Where to start...

Well folks.  It's blog time again.  Sorry I haven't written in nearly a month or whatever it's been.  The daunting task of coming up with something entertaining enough to write about is as appealing as homework somedays.  Which I have not finished for tomorrow.  Adding that to the to-do list for tonight.

There have been many things that have happened since my last post.  I will fill them in as best as possible, and in the coming weeks, and maybe months, I will fill them in even more.  :)  So buckle up, there's a lot of text ahead.

1) We took a weekend trip to Nerja and stayed in a small little hotel where there was a fluffy dog running around, and the manager gave us cheesecake.  We somehow managed to cook our own food too, so that saved some money.  The trip to the grocery store was pretty fun.  I think all the locals thought we were crazy for leaving with three bags of pasta, 2 things of sauce, 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of lemon fanta, and some garlic bread.  Feeding 5 people (and over-estimating on the pasta front) came out to about 18 euros, which in American is about 22 dollars, maybe a tad under.  We ended up with more food than anyone could possibly eat, but we tried our best, and it made for decent leftovers.  It's amazing what you can find at a small supermarket.  Like gigantic fish, mussels, and even sometimes an entire octopus.  And the pig legs.  That is just odd to me, even though I have been here for awhile now, the whole smoked leg thing just sitting/hanging around (literally) still creeps me out.

Making dinner, and eyeing the dessert

 The beach in Nerja was absolutely amazing.  Us girls had a great time just hanging out on the beach and wandering around the town.  We did a little shopping, but not much.  The majority of our shopping was of cute Italian boys at the pizza place we ate at for lunch.  Boyfriends, we were merely window shopping, as we are all happily in relationships and wouldn't have it any other way.

Peter also made sure to get some beer at the store.  

  Nerja is famous for its stray cat population.  Some people had built them little kitty condos on the beach so they would have shelter, and it appeared that they get fed on a regular basis.  Some had notched ears, so I would assume it works like it does here and they catch them, spay/neuter them, and let them go again.

This beach was a very welcome sight.

Let's see...
2) We all (I think) passed our March exams and are now learning newer, harder things everyday.  I personally am on the subjunctive tense, which is not just a tense, it's a mode.  For those of you who study languages, yes it's that much of a pain.  For those of you who don't, let me explain in the best way I can what that means.
We all have been studying the INDICATIVE mode.  Which has present, 4 past tenses, and 4 future tenses.  Then there is subjunctive, in which so far I have only worked on the present tense and it is used for when you wish something upon someone else, like 'sweet dreams' 'safe travels' etc.  Very confusing in the usage, not too hard to form the verbs.

3)  I went to Morroco a weekend or two ago. (April 14-17 to be exact) Best way to explain the trip (in part) is to tell you what NOT to do that we did, or stuff you should do that we didn't.

Tip #1: Learn some words in French or Arabic before going to Morocco.  If you're really lucky you can find someone who speaks Spanish, if you are REALLY REALLY lucky MAYBE they know SOME English.
Tip #2: Don't cross the border at night.  Just don't.  It makes it 10x harder to know what's going on.
Tip #3: Find a licensed tourguide.  Not a random guy.  He was cool, but it would have been easier to have an official one.  The police don't like these guys and are really strict with people to not hassle tourists.  Which helped the nerves a bit overall I think.
Tip #4: Learn to haggle.  It's hard, but do it.  If you don't haggle you'll get ripped off.  You probably will anyway.  Especially with cabs.  Make them shake hands on a price BEFORE you set out.
Tip #5:  Take as little as possible (stuff wise) with you during the day as possible.  All your valuables go with you, but avoid backpacks.  Not only are they heavy, they are just more to be paranoid about.

Our first stop was Chefchaouen.  The whole city is painted blue.  They say it's to keep mosquitos out, but I think it's just because it looks cool.  Some places made me think of a Dr. Seuss book.  The town was really lovely and has a lot of stairs.  It's a very hilly area and you feel it.  We stayed at the Hotel Andaluz, and it was a nice small hostel that was well priced for what we needed, which was somewhere to sleep.  (Of course Brenton hadn't made reservations, we just found our way at 1 am to this little tiny hostel and hoped they had rooms open)
Our guide was nice, and took us to some really cool places.  The boys liked him, and I trusted their judgment, and in the end it worked out perfectly well.  There was one moment where the boys went to go look at something and the guide didn't know it and he got all worried and that made me feel better because at least he cared.
My first cup of real Moroccan mint tea happened at a small cafe where a tiny puppy was toddling around.  It was a great breakfast spot and the food was really good too.  The bees were annoying, but they just wanted the tea.  We set a little saucer aside with a bit of tea on it and they were satisfied.

Blue walls of Chefchaouen.

Mint tea with bee barrier lid.

 Our next stop (after a grueling 6 hour bus ride) was Fez.  We met some Germans on the bus, and they ended up going to the same hostel we were heading for (Hotel Cascade), so we split two cabs since we couldn't fit in one anyway.  They were really nice guys and we spent some time talking to them later on the patio at the hostel.  Of course Brenton hadn't made reservations (AGAIN), so we walked up to this place to find out that the two person rooms would run like 20 euro per person for a two-bed, or we could sleep on the roof for 8 euro/person.  They must get a lot of international travelers through here since they accepted multiple kinds of cash.  We of course elcted the roof.  I mean c'mon, who wouldn't?  They had blankets and sleeping mats for us.

Packing up the sleeping stuff

 We all woke up at exactly 5 am.  Why?  Morocco is an Arabic country, and therefore they are Muslim, therefore there is prayer call from lots of mosques, two of which flanked our hostel, all happening at 5 am and lasting an hour and 17 minutes.  Some of us tuned it out eventually and went back to sleep, and some, like Brenton, were up the whole time and timed it on his watch.  But getting to watch the sun rise over the rooftops, and the sparrows swooping around in the sky, and seeing people getting out and about, all while sitting huddled in a camel wool blanket on a rooftop while still in bed is the most amazing, soul-touching experience in the world.  I don't think I have ever been more at peace than watching that sunrise and taking that in.

Best. Sunrise. Ever.

Overall, I really liked Morocco.  I kinda wish we had had real hotel reservations, but sleeping on the roof in Fez was really the coolest thing I've ever done.  We met a lot of Americans and other nationalities of about our same age group, and we had a blast just hanging around the hotel people watching.  Also, the street food is really cheap and good.  Don't be scared to try new things, especially in Morocco.  And don't be afraid to meet new people.  You can talk to strangers, and you should once you're grown up.  Be cautious, but you can learn some things that way.  Keep your mind open, and don't ever be quick to judge.  Learn about someone first and then judge.
Oh, and wash your fruit in bottled water in Morocco.  Trust me on this.

The culture was cool, the food was good, and the people were generally friendly and really excited when we answered "America" to their questions of where we were from.  A lot of them have American friends and were really nice to us.  They consider every human being part of their family since we all come from the same parents, and were very friendly.

4)  I am currently in Rome while I type this.  We have been here since the 19th, and have learned how to use public transportation without looking like outsiders.  For the most part.
The sights have been awesome.  We have seen the Trevi Fountain, the Colloseum, the Pantheon, and the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.  Unfortunately we will not be seeing the Vatican.  We didn't have time before today, and since Easter was yesterday, it's closed today.  Also we found out we basically need a reservation to see it.  Which we tried to do, but the plane ticket can't be changed in our favor so we have to miss out.  Oh well.

The food has been both really good and really bad.  We were dissappointed the first few days since we kept trying to go to the little out of the way places, and some of them were just not good.  But our luck turned around in the last few days and we have been finding some really good pasta and pizza.
We stayed at a monastery the first 3 nights here, which was interesting.  We were asked to eat breakfast away from the priests that were there.  Understandable, but still.  I was slightly offended.  I understand it's a religious thing, but it still ticked me off.  They had basically been glaring at us the whole time we were there whenever we would pass one in the hall.

The last 3 nights we stayed at the B&B Happy Goose, which turned out to be someone's apartment and she rents out the 2 extra bedrooms.  Ilaria is really nice. And she has 2 cats and a dog.  They have been a nice vacation too.  We are a lot farther out of town, but that just means longer bus rides, and sometimes it gets confusing, but it's not awful.  She made us Easter dinner last night which was really good pasta and then she had chocolate for dessert.  Some of her friends came over for dinner too, and they made sure to translate what they were saying for us.  They all spoke really good English.  Not perfect, but really good.  And it was nice of them to translate for us, even though the conversations were sometimes inside jokes and stuff.

I really like Rome, but I am kind of glad to be heading back to Ronda in a few hours.  This whole Italian thing is wearing on me.  No one speaks Spanish, and only a few speak any English.  So it'll be nice to get back to a familiar language, even if it's not my native one.

Well, I apologize for not posting in awhile.  But here ya go.  :)  I tried to get an overview of everything I've been up to since I last posted.  I hope it wasn't too boring.

Love and Miss you all,
Erin

Back and Forth, Back and Forth

I wrote this last week.  Just got the internet to cooperate to where I could get it posted.  It's definitely easier to write them ahead of time in Word, and copy/paste, especially with such fickle internet.  Here you go:

Hello all!  Sorry I haven’t written in about….forever.

Since my last post I have been really busy.  Hence the no posting thing.  I’ll try to remember as much as possible.  Bear with me here.

1)   I went to Ireland.  Another life goal off the checklist.  Flying into Belfast, everything was green and full of sheep.  Really pretty countryside all over.   After landing, found Sam and we went and got me coffee and a brownie.  Then the long trek to her place and then right back out for food and things.  My second day there we went to Dublin and had a lot of fun.  On the list for Dublin:

                                               i.     Ghost Bus Tour (really fun, I highly recommend it)

                                              ii.     Open Top Bus Tour (hop-on hop-off so you can go wherever you want)

                                            iii.     Dublin Zoo (very pretty, I recommend going on a day the children don’t have off school)

                                            iv.     Guinness Factory (self-guided tour, very interesting)

We had a lot of fun and saw as much as possible in one day.  The Zoo was a ton of fun, except for getting shoved out of the way by little children all day, but there were a lot of animals to see, and I had an absolutely wonderful time.  It took us a good few hours to see it all.  We then went on the rest of the bus tour, since we hoped off at the zoo, and went to the Guinness factory.  For once I found that sort of thing interesting.  I think I’m beginning to understand why adults like to read all the things they have everywhere.  It’s actually becoming interesting!!

Back in Belfast we went to the Ulster Museum, I saw where the Titanic (!!!) was built , and got thrown into the culture even more.  Ulster fries are to be avoided if you have high cholesterol (but so delicious), and watching rugby at a pub can be crazy (you have to get there at least 2 hours early to get seats), especially when it’s “the big game”.  In this case, Ireland vs Scotland. Intense. 

2)   Some friends and I went to Gibraltar this past weekend.  Very fun, but lots of walking.  I’m pretty sure we were standing up for 12 hours, with only a few sitting breaks in there.  We got attacked my monkies/apes/whatever (breed of monkey, but has no tail, so I have no idea on this one), climbed uphill a lot, and got to see some pretty interesting historical stuff.  Once again, I felt like my parents.  We went through the Siege Tunnels, went through Mt. Michael’s Cave, and got to see Africa.  That was pretty cool.  We could even see some buildings in what we think is Tanger, Morocco.  We got a lot of good photos and got sunburned too.  It was really really hot, especially when it’s a steep climb in the sun.  Very warm.  But totally worth it. 

In general news, school is going well.  There are different tenses if you want to say that someone said something hypothetical yesterday it’s one tense than if they said it today.  Very confusing. 

Ronda is beginning to warm up a tad.  Now I only need one jacket in the sunlight rather than two, and you can even begin to feel the warmth from the sun.  It’s making it easier to get out and about, but harder to go to school.

Well, next stop is Nerja for a weekend, then Morocco is being talked about (not sure on that one) and then Italy.  Should be fun.  Expensive but fun. More stamps in the passport.  WHICH the guy at the Gibraltar border was kind enough to give us.  They don’t normally give them, but he did after we asked him. 

Love and Miss you all terribly,

Erin

PS-DO NOT FORGET A PASSPORT IF YOU GO TO GIBRALTAR!  You can’t get in without it.  Just FYI.

So do you just click your heels together?

Well, I must say, the Irish are more on top of their Dorothy jokes than anyone else so far.  But they were also some of the nicest people I have met yet while abroad.  The Spanish are friendly, but the Irish go above and beyond it feels like.  Except during a rugby match, then it's every person for themselves.

I spent the 23rd-28th of February in Belfast, North Ireland with my friend Sam Greif.  We had a lot of fun, and did a whole lot of walking.  On the 23rd we spent the rest of the day I was there getting me settled into her room, after finding coffee and a brownie of course, and then we met some friends for homemade dinner and went to The Bot, a local pub.  There we all had free pints, courtesy of the girls who had won the pub quiz a few days earlier and had 16 pints to get rid of.  I think they still have some tickets left.

The 24th we hit up Dublin pretty early in the morning and caught a very late bus back to Belfast.  We had to stop at the border on the way down to Dublin and show passports, as we were crossing into Ireland, and we all know how these two countries don't get along, but everything went well.  We did the bus tour in Dublin which was a hop-on-hop-off so we could visit anywhere we wanted and jump back on the bus when we were finished and go somewhere else.  First, we visited the Dublin Zoo, which was really cool.  They had a student price too, which was good.  Then we went to the Guinness Factory, which also had a student price, but after me not having my student ID card (but having my student visa, which he wouldn't accept) I paid the adult price.  But all in all it was a cool tour and we got "free" pints at the top of the brewery, in the Gravity Bar.

This is the view from the Gravity Bar, a panorama of Dublin.  Pretty cool, you could see 360 degrees around, and this is only part of it.

Later that night we went and did the Ghost Bust Tour.  It seemed really scary at first, but as the tour went on, we had a lot of fun and learned a lot and heard a lot of good stories about Dublin and it's former inhabitants.  We got to go into St. Kevin's Church, which is closed to the public and we got a lesson in body-snactching and learned about the early anatomists in Dublin.  Pretty cool stuff.

I did the Belfast Bus Tour and got to see where the Titanic was built, but I didn't get to see where it sailed from, as the slip-way was closed due to a bunch of construction.  I had forgotten the Titanic was built in Belfast, so it was pretty cool when I found out all of this.

All in all, the trip to Ireland was very relaxing and very well needed.  I had a lot of fun and now that I am back in Spain, I am a lot more relaxed and ready for my test tomorrow.  Let's hope it goes well!!

Thanks for all the support I've gotten from everyone.  I really appreciate it!

Miss you all and love you all,
Erin

Time Goes On...

Well everyone.  The time here has started to fly.  It seems like we have been a year, and just a week ago it looked on the calendar like we haven't been here that long.  Now, it's the 22nd and the test for the month is coming up and we will see how it goes.

I am feeling a lot better, my cough is almost hone, which is really helping with the mood thing.  Classes are going well too.  They were really hard today, but that is okay.  We are studying past tenses, and there are not this many tenses in English, so it is diffucult to comprehend.  The culture class is going well.  I just had to do a ton of research on Semana Santa and we are all going out for tapas tonight for class so we can learn the names of them and order some.  I only know what a few are, and the waiters are usually really nice about trying to explain what things are.  Our favorite tapas bar, Cero Grados, has great food.  The bartenders/waiters/owners there know us all and they are really nice and usually our check comes up a few euros short of what it should have been.  They also make sure we get our "boquerones" everytime.  I didn't even have to order mine the other day, he already had it written on the ticket when he came over.  The "boquerones" are anchovies (I think) with vinegar and olive oil and some other stuff, on top of a small bread thing.  They are delicious.  They gave them to us the other day on potato chips.  Which was amazing!
Also, I rarely eat non-flavored potato chips here.  The most popular kind is HAM flavored.  Yes, HAM. I have had the Ham and Cheese, but never the straight ham ones.

The weather is really chilly.  Yesterday and today have been really cold, but no rain, which has been nice.  I got a new jacket at the market on Sunday for 3€.  It's a red leather jacket that I really like but it's not too warm and I can't layer it which is the only bad thing.

We had our seond dance class last night and it also is getting harder and harder.  We practiced with music, and it is a lot faster than we had been going before.  There was a lot of tripping and cursing, thankfully none of which our teacher understood.  Her name is Ausi, and she is really cool.  She is very very patient with us when we just can't seem to get it right but she does get frustrated sometimes, but we all do.

Well, I don't have time right now for a long update, so look for this post to get extended later today or tomorrow or something.  For now, I need to go home, eat and work on packing and doing homework.
Why packing you ask?
WELL,
because tomorrow I am off to visit Sam in Ireland!  Kind of excited to get out and see someone from home, and to go somewhere that speaks English.  As comfortable as I am getting with Spanish, I just want to be able to talk in English all day for once.

Love you all, and miss you all.
-Erin

Rain, Rain, Rain

Well, the rain has begun.  And with it comes the wind.  And our dinky little travel-size umbrellas are having diffuculties holding up to the weather, but have thus far not been destroyed, so there is still hope.

Classes are still difficult, but my Spanish improves daily.  I think not translating everything into English is helping a lot.  I finally have all the notebooks, folders and highlighters I need and that has helped the stress a surprising amount.  We have homework daily, and sometimes it isn't too bad and is just vocabulary, and sometimes it is really hard and is correcting sentences or filling in blanks or other things, but so far I haven't come across anything I haven't been completely stumped on yet.  There have been things I have had to sit and think about for awhile, but nothing too awful.

A bunch of us went to Marbella this past weekend and we stayed in a hotel that was essentially on the beach.  If we hadn't been on the second floor we could have seen it.  The water was chilly, as was the air, but that didn't stop Brenton and I from swimming.  We got pretty far out just walking and then decided to duck under and actually swim.  I think some of the competition pools during swim team were colder than the Mediterranean.  The beach was great.  There were almost no people so we could just lay out and wander all over.  There were some nice restaurants along the boardwalk too.

This is one of the pictures from the beach.  There was this dog that kept running along the beach and we were all trying to get pictures of him, and this was one of the ones I got.

My host family is really nice, and they have been really helpful while I have been sick.  I finally went to the doctor and got some medicine for my cough and we will see if it helps at all.  Paqui, my host mom, has been very sympathetic with my stomach being upset randomly and my cough.  She makes me tea and understands when I don't want food.  I just need to remember that 'tortilla' here does not mean a flat piece of breadish stuff, it means an omelette sort of thing.  Not terrible, but when I really just want a tortilla, not an omelette, it confuses my brain.

Yesterday, a few of us went book hunting and I found my folders and highlighters, and I also found the 3rd and 4th Harry Potter books in Spanish (to continue my collection) and Jurassic Park in Spanish (which I need in English).  I am going to need another suitcase just for books.  But I think I am done book buying for now.  I am done buying anything for now.

And also, I am done writing for now, because class is about to start.
So Happy Day After Valentine's Day to you all.  Mine was slightly more depressing than normal, but I got to talk to Kyle on Skype.  Which I was really happy about. :)  I didn't think I would get to talk to him all day and he got up at 4 am to talk to me.

Have a good day everyone!
Love you all.  Miss you all.
-Erin

Week 2!

I wrote this on Sunday, but I am just now getting it up here for you all.  Enjoy!

Well helloooooooo there world. 

It's Sunday the 6th and things are going a lot better.  I think getting into a routine has helped with the culture shock a bit.  I do find myself already making America out to be a place of ideals where people actually drive on the road, and don't use their horns every time someone so much as pauses at a stop sign.  If I don't get hit by a car during my stay here, it will be a miracle.  (and if I don't get run over by a soccer team it will also be a miracle.  Although that wouldn't be so bad :) )

I got some postcards and am trying to get them written, but I find them to be similar to homework, something I need to do, but don't want to write so I put it off.  I have 3 out of the 18 I have done.  

I apologize if my grammar is terrible.  I have been writing in Spanish only lately and speaking in English is different than writing it down and I keep thinking in Spanish.  Which I guess is a good thing.  

I actually have some pictures for you this time.  I'm gonna add one to my last post since I wanted to but couldn't then.  We haven't done much except go to the park, to school, and to the Centro.  The Centro is a big walking street with a bunch of shops and every other one is a shoe shop.  All the girls have given into the 12€ boots and we are trying to keep ourselves out of the clothing stores.  

Kristin and I went to the Plaza de Toros yesterday and walked around.  It was really cool.  KSU has nothing on these guys.  The engineering of the chutes to push the bulls through is amazing.  And there are doors for people to get out of the chute areas that only people can fit through, and then only sideways.  In the ring there are a few doors out and they are blocked by fencing so the bull can't see them and then there are fake fences too so they are all equally spaced.  They also have another section past the main fence so if the bull jumps it then it doesn't get into the crowd.  For it being the first bull fighting ring in Spain, they knew what they were doing and though of everything.

Next weekend is Carnaval in Cadíz and the school is doing an excursion there.  Then Carnaval comes here to Ronda on March 1.  Paqui my host mom is really excited.  She was putting a ribbon on a kazoo the other day (like a lanyard) and then trying to show me the Carnaval Song.  I never expected that out of her.  And apparently she is a flamenco dancer as well!  Also didn't see that coming.

As for me, I've been alright.  Better than I was.  I got really sick yesterday with a bad stomach ache and my lungs felt like an elephant was sitting on them.  But today is better.  A bit of a cough but nothing else.  Paqui has been giving me different tea depending on what I am doing.  If I'm gonna lay down I get this kind, if I am eating I get another kind.  But it has been helping.  Also getting out and about for a few hours instead of the whole day definitely helps too.  We went to the park for a bit and that was nice.  And I took a few naps during the day, which also probably helped. :)  No one frowns upon napping here.  It's almost encouraged.  Since everyone stays out so late and gets up early, that 3 hour siesta is sometimes very welcoming.

Well.  Lunch is going to be ready soon.  So I will wrap this up and try to get another written as soon as I can.  And I will try to get pictures on Facebook soon too.  Just need internet, and that is even harder to find on the weekend, so we will see (I'm writing this in Word since I am at home).

I Love and Miss You All!!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

-Erin

PS- Our Super Bowl party was fun.  Small group, but we got the game to broadcast in English so it was all good. :)

Hellooooo Ronda!

Well everyone, I made it.  I'm typing this during a break in our conversation class, so I don't know how much I'll actually get typed in the 5ish minutes we have left.  So here it goes.
The flights were long but good.  Only one screaming child and she only yelled during take off, but that is to be expected since it was really hard on everyone's ear drums.  The crew on the 7 hour flight spoke Spanish and so that was a good time to practice and they were really nice.  The food was alright, not fantastic but edible.  There was tea that they brought around and that was really really good. :)  Mady and I got Chili's in the Chicago airport before the long flight so we didn't really need to eat a lot on the plane.
Madrid's airport is GIGANTIC!  I thought Chicago's was big.  There is nothing in the Madrid airport until you get past customs.  Not even a trashcan on the mile or so walk you get stuck on.  At least there are moving sidewalks.  But they have breaks in them so you can't just sit down and ride.  There is I think 1 bathroom and then passport check then another mile of walking then customs then more walking then a 5 minute tram ride to more terminals and then another half mile of walking to the VERY END terminal for our flight to Malaga.
But we got to Malaga and found our luggage right away.  It was already circulating by the time we found our way down there and then we found the bus 10 minutes later and then got to the bus station and then had an hour to sit around for the bus to Ronda.
The drive to Ronda was very beautiful.  The bus went through the mountains and there were small towns and houses and a lot of wind turbines on top of the hills.  Everything is green and there are flowering trees and wildflowers everywhere even though it's cold.
Ronda is really pretty.  The first day and a half was really overwhelming with tours and everyone trying to show us around and so I just let it all go over my head.  It wasn't worth trying to remember everything.
Today (Feb. 2) has gone pretty well.  Still feeling a little sick, but not as bad.  We all went out to a tapas bar last night and I had two different tapas.  One was a skewer OF THE BEST SHRIMP I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE and the other was fries covered in ketchup and this white sauce that none of us could agree on whether it was mayo or cheese.  It was good, odd but good.  This was at Bar Antonio, and Peter and I had (I think) Machau Clasic (yes, weird spelling I know) beer which was good.
THEN everyone but two went to Husky's, an American Bar where we watched figure skating on TV, talked to an Italian guy who was traveling all over Spain making money playing his guitar and spoke no English, and we came to the conclusion that no matter where you are in the world, once you get a few drinks in some heavly opinionated Americans (*nudge*Dan and Diana*nudge*) they will inevitably start arguing politics, the war in Iraq, healthcare, and how cool an American one dollar bill is.
Also, side note:  Everyone gets a lot better at Spanish and a lot more willing to use it after a few hours of drinking cervezas (beers).  Another side note:  CruzCampo is the Budweiser of Spain. IT'S EVERYWHERE.

So onto today.  I just also realized how long this is. Wow.  Anywho.  School was good.  Grammar was easy, I might go up a level in that depending on if i was borderline on my test or not, I'll talk to Daniel tomorrow.  Conversation was good.  My stomach hurt after our pausa in between classes so it was hard to concentrate and participate.  People tend to try to talk over each other sometimes, but that's alright.  I just sat back until I was asked a question and then I talked until I couldn't think of anything else.  It went pretty well.
I'm realizing that there are a lot of people here that don't know English, and Spanish is what we have in common.  Like the Italian guy, or Dan's girlfriend, or the French tourists who asked me to take their picture in the plaza today.  But it is nice when you're lost and the sympathic veterinary assistant speaks a little english. (Thank you whoever you are)

But for now, I will go.  There are things to be done, like reloading my phone with minutes. Again.

I am really starting to get comfortable here.  I'm happy it's not AS scary as it was and that things are settling down and there are people here who I can talk to that know what's going on and speak English.  Just hearing English songs on the radio is something I love.

Pictures coming soon, hopefully some here, maybe I'll find a photo hosting site or make it so you all who don't have Facebook can get to them there.  I'll figure something out.  But they should be on Facebook soonish.  Give me another 2 or 3 days.  I have to walk 10-15 minutes for internet.  Be patient with me.

Love you all.
-Erin