Day 16

What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?

1-Graduating high school as secretary of National Honors Society.

2-Making the dean's list all but one semester since I've been at ISU.

3-Learning to play the piano. Though I am no Beethoven.

4-Coming to study abroad in Spain. It takes guts man.

5-Making it to the state tennis championships 2 years in a row. Maybe I got double eliminated when I got there, but I was ranked #3 in the district in girl's singles and took 3^rd in a tournament in Idaho Falls!

Sometimes I eat raw bacon.

Yes, you read that right. And I also just deleted my WHOLE freaking post. I was almost done. and right when I deleted the whole entire thing, my blogger website decided to automatically save it. Oh my gosh. That is not good luck. okay. from the top.

The other day, I ate some salad, and wanted to make it taste a little better, so I added some chopped up bacon that you can buy at Mercadona in a little square container. There are no "cooking methods" written on it or anything, so I felt safe to eat it on my salad. Well when I showed Jonas the container yesterday, he pointed out that it says in small print on the bottom of the container "cocer antes de consumir"...that means cook before consuming. Yep. I ate raw bacon on my salad. I obviously love bacon a little too much.  Glad I didn't get sick... needless to say: lesson learned.

Anyways. Tuesday. I walked to class, went to class, and walked back home. I stopped in the Jardines de Real and read some of Pride and Prejudice. I am slowly getting through that book. It's my goal to at least finish it by the time I leave here no matter what. It was too hot though for me to stay long :) I then stopped by a second hand store that I've been meaning to visit for months to see if it had any treasures waiting for me. Alas, it did not. Everything was overpriced and not what I was looking for. Sad. I then went home, hung out for a while, then walked to class again, went to class, and walked back home.

Yesterday, I walked to class, went to class, walked home, went to class, and then dropped by the store to grab some stuff to make dinner since Jonas suggested having dinner would be good before going to see "Los Juegos del Hambre" (The Hunger Games)!!!! It just came out last Friday here!! So I made some DELICIOUS fajitas, thanks to Mom for sending me fajita mixes, and then we were off! We took some bikes to the theater and opted to skip the cool candy they have their! Instead of just having candy in boxes like in Pocatello's theatre, they have containers full of fun candy that you scoop into bags and buy. Maybe on Friday, when we go see The Avengers. Yeah, it comes out BEFORE it comes out in America! Cool huh?! Anyways, The Hunger Games was in English with Spanish subtitles, yay. :) It was not as bad as Twilight, that's for sure, but, of course it didn't do the book justice. Some parts were so cheesy I couldn't help but laugh. And you know me, when I laugh I can't stop. I think Jonas was laughing just cause I was laughing SO much.

Today, I have been trying to be motivated to write my essay. I need to get it done before Cortney comes next week! But I haven't been doing very well. I get distracted easily. I probably have 2 pages out of the 6 needed. I'm working on it! I made some chowder for dinner, ironic since it's starting to actually be really nice hot weather and I'm inside making chowder. Natalia one of my roommates, had 2 of her friends over to watch the soccer game, Valencia was playing. I should've watched, but I was trying to do my homework! She walked in the door with her friends and I was in my sweats. I felt so embarrassed that I wasn't dressed at all. It's weird that I would feel like that. If that happened in the U.S. especially on a study day like today, I would not give a crap. That's definitely a big difference I have seen here. I feel like I always at least have to be wearing somewhat nice clothes, I would never go out in sweats as much as I have wanted to. Unlike in the U.S. where people wear their pajamas to the grocery store. I do miss that. hahaha. Less classy, but a lot more comfortable.

Anyways, I have class tomorrow morning, and it's almost 3 a.m. Hope you guys enjoyed! Sorry I write a lot.

Christians and Moors. A historical lecture.

I just closed my eyes again. Time to board the dream weaver train.

Okay not really.
Not just yet.
But I was just listening to that song.

Anyways. UPDATES. I got some.

Friday=did nothing. went to class, studied. chilled. the end.

Saturday was a study day! Well, kind of. Jonas and I chilled at Starbucks for 3 hours reading. Got some stuff done. And then we went and ate lunch and watched a guy get punched in the face. It was kind of awesome. We were sitting in Plaza de la Virgen just soaking up the sun, when some guys by us were arguing. The one guy (for storytelling purposes let's call him 1) was yelling at the other guy (2) (creative, I know) and started pushing him. Then 1 decided that he was so cool and so strong that he took of his shirt and stood in a boxing stance, while 2 looks him in the face, walks towards him, and punches him right in the face. End of fight. But 1 kept telling him how much of a bad fighter 2 was or something like that. And his nose was really bloody. 1 tried calling the police on 2, though that's stupid, since it's his fault. Anyways. Pretty action-packed.

Sunday was EPIC!
I went at 9 a.m. to meet up with the Happy Erasmus group to go to a city called Alcoy. They have an awesome festival every year about the Moors and Christians with people dressing up and doing battle reenactments and such, so we headed there to go check it all out. Natacha came and her friend Silje from Norway. She is SO awesome! I had no idea. I mean I knew she was cool, but I got to know her a lot better on this trip. Some of Natacha's friends also took a car and met us at Alcoy. We got there and lost out group of 40 or so Erasmus students almost instantaneously, which we figured would happen.  So we got there at the beginning of the parade of the Christians.  They were all dressed up like knights and medieval people.  They had awesome bands playing and everyone was throwing confetti down on the streets from the buildings up above the parade. It was so neat. The streets were COVERED. We had lunch at a little park and walked around.  We walked up to one street and saw some of the floats before they were finished. :)  The parade for the Moors was later in the afternoon at 5, so we hung out and walked around until then. I wish I had had a costume! They were so cool.
We went and got a place to stand for the parade in the middle of the Plaza de España where they also had put up a castle in front of the cathedral.

OH MY GOSH.
The parade was AWESOME. It was all Arab stuff. All the costumes and decorations and stuff. You guys know me. I love that kind of stuff. I was in heaven. The parade was suppose to last 4 hours. And it was 203948987--0389074234 times better than a Pocatello parade or any other parade I've ever seen. No candy though. hahaha.
There were so many amazing things!

CONFETTI!

 guy in the Christians parade. Props man.

Seriously. Aladdin anyone?









There were dancers.

There were huge drums.















There were cool swords!

There were dressed up horses.
















There were CAMELS!! MY FAVORITE! CAMELS!!!!!!! YES!!!!!

AND THERE WAS A FIRE BREATHER!!!


Sorry. I didn't get a picture of the fire breather. So You'll just have to imagine. okay?

I seriously felt like I was in Aladdin. Where Prince Ali comes into Agraba with the huge parade behind him. Seriously. Epic. Made my day. My year. My life. hahaha

But then it started to rain. A little. And then a lot. I wore the wrong type shoes >:'( so my feet were soaked. We had to leave early because of the rain. Poor people in the parade. They worked so hard on it to have the weather be crap near the end. We got something to eat at a bakery and left. Good thing I wore my rain coat!!!! So we rode the bus back and I biked back to my house. :)
Awesome day.

Today I studied. 'Nuff said.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my pictures! But I enjoyed the day much more no matter what you say ;)

Day 15

If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

If I were an animal, I would be a bird. One that would live in the U.S. for a while, but then fly south for the winter. Those birds know what's up. And I would be able to fly wherever I wanted. :)

Day 12, 13, and 14

I always have these written in advance before I put them up, I just get lazy to put them on the blog hehe :) Here are days 12, 13, and 14 of the blog challange! Enjoy!


12. Describe a typical day in your current life.

I wake up and walk to class. After class sometimes I'll go eat lunch with my friends, and then walk back home. If I have another class, I walk back to school and go to class and walk home again. Pretty much all I do in a typical day right now is walk. :)

13. Describe 5 weaknesses  you have.

I am indecisive.

I can't say no.

I don't have enough self confidence.

I have a huge sweet tooth.

I procrastinate.

14. Describe 5 strengths you have.

I am a very independent person.

I don't like hurting people's feelings.

I am open-minded.

I work hard.

I am level-headed.

It's been too long blog.

Man, long days have been coming my way!!

It was such a blast having Kim here for a week. So nice to see a familiar face from back home. :) She also gave me a good excuse to do some touristy things that I hadn't done yet here in Valencia.

The only sad thing about me not writing for a long time is making it hard to remember what we did exactly each day.  Since we were always together it is difficult! haha so here is a list of things we did. We walked around the Turia, we rode our bikes to the Gulliver's Travels big children toy, we played on the free "gym machines" in the Turia. She Skyped a lot, hahaha. We saw a parade for the Dia de San Vicente Ferrer, which we accidentally stumbled upon while we were walking around the city center. We went to my favorite dance club Las Animas and danced our hearts out.  We went to a concert at La3 for a band called "The Zombie Kidz." We ate gelato in HUGE ice cream cones in Plaza de la Reina.  We toured through the big cathedral where there is a nice juicy, still fresh left arm of a guy named San Vicente Martir. Ew. We found a ceramic store with antique stuff in it! We went to the little touristy shops. We went shopping near the Plaza de Ayuntamiento and at the mall next to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias. We explored around the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias. We went to the Fine Arts museum and got lost in it. We went to my class yesterday. We went shopping for food a lot and made lots of dinners and lunches. My flat mate made her Arroz en Horno dinner for us, Kim didn't want to eat the blood sausage, hahaha. We went to a traditional Spanish restaurant. We went to a Mediterranean buffet with Natacha. We went to a tea shop and explored some old bookstores.  We tandem rode a bike since there was only one at a Valenbisi station. Her debit card was frozen for a few days. Walked around the port. We made a giant cookie and ate it with my flat mate and her sister Eva. They don't understand that you can't only eat just a little piece of it!!! So Kim and I did a better job once they went to bed. ;)

All in all, it was very busy and very fun. I dropped her off at the airport at 8:30 a.m. this morning.  I think it was harder saying goodbye this time, knowing that I now have yet another 3 months to see her again. It made me a little jealous that she was leaving to go back to Pocatello and I wasn't, but then I thought about how fast the time is going to fly these last few months. I need to get a move on! I still have so much stuff I would like to do here. Cortney is coming in 2 weeks too! So I have so much school work to do to be prepared for her arrival. I
I guess Kim gave me and update and said she is actually stuck in Madrid for the night because her flight from Valencia to Madrid was delayed for 2 hours, making her miss her next flight to Dallas, TX. The only flights out of Madrid to the States are only until 12 noon, so they gave her a hotel room and some meals, but that still does really suck for her.  It's weird that Iberia would be that delayed on a flight that lasts no longer than an hour, but that's life.
I have to study for a test I have tomorrow though!
Over and out.

Day 9,10,11 and some update on me!

HOOOOOOOOOOOLA.

So. here is day 9,10, and 11 of the challenge!

9. List 10 people that have influenced you and why.

1- Chris Loether. He is my linguistics professor and academic advisor. He may be a professor at ISU, but he is also one of the most brilliant people I've ever met. He is fluent in at least 27 different languages. Serious. I'm no even joking. Probably the coolest guy I've ever met.

2-Jean Hancock. I have known her for so long and she is such an amazing woman. She has so many talents and is willing to share those with everyone around her.

3-People who have done a foreign exchange. They amaze me. Moving to a different country and embracing a new culture and language is one of the toughest things I've done. I greatly respect those who have done it before.

4-Ramses II. Yeah I know. He's a dead mummy. But, seriously. He built and empire like the world has never seen. He made sure to scare his enemies to death and leave Egypt alone man. Egypt is awesome. Well. Ancient Egypt.

5-My mom. Of course I'm putting her down. There is no one else on this earth as caring as my mom. She never likes hurting peoples' feelings and she is always doing something to help someone else out.

6-My dad. My dad has done everything and experienced everything. He knows how to live life. I want to make sure to do as many things as he has already done in his life. He lives it how I like it. Work hard so you can play hard. And that's what he wants for his kids too!

7-David Archuleta. Random, I know. But once he got done with American Idol, his life dramatically changed and he was then super famous. He just left a few weeks ago and left his career behind to serve a Mormon mission. That takes a lot of will power to go from being so famous for your singing, to taking a break for a full 2 years to serve the Lord. What a courageous young man. I respect him a lot for it.

8-Jane Austen. A woman who was determined to show the world that a woman was able to be completely economically independent. She did just that and much more.

9-Manal Alsharif. She stood up for her rights as a woman in Saudi Arabia and made the movement to allow women to drive cars legally in her country. That takes a lot of courage in a country like that especially as a woman.

10-Jesus Christ. Without Him, we wouldn't all be here.

10. Describe your most embarrassing moment.

Well guys, I guess it's coming out in the open for all of you to read. Wow. Here it goes. So I was in Egypt on a night train going down to the southern part of Egypt and the cubicles? Of the train were laid out so there was a bunk bed in each one. So my dad took the bottom bunk and I took the top bunk. I stayed up a little late to finish writing in my journal and I got really sleepy. I wanted to turn off the light, which was on the opposite end of the ceiling from where my comfy pillow was, so I decided I would just turn the switch off with my foot...Problem is, I had worn a skirt that day. And didn't shut the curtains. So while I was turning off the light with my foot, we had made a stop in some village to pick passengers up!!!!!! Oh my gosh. There was some guy just staring at me. And calling his friends over to come see!!!!!!!! Oh my. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. Wow. Just wow. Good thing I can get a good laugh out of it now.

11. List 10 pet peeves that you have.

1. The volume of the tv, radio, etc. has to be on either an even number, or an increment of 5. Odd numbers are not allowed. 29 people? Really? Just turn the dial up to 30.
2. All of my clothes when hung up have to all be facing the same way.
3. The phrase “don't worry about it.” Once you say that. You are automatically on my don't like list for the next 5 minutes. :)
4. Untrained dogs. Oh my goodness people, if your dog barks all night at people, you're doing it wrong!
5. Smoking. You know it's bad, so don't do it!
6. Culture-bashing people. Respect them all. Just because there are a few crazies in a society, doesn't mean that whole group of people are like that as well.
7. Dirty fingernails. Ew. Don't touch me.
8. Stick thin girls who call themselves fat.
9. People who walk too slow in front of you.
10. People who can't seem to go 10 minutes without their cell phone and are constantly on it.

Kim's visit 2

THE BEACH!!!

It was so nice and sunny yesterday.  Kim and I decided to go to the beach and relax.  We took some food to picnic with and wore our beach dresses and went and chilled at the beach for the majority of the day.  The water is so cold, with the wind blowing we didn't dare swim haha. It was so pretty though! The waves were super small and the water was so clear and such a pretty blue. It then was getting super sandy because of the wind, so we decided to walk down the boardwalk towards the port since I hadn't been there yet. The boats were beautiful and the view was beautiful.  We had a good time.  We also got sunburnt! My first of the season.

We went to a 60's dance party which ended up being REALLY crowded and a hassle to get to.  We decided to get Kim a subscription to Valenbisi (the rental bike system they have) but every station we got to only had 1 bike, so we tandem rode the one bike half the way. I sat on the seat and she stood up and pedaled. It was hilarious.  I couldn't stop laughing. So funny.  We finally got her a bike as well and we hurried to meet Josh, but when I called him he was already there! So we speed biked to the disco place and couldn't find a place to park our bikes!! So we in the end had to go all the way back to where we got the bikes to park them again and had to walk the entire way again.  It was ridiculous. So we barely got there in time to get in for free and we got there like an hour later than Josh. Oh man, good times.  haha. It was so crowded we could barely move let alone dance, but later it got a little better. Then we left after a few hours and found bikes and got home a lot easier than how we got to the place haha.

The end.

Day 7 and 8

Day 7
What is your dream job, and why?

This is making me think a lot.  I'm still not exactly sure what I want to do with my life yet. I know I absolutely love linguistics. So much. With a major in anthropology you have to be really motivated to go out and find job opportunities.  They don't just come to you nearly as often.  I would really love something to do with linguistics.  If they found some society of people that spoke let's say Spanish but became isolated from the rest of the world until now, I would love to be the person to go in and analyze, identify, and record all the similarities and differences between their dialect of Spanish and modern day dialects of Spanish. I would get two cool things in one! I would get to research the history aspect that I love about anthropology and the linguistic aspect as well.

Or. It would be cool to work for the FBI or something and recover stolen artifacts.  That would be freaking sweet!!! So cool.

Day 8
What are 5 passions you have?

1-Linguistics. I loved having exams in my linguistics classes. I'm such a nerd. <3
2-Photography. I love going out and just going on a photography adventure.
3-River rafting.  There's nothing better than the smell of fresh camping on a river.
4-Piano. I may not be a very good piano player, but I love playing anyway.
5-Tennis. That is one sport I cannot live without. I better find someone to play with while I'm here! It's Spain! They love their racket sports.

KIMBERLY!!!

Kim is here!! I couldn't sleep last night I was so anxious. I got up at 8 and left by 9 to go to the airport to pick her up. So I bought her a chocolate croissant for breakfast. :)

It was so awesome!!! Hahaha she came out of the arrival gate and we ran to embrace each other. =D It was totally a Kodak moment, we were the loudest people at the airport. I bet the Spaniards thought it was a good show. hehe.

So we took the Metro back to my place. Took the Turia, bad idea with luggage man. Some guy running stopped to point us towards the metro station. haha thanks but no thanks. So we dropped off her luggage. It felt like Christmas!!! I got so much stuff from home. So cool.

Then we went around the center to show her around. We went to Plaza de la Virgen, Reina, and Ayuntamiento.  We also went and took a look inside the train station and I finally bought a leather back pack that I have wanted to buy for so long.

We went and ate kebabs and walked around the Barrio del Carmen.  Then we went back home so Kim could take a nap.  So we watched some tv and she took a nap.

Grocery shopping was next!! Yay. I have food now.

Tomorrow is suppose to be the warmest of the days she'll be here, so we'll probably head to the beach tomorrow!!! :) It should be good!! I'm excited. We're gonna picnic it up and everything.

Day 6:
What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

I don't know what I should answer to this question. I'm not sure if they are asking what is they physically hardest thing I've ever experienced, or mentally, or what.  The beginning of this semester was pretty challenging. Getting prepared last semester took up A LOT of my time and I was working almost full time and going to school full time as well.  Last semester was definitely my busiest semester I've had.  Then having to adjust to a total different culture was pretty hard at the beginning.  It's hard to change things you've been so used to doing all your life up until now. But, here, I am, I think it's going well now. :)

the waiting game.

So. Everything is closed right now. This is my cupboard.

Yeah. It´s pretty sad.

Also. Kim is arriving in Valencia tomorrow!!!! I've been dying waiting. I've been pretty productive today. De-cluttered my room, made a list of places to go with her when she gets here, thought about doing some homework, made a headband...yeah! The headband turned out better than I expected. I was happy about that. :) Especially since I have no sewing skillz whatsoever.

Ooo. Ahhh. Pretty!!

Here is day 5 as well of my blog challenge:

5. What are the 5 things the make you the most happy right now?

1- I'm in SPAIN. This is the place to be. :)
2- Kim is coming to see me. Ahhhh it'll be so nice to see a familiar face tomorrow morning!
3- My parents. Geez Mom, you're the freaking best. Can't wait to get all my stuff from home :)
4- Painting. That's what I just got done doing.
5- I have my apartment all to myself until Friday now!!! I can sing at the top of my lungs!! hahaha

I'm really bad at being patient right now. Maybe I'll actually go to bed early just so I can see Kim faster. Adios!!

El fin de semana de Pascua

Friday. I did more stuff.

This is why my posts are usually every other day instead of every day, cause when I write everyday, I actually go out and do something.

So Friday, Natacha and I decided we wanted to go see the Ciudad de Ciencias y Artes.  It's this huge set of modern, awesome buildings that are museums and everything. Super neat. I still have yet to go inside any of them. It's kind of far away, but with Valenbisi, it's cake.

So we started riding. And there was seriously no one on the roads at 2 or 3 a.m. this Saturday morning/Friday night. We got to a station to park our bikes pretty close to the Ciudad, but there were no spots available.  So, we went to the next station. None there either. That happened with 4 stations and while searching, we were running extremely close to our allowed 30 free minutes of biking. We recharged our cards with an extra 15 minutes and FINALLY found a spot with free spaces to park our bikes. Man, what a ride.  I had decided to bring along my nice camera, since it's so pretty at night and who knows the next time I'll do a random night adventure like this.  But alas, we got to the Ciudad, and I realized. I had no memory card....

Natacha to the rescue!! Her camera uses an SD card too, so she let me borrow her card when I wanted to take some pictures.

I wont lie. They turned out freaking amazing.

For what I expected. They were so bomb. I will post a picture right here.

Man, I'm good.

Then we went home. Yay.

Saturday, I went out around 2 to try and find a bakery open so I could get my Mona de Pascua!!!!! I found one!!!! They were on siesta time, but when I came back I bought one. And a chocolate croissant. Spain = 1 Emily = 2. I'm in the lead now. =) I then hung around home and cleaned some more. I broke another thing. The spatula. oops. Tomorrow I'll go buy a new one. Then Natacha and I went and studied for a few hours and went to eat a Kebab. Cheap, fast, easy, delicious.

Today, I got up and went to church. Be proud of me. And Natacha actually wanted to go with me too! So we went and had a good time.  The city was so quiet at 9 in the morning on Easter morning. It was so peaceful and nice. I should get up early more often! We got to church and weren't even late. Double points. The members are so nice and friendly and the sister missionaries are very sweet. I didn't get to play the piano because we got out of Sunday school late.  They did have to change the closing hymn because no one knew the song and they were all singing it without a piano. Maybe next time I'll be able to play. I went home and took a nap and skyped with the family. And then I went for a run.

Overall, I think this was a nice weekend.  Now I'm off to do some more reading and hopefully start the essay I have to write. Wish me luck! Xx

Day 3 and 4

Okay, so I actually had day 3 written yesterday, but didn't get the chance to post it.

3. Describe the relationship you have with your parents.

I like to believe I have a pretty good relationship with my parents. I mean, they let me come on this awesome experience to Spain! I don't think they would do that much for me if I was THAT big of a pain. I've always tended to be a Daddy's girl every since I was little. I would always follow him around and help him do things. As years have gone by and I've grown up, we still like to do the same sort of things. We both love road trips, traveling, camping, things like that so we try to go on some sort of trip every year. We also went on the biggest trip I've gone on together in 2008. We headed to Egypt and Jordan and then made our way up through Europe to get to Denmark. I had this trip in mind ever since I was a little girl and my Danish cousins visited us in the United States once and I've always loved the history of Egypt. So my dad made that a reality after my junior year in high school. It was something I will NEVER forget and all of his planning and researching made the trip absolutely flawless.

My mom and I have had a good relationship over the years too. Even though I disagreed sometimes with the rules my mom wanted to set for me. Now that I've been gone from home for a few months now, I've come to realize it was really just because she cared for me so much. She never wants me to have a bad experience because she is so caring and kind. There is no mean bone in her body and never wants anyone to feel bad. No matter how many times I probably worried her sick or when I was having a meltdown, she's been there for me. I've also realized how much she does for me on a daily basis now that I am not at home. Doing laundry SUUUUUUCKS. Especially here because they don't believe in clothes dryers. I also should have learned how to cook from her. I probably would be eating much better than just pasta and apples if I had spent some time to learn how to cook some of her delicious stuff!! I really miss her chocolate cake. Hahaha.

All in all I love my parents so much. I don't know where I would be without them. They are the reason I have succeeded in so many of the things that I have accomplished. I miss them a lot, but they'll be here visiting me before I know it and I can't wait to share my city with them!!! Xoxo

4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.

1. You'll miss math class
2. Enjoy life without the financial responsibilities that come later.
3. Learning how to drive a manual car will be the best thing you've ever done.
4. Take an art class now!! Don't wait your senior year of high school!
5. Landscape architecture may sounds like an awesome job, but, it wouldn't be as cool as anthropology. Trust me.
6. You only have 3 more years before half the girls you know will get married. Don't worry, you don't have to do that as soon as them. :)
7. Don't get pressured into fitting the mold. Everyone is different and has their little quirks.
8. You're beautiful. Don't let people tell you otherwise.
9. Take English 101 and 110, it'll save you some time later.
10. Believe in yourself.  

Day 2

2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.

Okay that is not one of my fears. hahaha But. here are my top 3 fears that I can think of.

1. Metal Detectors. You know the ones in the mall that go off if they forgot to take of the security device or if you steal stuff? Those ones. Seriously. I am so scared they will go off and I will be framed for something I didn't do. One time it went off on me because I bought a bra at JC Penny in the Pocatello mall and they forgot to take off the security thing, so when I walked through the detector thing at Shopko, it went off. It freaked me out so much, I've been scarred ever since.

2. Deer. I sincerely hate deer. I swear they can sense my fear, and come after me. When I'm driving at night, I am always terrified one will run in front of me and I'll hit it and die. Two reasons I am terrified of deer. Reason number one, my dad made me drive through the canyon coming from the south side of Utah into Provo during the springtime and at night, which happens to be when all the deer are starving and are searching for food near the freaking highway. I was driving his brand new truck, on a 1 lane highway with semis coming the opposite direction at me all the time, with smeared deer guts all over the road and hundreds of deer eyes on either side of the highway that I could see. Scary. That and in Pocatello I was driving to Jeff Tanner's house one time and I hit 2 at the same time. Not hard. I stopped, they hit my car, and ran away. Traumatic though. 

3. Finding someone who will be able to deal with my weirdness. This sounds stupid, but seriously, I may be only 21, but have never had a relationship last more than 4 months maybe. I know I still have plenty of time to find Mr. Right, but still. Will they stick around? I'm scared even if it did work out for however long, that they would leave at some point or another. 

That's all until tomorrow!

Mona de Pascua!??!

Dang Spain and their holidays!! They already closed down all of the shops and bakeries for Easter starting yesterday afternoon! I wanted to buy a "Mona de Pascua" a type of bread you buy for Easter with a hard-boiled egg in the center of it, but, I don't think I will get it. :( that's what I get for procrastinating I suppose... Spain 1, Emily 0. Nonetheless. I got outside, it was sunshiny finally. I walked around, got myself some Starbucks =D and also some postcards to send! Also cleaned the apartment today, and while doing so, I broke the mop...oops, and with Mercadona being closed for me to go buy a new one, I mopped the rest of the floor by hand. I also got to chat with Aneka and the girls, and my mom and Kim to see if I wanted her to bring anything with her when she comes to see me in a few days!! That's today in an eggshell! Tomorrow I should probably get some homework done...

Day 1

Okay, other than just my regular blog to update what I am up to daily, there is a 30 day blog challenge going around and I thought it would be fun and interesting to try and do.  Every day there is a question you have to answer about yourself.  On day 1, you have to give 20 random facts about yourself.

1. I love Egypt.
2.  My cat means the entire world to me, even if she's a little devil.
3. Yoga is one of my favorite things to do.
4. Linguistics is my favorite.
5. Lord of the Rings will always be my all time favorite movie.
6. Valencia is indescribable.  It is my home away from home and I wouldn't mind living here longer than just 6 months.
7. I love camping. Being in the outdoors is the best.
8. I'm shy until you get to know me, then I can talk your ear off.
9. Learning Arabic is on my bucketlist.
10. I have a secret belief that I was Cleopatra in another life, which one, I don't know. ;)
11. I always feel like if I have to do a job, I need to do it better than what is expected.
12. M&M was my nickname when I was little.
13. I have known my best friend Cortney for 17 years and I know we'll keep being each other's best friend for 17 more years and another and another...
14. I had thought studying abroad in a Middle Eastern country was what I wanted more than to study in Spain, but now that I am here, I can't believe I thought that. I have such a desire to learn about the Spanish culture and language.  I just love it here.
15. I suck at buying groceries.  I always end up buying the most random things that don't mix well at all.
16. If I buy myself something tasty like a chocolate bar, I will eat it the same day. I don't like saving my sweets for another time, they should be enjoyed now. :)
17. Most mornings when I wake up, my hair looks like I've come right out of the 80's.
18. If I put my mind to it, I can be a pretty creative person, therefore, I really love photography, drawing, and painting.
19. I wrote a play in middle school about 2 Jamaican penguins, Ernie and Bernie.
20. When I come home from Spain, I hope to have a better appreciation for myself.

A good dose of adventure

So Natacha yesterday came to my apartment and made me get out of my bed.  I was so lazy.  We talked about how we should have planned to do something this week since we have no class but for some reason we had not planned anything. Really? I have no idea why we did not try to plan anything.  Anyways, we looked some stuff up and ALMOST were spontaneous enough to catch a bus the next day and just spend some time in whatever city we could get to the cheapest. In the end though, we decided that the weather was bad everywhere not just in Valencia and so we wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much as we could if it was sunny and we went to a beachy town. We ended up going to her house though and she made me dinner (a casserole with a layer of beef, corn, and mashed potatoes) and we ate churros with chocolate :) Delicious!! I went home and had so much energy though...man. I danced around my apartment singing and listening to music, I did some pilates, and I talked to the family on Skype...I ended up going to bed at 6 a.m. just because of my silliness!! 

Today I woke up and Natacha and I decided we wanted to go on a little adventure, so we hopped on the metro and went on one that lead to a place called Rafaelbunyol.  We had no idea what was up there, it took us north of Valencia, and we decided to just wing it.  We decided to get of at a random stop and start walking around.  It was a nice little town with a pretty church.  I wish I had brought my camera.  Why did I not bring my camera this one day??! Oh well.  So we thought we were pretty close to the beach, so we started walking on a road towards the beach.  And we were walking, and walking, and walking, and walking. oh and walking some more.  Then we hit a dead end when the road we were taking in the middle of nowhere ended up leading us to the freeway and being fenced off...so we walked until we found an overpass that lead us to the small town called La Pobla de Farnals.  It had some really pretty apartment buildings with mosaics on the sides and a nice boardwalk with a little port. Very quaint with a very different feel than the beach in Valencia that we usually go to.  We stayed there for a little while, but then decided we'd better get walking again since it took us so long to get there.  It took us over an hour to walk back to Massamagrell where the metro was.  We got to the station at half past 8.  We then got on and realized the place to scan your metro ticket had been in a building below the waiting place, not next to where you wait for the metro, but we entered anyways and figured it wouldn't be a big deal...Well one of the guys who get on the metro to check that you have scanned your tickets came in through the door...If you get caught not paying for your ride or scanning your card, you get fined 50€. So we were freaking out.  We didn't want to pay the money, but we probably were going to have to if he wasn't lenient about the situation. But for some reason or another he went the opposite direction of us and was checking the tickets of everyone in the front half of the metro, so on the next stop, Natacha and I got off. Man, too scary.  We didn't want to look suspicious either because the ticket checker got off too!! So we walked around and sat down at a cafe and ate some dinner and watched the soccer game on the tele because Valencia was playing. Holy crap, the burger I got had so much stuff on it.  Egg, ham, bacon, hamburger, cheese..etc. Such a heavy burger man.  We had some calamari and nachos and bread with a good tomato sauce as well with it. We then realized that the metro closes altogether at 10 and it was 9:50, so we paid for dinner and left.  Thankfully we got what appeared to be the last metro, but the building where the scanner machines were was closed.  So we were scared again that the checker guy would come on and make us pay money.  In the end it all worked out.  We got off at our stop, Alameda, and grabbed a Valenbisi back to our apartments, and it started pouring rain.  We were riding our bikes in the pouring rain, even with some lightning!!! in the distance. haha it was quite the adventure for the day let me tell you.  Yay.  Much better than just sitting at home during our break. :)

Just a normal day in the life of a normal girl :)

I'm going to start this out positive right now...I got up and actually went to class today!! That's right, I was on time even.  Though that's usually not hard for me here.  Back at ISU yeah I may or may not have been late almost every day to my first classes....but that's because they started right on the dot or 5 minutes before class should ACTUALLY start. Here, they have the whole academic quarter thing working for me. Usually teachers and professors show up to class at least a quarter past. It's great. I leave my house 10 till and make it there thanks to Valenbisi with plenty of time, even if I had to search high and low for a place to park it.
After class I went and bought envelopes since the letter I wrote Elder Ben has just been sitting in my notebook the past who knows how many weeks, and with him going back home soon, I need to get that thing stamped and sent! Oh, that's what I forgot to go find and buy, stamps.  So tomorrow, that is my goal, get that thing SENT.
Also, I bought a book for one of my classes at the Philology Faculty.  It cost me 4 Euros.  Now that's what I call a bargain!! The most expensive one I had to buy was 13 Euros which SO many people complained about.  Seriously people.  My life would be so much better if 13 Euro books were the case in the U.S. Pretty legit here wont lie.
Valenbisi time!!!!!
I took a nap and watched cool Spanish tele today too!! It was some sort of medieval soap opera thing going on.
I went to my night class as well, though I will say I didn't pay as much attention in that class. Some heated debate started about the state of Spain when our professor asked us about the state of Argentina.  I zoned out as some students repeated themselves WAY too much.
I walked home, thinking it would be nice to walk through the Jardin de Real slowly smelling the pretty orange trees, but my hopes and dreams got shattered when they had already locked one of the gates! But the one next to it was open. :) So I thought, okay well there are gates on the other side, and its 9:00p.m. and the Jardines don't close until 9:30p.m. I can just skip through the open one and make my way out on the other side! SHORTCUT!...bad idea captain. bad idea.  I walked to the other end, to find locked gates.  So I started panicking a little. OMG what if they closed the one open gate while I walked all the way to the other side??!!? What is my escape route?!?! Or instead of escape, do I just try to last the night out here?!? With the hobos and stray cats, and who knows what else...Seriously. Almost hyperventilating.  Overreacting a little? Maybe. So I got back to where I came in from, where they had pretty much closed the gate, but hadn't locked it yet. whew. close call man. close call. I snuck through and took the LONG way, which I should have done in the first place.
I made some interesting dinner.  Natacha had invited me to go eat some sort of French named dish at her place, but alas, her power went out for a looooooooooong time, so she changed her mind and said I should come a different time.  So i conjured up some random stuff....Couscous, with a stir fried mixture of garlic, carrots, tomatoes, corn, and some avocado.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.  Good thing it didn't suck too much cause that's what I'm eating tomorrow too!!
I can't wait for Kim to get here! I want to try out some recipes when she's here.  It's a lot more fun to make food for not just you. Cause that can just be sad sometimes.  And you can only give yourself so much praise before people look at you weirdly. I also am thinking I'll make some homemade rootbeer for all of my European friends!!! I'm such a devil.  They'll "love" it. :)

Now it is apparent that I am just rambling.

kthxbye!

Spring break-ish

Hello there my followers...

Starting Wednesday this week, we have almost a full 2 weeks off for Easter!!! Cool beans.

Sunday was a pretty chill day.  I stayed indoors cause the weather wasn't that nice, and I watched conference on the internet.  I did some yoga, made myself some pasta. The end!

Today, I woke up and hung around the house again.  I did some workout stuff at home, and then went on a run on the Turia! Yay for running.  Since my walking constantly and biking constantly is obviously not showing, I decided I needed to turn it up a notch so I can be awesome-looking-ish when Cortney comes in May.  Soon, I know, but you gotta start somewhere right?? Jonas and I went and ate at a little Italian place and had pizza!  They had a pizza called the Digimon, and the Pokemon, how funny! We went back to my place and watched Pirates of the Caribbean and Natacha came and hung out too.  Yay. 

Tomorrow I MUST go to class and I need to buy some postcards.  Maybe buy my books for my classes as well which will give me something to do!

With Kim coming next week, and me not thinking earlier ahead, I decided not to book any trips this week, so with school being out, I need to think of some stuff to stay busy until next week! 

Going to bed now though! Night!!

The air still smells so tasty with orange blossoms!! I can't get enough of it!!!