled to. Living here in Spain has definitely made me appreciate EVERYTHING I have in the US. To appreciate something is to be grateful and thankful for that something.. coming to Europe has given me the opportunity to open my eyes to the other side of the world and to FULLY value my life in the US that consists of most importantly my family, friends, a roof over my head, an education, food, clothes, good health, and a mother who has given me life! <3

AHHH que mas??

I am going to Portugal for Spring break so I am really looking forward to traveling more and cannot wait. I DO miss chicago and a lot of people! YOU all know who you are. I am soooo happy about my sister being pregnant and glad to be in the states when my little nugget is born! I hope all is well in the states everyone and life is good! I will post tomorrow to catch up on some more activity that has to be included in my blogs. I LOVE YOU!

"El secreto de mi felicidad está en no esforzarse por el placer, sino en encontrar el placer en el esfuerzo."

"Not in making an effort to find pleasure, but in finding pleasure in the effort, that's the secret to my happiness."

Besos y abrazos...

Stay healthy and live life every day like it's your last with peace and love in your heart <3

Mandalou.

Vida Vida

Hola, que tal?

So I have been in Salamanca for a month now and to be honest it does not even feel like it has been that long. Winter break in Chicago went by so much slower. It's crazy. With that being said I decided to deactivate my facebook. I found myself spending way too much time on it. The fact that a month has gone by already and it raced right before my eyes is just not cool. I feel like I had to make a few changes before I continued my next couple months here and one was to cut facebook out of my life for a few. It may sound a little silly, but I think it's a good choice for me as of right now. It eliminates pictures and some social life but that's why I have a facebook and a blog. I check my email every day and I am going to be blogging a lot more now.

my email: alg254@nau.edu

So what's new in Spain?

As far as classes go they are relatively the same. I haven't gotten serious work since I have been here so I guess that's cool. I miss homework and assignments. It always kept me super busy and allowed me to feel like I have accomplished the work I never thought I would accomplished lol. I love my teachers. They are hilarious. The other morning a student in class had a stamp on their hand from a bar the night before. The teacher called her out on it in Spanish. The student tried to deny it and the teacher said "MMhmm the stamp on your hand." The class just laughed. The teacher said of course just make sure when you see me at the bars walk away. The one thing I noticed about having classes in Spanish or watching TV in Spanish is that it is sooo easy to just cut it out of our daily listening habits. Like when I watch TV in Spanish and the show is in English but they have Spanish vocals. I find myself trying to listen to the English rather than the Spanish. Or in class I just think about the words in English rather than in Spanish. It's quite frustrating. BUT I am becoming a lot better with my Spanish, so something is clicking upstairs. Thank goodness. In my international marketing class out teacher never talks about anything that is relevant to the course subject. The other day our lesson consisted of chinese horoscopes, condoms, and christmas traditions. I was dying in class.

The dreams just keep getting weirder and weirder here. no joke. Also I HAVE BEEN CRAVING SUSHI. It's killing me. Killing me. Does anyone care to send me some sushi??

As I mentioned before Daryl and I are bus'n it to Granada this weekend to see the Alhambra and than bus'n it to Cadiz to celebrate the 3rd largest "Carnaval" in the world there. I am so excited!! Granted the bus rides will be super long and boring but it's all worth it. We have a 2 1/2 hr bus ride from Salamanca to Madrid and than a 5 hr bus ride to Granada. We will stay there for 2 nights and than on Saturday head to Cadiz which is another 5 hr bus ride. We stay there the whole day and than get back on the bus to Granada at 5 am and than catch another 5 hr back to Madrid and than 2 1/2 to Salamanca. LONG.. I know BUT i cannot wait. SOOOOO happy to be traveling like always. I am really pumped to see the Alhambra in Granada. I learned about some of the architecture in my Art class here and CANNOT wait to see it in real life. FOR REAL! For the carnaval Daryl and I, along with 9 other girls, will be dressing up. We aren't quite sure as to what we are going as but were going to be prepared for the worst. The girls in Granada already are planning it so let's hope they got something up their sleeves.

Speaking of traveling. One of my best friends J Quiles will be out here in 2 weeks for his spring break and I CANNOT wait to see him. We are planning on going to Barcelonia for a night or two and obviously hang out here in Salamanca and show him around. I am pretty happy about that. :)

Que mas?

On Mondays and Wednesdays I start class at 4:30pm so I go running. I found this park across the bridge that has a track and some workout stations. I tend to run over there and do some workouts or go along the river. Either way I like it. I like it because it gives me the chance to just think. The last couple times I thought about how the heck I am in Spain and why?? I came to the conclusion that it's been my dream to go to Spain and indulge myself in the culture since I can remember. So here I am today living in Spain, running around the river like an American, and experiencing something I have been wanting to for the longest. I LOVE it.

Remember when I mentioned the old guy Shama who gives me the candles every time we go out to tapas? Well this past Monday we went to tapas. We were having a good time enjoying the night. While I was walking out to go to the next bar Shama stopped me and gave me a piece of paper and said it was for me to read later. Obviously I didn't wait so I read it. Uhhh yea... It was a love poem he had written. It was in Spanish and for the most part because of all the intelligent words he was using I couldn't understand it. First thing I did when I got home was google translate it. All I know is that this man is about 82 years old and wrote me a love poem. I have no idea what to think. Can I even go to tapas any more? Not to mention he is one of my coordinators. Soooo.. yah.. I would post it on my blog but that's too much. Just leaving it as a love poem is enough said. And it's not a creepy love poem it's just extremely romantic that I have no idea what to think. Nice but OVERLY NICE. So much for finding my Spanish husband huh?

Victoria is amazing. She is great. Oscar on the other hand is a pain. The cats Gordo and Mimi are like dogs. The weather is getting nicer every day, except for today. Today was rather very windy and cold. *knock on wood* Oscar got a new computer so now him and Victoria can both play warcraft at the same time. It's taking over their minds, I swear. I feel so good about deactivating my facebook when I see them going at it with Warcraft 24/7. Daryl and I are still getting along very well. She puts up with my jokes and crazy behavior and I deal with her horrible memory. lol. It works out fairly well.

The conversion rate stinks in Europe. I feel like my money is just going to dirt because the conversion. For every euro it's about 1.40 in the US. It's horrible. POOP.

Random things done in Spain that might surprise you.

-eat EVERYTHING with utensils no matter what.. even croissants.

-no walking and eating.. only time you eat is when your at a table sitting down.. same goes with coffee.

-it's considered bad manners to stretch in public

-long showers do not exist

-there are no dryers here. All laundry is hung out to dry.

-bread is served with EVERY meal.

-it's okay to come home at 7 am. it's normal

-towels are not to be shared.

-always wear nice apparel.. you should never wear sweats out in public. -a kiss on each cheek to say hello and goodbye is always done despite the sex.

I think that's all I got so far. Maybe I will have more as the months go by? Well I am heading to bed, I have class at 9:00 am tomorrow and than catching a bus to Madrid and Granada with a bocadilla. :) I will have a ton to talk about when I get back!!

Buenas noches mis amores.

Stay healthy and live life every day like it's your last with peace and love in your heart <3

Paz, amor y alegría--- Peace, love, and joy. <3