GAHHHH EVERYTHING IS CONFUSING G:LKJSF

ok. so. I don't even know where to big.

I'm in Madrid right now, sitting on a wooden floor in the middle of my youth hostel dorm filled with 12 beds of which all were full last night and 5 are full now.

Tomorrow: Milan.

Yesterday: Arrived in Madrid sort of.... awesomely. We got of the AIFS bus (Kelley, Esther and I) and sort of looked around at our surroundings and said "Great. now where are we?" . We found a map, orientated ourselves... looking for our booked hostel... started walking and then after about 20 minutes decided we were going the wrong way. We found our hostel, were pleasanlty surprised at its quaintness and we promptly left it to go find an interenet cafe at which we might (Finally!) print boarding passes for Milan.

No printer. It was fine, though. We'd do it the next day. (Well, I had all my stuff print out. I was organized). So we decided to collectively, instead, rebook our train from Milan to Venice because we only had 90 minutes to leave the plane and get on the train with a 50 km trip in between. Not exchangeable. a;sldkfja;sdlkfj. Ran out of internet time, we'd talk about it and the risks and do it the next day.

Good night out, except, i lost my voice in the process. It's unhappy that it's not considered rude to say, blow smoke in someone's face. Anyway, from Smoke and a previous flu bug I caught in Granada, I became voiceless and am currently in the same state.

MONDAY: (Today)

Tried to go to museums. All were closed. Museums close on mondays, i guess.

So we went to this park. a beautiful park. Full of trees, and fountains and a LAKE and a Crystal Palace! and more!

We rented a paddle boat (With rowing oars, not with peddles) and we chased ducks. (Pictures to come eventually, I promise.)

And later we tried the internet again, and we realized we can't refund our train ticket at all, so we have to be out 14 Euros if we can't get to the station in time, so we decided to try and make it on time (without the expensive taxi) but we decided to cancel all of our reservations in case we don't make it. Saves 50 euro, at least.

So now we are in Limbo. Will we make the train? How much are we willing to spend in order to mkae it? Where will we stay if we make it, where will we stay if we don't?

We have no answers. it's almost 3am where I am and i am looking up possibilities.

But there is more that ensued. My salad had anchovies on it. :(. and then the astronomy observatory was closed. I ate homus for dinner! it was delicious, and the we found a place to print Esther's boarding pass (Finally!!) but then I got pick pocketed after giving a Cellist some money because i liked his playing. (5 others gave the cellist money after i set the example. 1 other must have seen the fact that i had a wallet).

So now i am out 20 Euro, 1 traveler's check, 20 USD, 1 liscence, 1 Salamanca ID card and 1 ATM.

I"m leaving at 1pm tomorrow to go to the airport.

:) !! (sarcasm).

Good things:
At Hostels there are all sorts of people. I met a guy from Istanbul, one from Brazil, one from El Salvador. The one from Turkey exchanged emails with me, and he's going to send me some sort of information regarding my major.

Also, while waiting for Esther and Kelley at our designated meeting spot (They were 30 minutes late, another thing that might add to the stress of the day!!), I spoke with 2 british men about Swans and the California Governor. Apparently, all the swans in England are owned by the Queen.

I should sleep. I have a long day tomorrow. It seems my new bedtime is once again 3 am .

Things i need to further blog about:

1) Post Pictures of the Royal Palace in Seville as well as pictures of the epic epic epic park.

2) Post Pictures of the Alhambra in Granada (Beautiful architecture) (1300s) (Columbus!)

3) Post Pictures of the Windmills of Don Quixote

4) Write about Christopher Columbus's Coffin experience

Cordoba

I spent the last 2 days in Seville and Cordoba Spain.

The six hour drive through spain looked remarkably

like california vistas... some entertaining

pictures for you: click to

enlarge!!

In Cordoba we toured a previously-Muslim Mosque which had been

converted in to a Catholic Cathedral. (go figure.) Apparently, once-upon

-a-time ago, all three of the

monotheist religions lived quite peacefully

together until politics

interfered and all the Jewish people...sort...of.... Immigrated. I Expected

them to say something

more about The Spanish Inquisition, but it was

sort of understated. hmmm.Anyway, I took an absurd number of photos of the Mosque and all of its hundreds and hundreds of pillars.. and of the

ceiling and the wall that points to Mecca and of the open doorways. It was beautiful. There were so many arches, i couldn't keep track.

I will probably upload my photos onto Google from here but not from Seville unitl after I get

them from my friends' computers.

Anyway, here are a few from Cordoba: feel free to click on them to see the full shots.

Pillars and Arches:

Clearly Catholic:

TRAVELING !!!!!

My Itenerary From September 17 (Thursday) - September 25 (Friday):

Including (but not limited to): Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada, La Mancha, Madrid, MILAN, VENICE!

Implications: I'm going to be away from my computer for over a week starting Thursday, unles

s I decide to bring it along (which is unlikely.)

Thursday, September 17

Departing Salamanca at 7:15 A.M. (Gross) and taking a bus from Salamanca to Cordoba to Sevilla.

In Cordoba we will visit the

Mezquita de Cordoba built in 784!! And we will tour the city before busing to Sevilla.We spend the night in Sevilla, free to roam around the city as we like.

Friday, September 18

We spend the day and another night in Sevilla. (Attractions in Sevilla incl

ude Barrio de Santa Cruz,

the Catedral, and the Plaza de Espania.

This is of the Catedral.

Saturday, September 19:

We travel to Granada leaving ridiculously early in the morning. In the evening in Granada, we will go to La Alhambra: the hill in Granada/Fortress atop the hill. We will also probably go to a Flamenco show, and spend the night

in Granada.

Sunday, September 20:

Granada to Madrid. But on the way: La Mancha! Windmills!!!!!!!!! In Madrid, the bus will drop Kelley, Esther and I off on our own. We will stay in

Madrid Sunday night-Tuesday morning, giving us almost 2 full days to explore the city. We are staying in a youth hostel that costs less than 40 dollars for both nights.

Monday, September 21:

We are hoping to go to a few museums, as well as the gardens. I'm hoping to go to the palace grounds. Lots of pictures will be taken, i am sure. Here is a picture of the We Who are Going (Esther, Kelley and I.)

Tuesday, September 22:

FLYING TO ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!! 4:40 flight to Milan. From Milan, we are hoping to hop right on a train that will take us to VENICE. We will then spend the night in Venice and be entirely content.

Wednesday, September 23: VENICE!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, September 24:

Early (6 am) trip to Milan Where we and then the entire day in Milan.

Friday, September 25

Milan Flight at 7:30 am Arriving at 9:30 in Vallidolid, Spain.

After a day of traveling in Valladolid we'll bus back to Salamanca (in time for dinner perhaps.)

Es Todo.

Brief Update

ow that the festivals (Ferrias) have died down, I find myself in need of an after-cenar hobby. Most people go out dancing, go out to the bars (because that's really all there is in Salamanca and, once again, they enjoy the 16 year drinking age) but despite these activities tend to be pricey and tiring. Dancing, I suppose, is free, but it also comes with the additional smoke-filled room. I don't like going to sleep with smokey hair and skin.

This evening I ventured on my own, around 10:00, to a cafe and ordered tea and read a very long letter. It was very enjoyable and I was able to

have several conversations in Spanish with my waiter, including a very awkward one in which I told him he didn't need to open the door for me as I made my way outside with tea and teacup, but really I did need him to open the door because I was enitrely handicapped.

I like journaling, and I spent a bit of time yesterday in the University Library Courtyard (hogwarts) writing and it was also very pleasant. I was interrupted by a friend's phone call and then was drug around the city going to shops. This is another thing

people do here: shop. shop. And they aren't even at unique Spanish shops (I need to find more of these..) they are name-brand-expensive-clothing-shops. I've only bought one dress for what turned out to be 30 American Dollars by the end of it. It was a fairly good deal, and is a pretty dress.

Anyway, I am trying to not necessarily detatch myself from the Americans here, but certainly try and explore on my own more. I am sometimes introverted and don't really have an impulse to look at the pretty fashionable items of apperal in the various tiendas.

This isn't brief, per se.

Right now I am in my room, it's almost midnight here, I have my last day of school tomorrow and on Thursday I embark on a week-long-journey to the south. I will post my itenerary after this.

That's all for now. My photograph for today is the majority of my niche here. Fr

om left to right: Sasha, Kelley (House mate), Me, Janet, Arecelie (Spelling is off, I think.)

Festival Activites

This week in Salamanca people have been celebrating the Ferrias, which means that there are two weeks of festival. There are concerts every night, dance shows, street acts, cassettas open on the streets (which are mini bars that serve drinks and tapas). There are literally hundreds of people roaming around.

I took a brief video of some of the simple street action... here are some links to the videos:

(They are integrated in my photo album, so you can view more

. However, I will include links in this entry to specific photos and videos in it, so I'd recomend reading this to get the story behind most of them.)

Video of People Dancing in the Plaza (somewhat spontaneously)

Video Exemplifying the Outrageous Amount of People in the Street

I went to several concerts this week, including a Celtic/Spanish band called La Bandina). It included an electric bagpipe along with trombone, soprao sax, bongo drums, trumpet, and acordian. It was very entertaining. Here is some amusing footage of them dancing on the Stage set up in the Plaza...

Video One: Acordian Dance

Video Two: Cool Song

I also went on lots of walks, and found the Roman Bridge, (Puenta Romana? no se.) I took lots of pictures in and around it, and also included it on my run that I took last Tuesday.

I also attended a Flamenco concert which yeilded lots of guitar music and dancing. There were far too many people in front of me, and even more pushing me out of the way so they could get a better look. I was a bit peeved and went on a mild internal rant about how rudeness and inconscientiousness might be a cultural universal sometimes. (The group of teenagers who inspired this thought process also were smoking in a densely packed area. My roommate has a scar from a cigarette burn from a situation like this one. sigh.)

Anyway: Guitar Music Here:

And now it is the weekend and I have tests on Monday.

This evening I am going to interview to see if I can get a job (!!) teaching elementary children English. We'll see if I need a visa for this.

Es Todo.

Weekend

This weekend was quite nice. I finally slept, (finally finally finally) ... Saturday until 2 in the afternoon (about 10 hours of sleep) and today until 11:00 in the morning. Last night, however, my method of falling asleep backfired as I got hooked on the book-on-tape I was listening to. (Persuasion, by Jane Austen).

Apparently the Spainiard's national bar drink-of-choice is only a Sangria if you are a tourist in Spain. In Spain, they drink something called Cali-mocha which turns out to be half red-wine (Vino Tinto) and half cocacola. Absolutely bizarre.

Last night I went dancing in a club with many of the AIFS group that I had not previously comraderated with, and it was pretty fun. I just don't want to stay out late *Every-Single-Night* as they do. The night before, I went with my usual group of friends to a Salsa bar and spent about 2 hours dancing the Salsa with random Spaniards who figured out that they can get any American girl to dance with them if they actually know how to teach and lead. They take full advantaged of our romantasized ideals of Spainish dancing. (nevermind the fact that the Salsa is not even a Spanish dance!)

Today I'm planning to go explore some of the parks that are nothing compared to our parks. I will either find a spot to read or study grammer. Apparently the grading system here is fairly harsh, in that students aspire to get Cs.

Also, I'm a bit sick. My throat is still hoarse and I am conjested. If this is Swine Flu, then it's not a harsh case. I've had it for 3 days now, and I feel a bit better.

Finally my first album

Is HERE

I'm very tired. I should learn how to sleep. I'm probably not going out much tonight.