Gravity, Sara Bareilles

PJ AND ARE IN GALICIA!!!  a freaking 8 hr bus ride from Madrid. 

We all just learned Galician dancing , it was awesome.  i will show you all a little when i get home..

last night, most of our eap program went to a hip hop bar called Chesterfield, which was bomb.  we all danced till 4am and met some HOT Spanish locals.    i´ve been meaning to post pictures but i´m always at an internet cafe,with limited time!

school is going AMAZING, although i wanted to be in the higher spanish class.  I love meeting and talking to people.  one day i met these cute 12 yr old spanish girls learning english at the accent center that i am learning also.  it was so cool communicating with them in spanish...

my housies are so cool, we´re like a family.  ill show pics of how close later hahaha

in other words, pejota (pj in spanish hahaah) are still having a blast although we are so tired every day from the different lifestyle in spain.

all pj does is eat and sleeep. ask him about it ahahha.

miss u all, internet is running out!

don´t forget to email!

RMOLANO@UCSC.EDU

soooooo today I went to TOLEDO.  It was so beautiful, very traditional and cultural in many ways.  it has been there since the 13th century and i seriously felt like i traveled back in time and was living amongst the spanish in this era.  it is so amazing here.. although it was almost 100 degrees the whole day, i was immersed in culture that i have gradually been learning in my first week of spanish.  (since i am taking a language AND culture class) 

What was so cool was the fact that I got to see the work of EL GRECO, a popular artist that I have learned in my spanish honors class in high school.  The characteristics of his artwork are very thin, long, and emaciated figures.  he was a very religious artist and composed works depicting the Catholic church in spain, etc.

since i only have 5 minutes, HAPPY FREAKING 21 TO ALL WHO HAVE A BIRTHDAY IN JULY, ESPECIALLY GHEVONNE LOPEZ AND JAMI ENCARNACION on JULY 1!!! i love you ladies and hope you have great bday!!

i´ve been so exhausted from walking around and i swear, i´ve gotten 10 shades darker  haha...

there are also several cuties here...my housies and i have found a tight ass HIP HOP bar on wednesdays with HOTTIES....

more updates later!

I know I am not usually a xanga type of person, but I have decided to be one in the next couple of months because…..

 
ESTOY EN MADRID, ESPANA PARA LA ESCUELA DE VERANO
(June 21-August 16)

For those who do not know, I am taking a Spanish language and culture class in Madrid and will be here till August 16.   So far it’s been a week and SO MUCH has happened since I have been here that I must write it down to keep not only all of you update, but also myself. Hee hee.

When I arrived in Madrid on Thursday, June 22, the first impression I got was the HEAT.  It is definitely a scorcher over here.  PJ, another housie (Kohlina) that I met at the airport, and I discovered that we were going to have 10 housemates from different UCs- WHOA.  

PJ and I- Santa Cruz

Kohlina and Vera – Davis

Eunice, Audrey, and Vickee ~ Irvine

Tony (from Hercules), Andrea, and Weslynne (from Benicia) ~ Santa Barbara 

We all met at the apartment, which is pretty cool.  Our house is freakin tight- we were all really excited. (I will try to post some pictures later) 

Since school started on Monday, all of us wanted to go out and believe me, we did.  We went to the bars and danced like crazy till 6am.  I’ve been tasting different types of drinks here, like sangria, champagne and of course, CERVEZA, although I am not much of a beer-drinker.  

The food here is kinda greasy and bocadillos (sandwiches) are common.  When I first arrived here, I had one of the best calamari sandwiches ever AND there is this one dish with fries and a bunch of meat on top with 16 different sauces.  It was bomb.  Also, last night, I had the best paella in Madrid after a tour of downtown Madrid with my class along with chocolate cake soaked with rum with rich chocolate ice cream. 

I have also been WALKING so much- I walk EVERYWHERE: to school, (which is 30 minutes from my apartment), taking the metro, sightseeing, going out, etc.  Hopefully this will neutralize the dinner I had the night before AND that I gain legs of steel!  But walking is the cheapest form of transportation since it is so EXPENSIVE here, mainly due to the fact 1 Euro is about 1.3 US Dollars.  I am keeping a log of my expenses and it’s starting to get long…

Getting lost was a kind of a common thing here.  Last night my housies and I got lost around 4am and ended up in a district with PROSTITUTES!  It was funny because some of my housies were scared and PJ was making funny comments so we started running.  I wanted to take pictures, but that would be crazy… hahaha

Anyways, on to la ESCUELA…

I love learning the language and culture of Spain.  I wasn’t prepared for the beauty of the school- it looks like a castle: very clean, spacious, and white.  Luckily we get internet on the 3^rd and 4^th floor.  

Since communication with the people here is semi difficult, I hope to become more fluent in Espanol.  Unfortunately, they wrongly placed me in the lower class, which is too basic for me so I am trying to move to the more advanced class.  But I love how the teachers speak to us in Spanish and we have to answer in Spanish as well.  (since the teachers do not know that much English)

Anyways, I will close this entry with some Madrid observations….

1)     trendy clothes

2)     aggressive men

3)     smoking in restaurants (forbidden in public, but I noticed that ppl do it anyways)

4)     lots of staring at foreigners

5)     little tipping, if any

6)     party till 6am (no joke)

7)     nice weather in morning, scorching by afternoon, esp. in the SUN 

8)     taxi meter starts @ a flat rate of some costs

9)     several do not (or speak little) English

10) some toilets are on the wall

11) PICKPOCKETING

12) Meat is prevalent, esp. pork, in which there are some museums

13) Need  to be LOUD, esp. in ordering in restaurant

14) Feces are on streets frequently

15) Small sizes (from orange juice cartons to women)

16) Prostitution around 3-4am  (Calle Faustino y Jacinto)

17) Weird smells

Although I am having a blast exploring this amazing country, of course I MISS YOU GUYS BACK AT HOME, (VALLEJO AND SANTA CRUZ).  I have been trying to keep in touch as much as possible, but it’s hard when internet is not as easily accessible as it is in America.  Internet cafes run about .90 Eurocent per ½ hour and since there are so many international students using the computers at school, that means I have to lug around my huge ass TV that is my laptop (haha) to school if I want to get some internet access.  A good way to keep in contact is through EMAIL, FACEBOOK, or leave a comment here.  I will try to keep you all updated as much as possible. 

Another sidenote, PJ and I have talked about a quote, “Leave America at home.”  When we say “America,” we refer to all of the stuff back home that may keep us from enjoying our trip…   It’s been floating around my head for sometime now, wondering if even wondering about it is even worth it…. but it’s been kinda tough.  I have to definitely work on it, especially with certain emails I have been receiving.

Anyways, no mas. Necesito dormir porque me despierto a las seis y media de la manana.  Adios amigos y hasta luego!!!!