I only have three months left WHATTTT

3.Obama party
4. Luis' birthday party/ parties in general
5. Music
6. advice to the US government
7. I joined a choir and a book club
8. observation about age
9. I'm not retarted, I just don't speak Spanish




1. I hope you are all surviving the frigid temperatures over there while I am basking in the 50 degree weather over here (although today it is raining). It honestly doesn't feel like winter. But now I can understand why people were freaking out when it hit the negatives (Celsius). When it was about 53 the other day, I went outside without a jacket and I was getting stares from all around. That's when I took the clue to put my jacket on. (when in rome... )

2. I've come to the conclusion that I don't really like Spanish food. Lucky for my I'm not living with a Spanish host family so I don't really have to eat it ever. There seems to be ham in everything and fries come on the side of every dish. Nooo thank you. Luckily the Turks have infiltrated Spain and implanted various Doner Kepab restaurants on various street corners. Alhamdulillah for that. I have eaten way too many Doner Kepabs in the last month and I just can't stop because they are sooo delicious. CALLING ALL ENTREPRENEURIAL TURKS: please come to Madison, WI and open some Doner Kebap restaurants. Thank you.

I will add two things that I DO like though. 1- the "menu," or the set options that you can order at a restaurant. for 8 euros (or more depending on where you go of course) you can get two courses, wine/beer/beverage, and a dessert. not bad. 2-one type of tapa--smoked salmon and cream cheese on top of a baguette. delish.


3. As we all know, Obama was sworn in about two weeks ago. I had a little gathering at my house for all the Americans in the CIEE program. It was interesting to watch from abroad because they dubbed everyone (excluding Aretha Franklin) in Spanish. It was hard to choose if I wanted to try to focus on Obama's speech in English which was covered by the Spanish, or listen to the Spanish which was almost equally as difficult because they were speaking fast to try to keep up with Obama. It was also interesting that all my roommates wanted to watch. Can you imagine a group of Americans being so interested in the swearing of another country's president? The picture above is of the "toma de posicion de Obama" party.

4. Last weekend, it was my housemate's birthday (Luis). All I have to say is FUN. Tapas were made, drinks were served, music was played and the dancing began. I admit that I'm not the best dancer in the world, but if I have a good dancing partner then I'm all set. And there were plenty of quality dancing partners at this party. The music was a mix of bachata, merengue, salsa, Spanish/flamenco pop, reggaeton and even House of Pain's Jump Around. Oh and my friend Sam Sandifer from Madison (who is currently studying in Madrid) joined us for the party! If you know Sam, you know that he was in his element at this party. In fact, he was the one who supplied the music for the night from his IPOD. And he was probably the one who danced the most. And every time someone mistook him for a authentic Latino his face would just glow. oh, sam. how great you are.

In addition to being in Latin culture up to my ears that night, I also met two Palestinians who live in the Resedencias. So of course I whipped out my Arabic and you can only imagine I was in heaven. Going from speaking Spanish to dancing merengue to speaking Arabic to eating salmon tapas to saying Alhamdulillah and Inshallah to drinking 1 Euro bottles of Tinto de Verano to Jumping Around....WHAT MORE CAN A GIRL ASK FOR. i personally can't think of anything.

Another thing that's great about living in the Resedencias is that you don't have to leave to find a party. I thought it would be really annoying to go out on weekends because we do live a 15-20 minute bus ride from the Centro. However, we have a cerveceria (restuarant/bar) and a bar right inside the residential community. And for example this last Friday night, I went to two different parties that were right next to each other. The music at one was more Techno and House (because it was run by our friend Manuel Miguel, or as he likes us to call him "Manny Mike") and the other one was pure Bachata, Merengue and Reggaeton due to the high number of Dominicans there. You would honestly think that you are in Santo Domingo here in the Resedencias because there are so many Dominicans! Dont worry though, I'm not complaining.

5. Music. In the last 3 weeks, I've uploaded about 600 new songs onto my itunes just from music that people have given me. Mom, Dad: just let me know when the next international party will be because I am READY.

6. Dear US Government: I understand you are not a fan of Fidel Castro, but why must you limit who I can and can't be friends with. When I started meeting Cubans here, I realized I've never met anyone from Cuba before!! I was having a conversation with this one guy at a party and in the middle of the conversation I asked where he was from (he knew I was from the US) and he said, "don't be scared...but I'm from Cuba." Oh how politics can get in the way of world peace.

Speaking of politics...
Warning--if you are sensitive about the Israel/Palestine issue, please do not read on.

I recently got together with one of the Palestinian students that I met to practice my Arabic and help him with English. I asked him to tell me a little about his life in Palestine just because what we see on the news is limited and most likely skewed. He was talking about how when he was in college in Palestine, he had to live on campus and stay there for one year at a time. Even though he only lived 30 minutes away from his university, he couldn't go home because there were Israeli checkpoints that stopped him from crossing over into his hometown. Can you imagine that!! And then I asked him "Well, why wouldn't they just let you across, seeing at how you were just a student?" He said that if he tried to pass through the checkpoint they could stop him for whatever reason they wanted. One time, a man in front of him in line was stopped and told to wait for an 5 hours until he could leave. This man started getting angry because he had to go to work and started yelling at the Israeli guards saying that why wouldn't they just let him through because he was going to be late for work (which was on the other side of the checkpoint). So what did the guards do? They shot him dead, then took a knife, put it in the dead man's hand and took pictures to make it look like he was threatening the guards with a weapon.

first of all, CAN YOU IMAGINE SEEING THIS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!? and then not even being able to do anything about it? second of all, can you imagine going to school in Milwaukee and not being able to come home to Waukesha for a YEAR??

And we, the United States, are supporting the country that is doing this? I really don't understand.

7. On a lighter note, I joined a choir and book club here. The choir meets twice a week and so far so good. It's harder than I expected just because I have to learn the music (tone-wise) and then also the words (some of which are in Castellano--the spanish that we learn and speak normally, some of which are in Catalán--another more regional language spoken in northeastern Spain). I might end up just doing the whole green ap-ple, wa-ter-mel-on, moving-your-mouth trick.

The book club also seems like it will be fun. It will be a great way to practice both my written and spoken Spanish.

The good thing about these activities is that they are with only Spaniards. At home and on the weekends I spend my time with Latin Americans (which im not complaining about) so its nice to be able to learn about Spain and Castellano Spanish during the week.

8. One thing that I've noticed is that Spain seems to have a much more intergenerational social life. For example, although its a University choir that I joined, there are 20 years olds to grey haired men and women. Same with the book club; students and professors alike are part of it. Also, at the parties that I've been to, there have been just as many 30 and even 40 year olds as there were 20 year olds. I danced salsa with this guy at a party the other night and then when talking to him after, found out he was 33 years old! Whereas I would be extremely creeped out in the US to be at the same party as a 30-something year old, I wasn't so much here. Everyone was having a good time and enjoying themselves all the same--no matter what age they were. I suppose it is a unique situation because I live in the Resedencias where a lot of people live while doing their Masters or Ph. D's. In fact I have yet to meet anyone in the Resedencias (other than the other Americans) who are doing undergraduate studies. Furthermore they're all doing their Masters in computer science or some type of engineering. I'll admit that it does make me feel a little dumb, but I suppose I'd rather be the dumbest among all smart ppl than be the smartest among all dumb people.

However-- there is this one 40 year old who is definitely a creeper. In fact he is the Van Wilder of the University of Alcalá. He has been here for 14 years (or so the story is told) all the while working on various undergraduate majors. A bad ass living the dream or a wierd old man who needs to get his life together? you decide.


10. So the other day, my Cuban professor roommate had another Cuban professor friend over to eat. And being 3 in the afternoon, everyone (including me)was in the kitchen cooking lunch. I was introduced to the friend, but then something interesting transpired. It is obvious that I'm not a native Spanish speaker, but I thought it was also obvious that I can at least understand Spanish. However, this woman kept asking questions ABOUT me TO others in the room. "Where is she from?" "Does the girl cook?" "How long is she here?" Hey lady! I'm not retarded... I just don't speak Spanish fluently!!

Well guys, thanks for tuning in. Much love to all of yall.