Thursday, February 8, 2007

Granada!!!!

So I am going to Granada this weekend, and I am excited because it is raining in Madrid, and warm in Granada. I will be sure to post LOTS of pics!

Here are some pictures other people have taken of me.... thought I would share the love for those who cannot access Facebook.

<3


I was feeling quite androgynous with my beanie on, so I decided to pretend to be an "Irish Brute." I think Chante's face in the background really makes this photo special.


Sandy, Rick and I in Lokua, the club I hate.


A pic my friend Matt took in Barcelona


Brian and I at Lokua for the second time. We were waiting to get inside.


Chante and I in Barcelona


A picture of all the candy at the mercado in Barcelona. Yum.

Barcelona PICS!

Sorry for the delay, I forgot I never got a chance to post them.


Barcelona Pics

BEWARE. I had such a hard time downloading these. Little did I know that each time I tried (Like 5 total) it kept sending me a message saying it didn't work. HOWEVER< I just went and re-labled all of them and noticed that in fact the did upload every time!! So there are about 3 duplicates of each pic. So once you hit slideshow they will start repeating after a while. Just a warning. The titles will vary too, bc I re-labled them each time!!! Oh well, Chau

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

I Understand Why They Hate Us

Give us your poor, your tired, and your huddled masses and we'll give you our loud, our obnoxious, and our annoying...

I know we all think, why do they hate us? It´s not just about war, they hated us before then. So what is it exactly? Let me first share with you, at least the Spanish way of things.

Spaniards...
1. They have been drinking since they advanced past the sippy cup
2. They are very social; however, they keep their social antics within their group and usually do not project their voices so that everyone in the surrounding area knows their business.
3. Spanish men are pigs, therefore Spanish women appear cold and heartless. It usually takes a guy like 4 hours to even get a phone number.
4. When they are in bars, they are typically not loud, and if they are... they are loud in Spanish, NOT English
5. They don´t get drunk. Notably it´s because they can easily drink their weight in alcohol, but if they do happen to get drunk, they usually cover it up.
6. Even with all the drinking I have seen ONLY 2 obese people the month I have been here, no joke. And they weren´t even that bad.

Knowing this, and also knowing that the main agenda of most students here is to be wasted 24/7, ya know, because you can´t do that in the U.S. (wtf?)

So American students, especially give a bad impression... But this list doesn’t just pertain to them.

Americans are...
1. LOUD! I am guilty of it, just try and listen to my mother and I talk on the phone, you would think we were yelling at each other.
2. They get wasted. If there is barf on the ground in the morning, it is most likely from some drunken American.
3. American girls seem like sluts. They flirt, give out numbers in a matter of minutes, and they usually get drunk and make a fool out of themselves.
4. Imagine all you knew of America was The OC and MTV. Yah, I´d think we were retards too. I even had an English woman tell me this was a major reason.
5. You can get into political and socio-economic crud. But I am not.
6. WE ARE LOUD! In bars, in the metro, on the street corner... word of advice to any travelers: if you speak English, just don´t speak it on the freaking Metro. They already stare at you. Don´t make it worse.

There should be an application process or some way in which we can revoke the passports of those incapable of keeping their loud American mouth shut on the metro. I love America, I love Europe, but they are different, people need to realize they are in a foreign country when they come and visit. However most give a horrid impression of our country.

But, I will of course try and be a good example of a cool American who doesn´t weigh over 300lbs, eat 3 square McDonalds meals a day, or who shouts across the metro car.

Chau

Monday, February 5, 2007

Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is the official one month anniversary of me being in Spain! It is so crazy because the first week felt like a whole month. But now, yeah I guess it feels like a month.

I also got my hair cut and I didn't end up with a mullet or puffy 5yr old girl bangs!! here is the result...

Today I also finished Atlas Shrugged! I got my first cup of Starbucks coffee in Spain (I have avoided it for so long because coffee is so good here, and bc it is SOO expensive) I wanted to finish my novel outside somewhere pretty, so I sat in front of Starbucks facing a famous fountain in Madrid.
Madrid - Neptune Fountain -Another view
ignore this link please


Atlas Shrugged is the longest novel I have ever read [1069 pages], but it was also the best. It had such an amazing plot that perfectly described her philosophy, and told a freakin' good story. She over explained it just a tad towards the end, but that is my only critique. I am going to start One Houndred Years of Solitide, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez tomorrow, and I am quite excited.

In other news today I went to the Escher Exhibit. If you have ever taken a geometry class I am sure you have seen at least one of his drawings in poster form up on the wall of your classroom. It was really cool and actually included this area you could walk into that made you feel like the room kept going when really it was just the way the mirrors were angled. It was creepy but cool.



Other than that, I bought a cute pair of boots for 20€ and I am going to Tapas Night at school tomorrow! I will let you know if the food is any good in my next post.
Until then, Chau.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Dirty Gypsies & Slooha Stealers

AH, yestarday, Tara and I watched a dirty gypsie steal a womans wallet.

There was a parade going on in the middle of Puerta Del Sol, I am not sure what it was for, but it was pretty big. We stopped over to watch, VERY aware of our belongings. I had my purse zipped up, and the zippers were near my hand, so I wasn't worried.


But this woman had her wallet in her camera bag over her shoulder and this guy turned around and walked passed her, and snatched it out of her bag. But she saw him!! So she turned around, grabbed him and yanked it out of his hand!!!!!! Then she swore profusley in Spanish. The guy just walked off, the chick was just glad to have her stuff, so he wasn't afraid of being chased.



But as Tara and I left the parade, we wondered how much was stolen from those people while they watched?

Also, we saw this sign today near our house. It is attached to the fence that closes off an area where they are doing construction. It is so cute, however, for some reason everyone thought it was kinda weird but we didn't know why. Today I realized the reason it was wierd was, it is in ENGLISH! Why a spanish construction area would have a message in English is beyond me. But it is still cute. I kinda wanna take it.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Lokua Sucks



There is this club in Madrid, called Lokua, that we have been to once before. The first time it was okay, but I still wasn't a fan of the music, it was 100% American Hip Hop, and that's just not my style. But last night when we went the DJ was SOOO bad, I could have mixed a better set together than that guy, and I have no musical talent what-so-ever! He would just mix one track into the next and he just played like radio music. I think the high point of the night was when the club dancers got on stage. There were these two hoe-ish girls and this one very muscular effeminate man, and the girls were dancing, then out of nowhere they just pulled each others tops off. They just kept dancing with no shirts on! It was disturbing, that was when we decided, it was definitely time to leave. Besides the bouncers were grumpy jerks, however we did get in without a cover charge. So luckily the only money they got out of me was 1€ to check my coat.


But we still had a good night, we left the club and walked to Puerta del Sol, found this funny little bar where the owner kept asking us questions about America. When I told him I was from LA he started talking about the LA Riots and Michael Jackson. They he talked about Billy Joel or something and played us 90's music all night. My roommate and I left early and walked the block back home. I love Madrid, because walking home at 5am is like walking around in America at 5pm. There are just as many people out. It's great!

Tomorrow I am going to get my hair done! I am going with a native Spanish speak just in case the hairdresser doesn't understand- No Mullet and No Bleach! I have no idea what I am going to do today. I just wrote some postcards and I am doing homework. I don't think I will go out tonight, unless people just want to relax somewhere. Anyway, until next time, Chau.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Practice for Cadiz

Last night there was a costume party! It was a "Wild Wigs and Shocking Shades Party" or something like that. So naturally we had to attend. It only took us four hours of wandering around Madrid to find a place to buy wigs, but we did. I already had crazy sunglasses. So we were all set. And it rocked.