Leticia, Chauncey, Turks & Caicos, 2010

Update time!

I sit here on a Monday night, procrastinating my re-entry into homework-land, and decide that of course, now, is the optimal time to fill you all in on what is happening in my life currently...

Let us rewind to just before Thanksgiving (but first... take a moment to a) remember how delicious everything was and b) remind ourselves of what we are grateful for... just because it's not Thanksgiving now doesn't mean we shouldn't be grateful). You may remember that when I was in Spain last spring I spent a good amount of time with my Spanish friend, Leticia, well she took a week off of work to come and visit me! We went shopping just about every single day (she is obsessed with American clothes) and hung out with all my friends that were home from college for the weekend.

One night was, of course, Thanksgiving, which was one of the best we ever had because we got

to share it with someone so special. Leti and I spent the night at my parents the night before so we could wake up by 9 to watch the Macy's Day Parade (a family tradition) and start the cooking really early so we could eat by 4:30. Everyone has their dish that they are in charge of (Dad-mashed potatoes and turkey carving; Mom-yams (which only she eats every year) and whipped cream; Me-Stuffing and pumpkin pie; Steven-Rolls) and Leti added something special of her own - honey glazed/fried eggplant. YUM! It is going to be a new Thanksgiving tradition from here on out! A little before we finally sat down to spend 1 hour eating what we spent 8 hours preparing, two of my friends from school who were not able to go home for the holidays came to join us, one of them being Mitchell, who is the president of Xquizit. The meal was delicious, the company was divine, the shared thanks were inspiring.

The next night was Annie's 21st birthday (my best friend ever!) and we celebrated the best we could, given that she is the first of our group to leave adolescence behind. It was nice to get the whole group together at my apartment again.

Something I just realized I have neglected to put in any of my most recent posts.... I GOT

A DOG! I think everyone who actually reads this knows this by now, but just in case... His name is Chauncey, he is a rescue from a puppy mill who did not think he was 'good' enough to sell, he is about 11 lbs and growing (hopefully he'll stop soon!!). He may be about 11 months old. We think he is part Shih-tzu, part affenpinscher? He is very smart, a very quick learner, and he loves to cuddle. Every night I wake up with him either right up against me, on my shoulder, or on my butt (he likes to sit on squishy things haha). Windsor,

the family dog, does not like him one bit but it's because he likes to be the king of his house so he must feel like his thrown is being threatened when Chauncey comes over to play, even though all Chauncey wants is a friend!

Amit is absolutely in love with him... he's never had a pet before so this is all new to him, it's entertaining to watch them bond. Also, while I thought it would be a pain in the you-know-what to take him out to potty when I live on the 12th floor, it is actually a nice study break and gets me some fresh air, and Amit loves to take him out, which is a blessing I will be counting until the day Amit realizes that it is actually a chore, don't tell him!

Christmas break went by really quickly, as I didn't get to spend as much time with my friends as I normally do, but I cannot complain because the time that I missed out, I was in Turks and Caicos with the family again, but this time for two weeks. The first week I read 5 books on my new Kindle (The Bro Code; Change of Heart; Girls in Trouble; Happiness Sold Separately; and The Pact). Christmas Eve was spent a little differently, we ate at a BBQ by the beach at the resort while a duet by the name of Nada serenaded us, and I can't be sure if it was the champagne or the moonlight, but something (not their talent) persuaded us to buy one of their CDs... we came to realize our mistake a few days later. Christmas day, in line with tradition, we woke up in our new Christmas PJs that we had opened the night before (just like anyone else would do on Christmas), had some orange juice and opened our presents (still typical), called family members who could not be with us (still should sound familiar) and then threw on our bathing suits and got a tan! (that part should NOT ring a bell) I am forever grateful for my dad's aversion to white snowy Christmases and his preference of white sandy Christmases!

The next day I went to the airport to greet Amit! Together we started reading a book by J.D. Robb, the first in her mystery series... reading a book together every winter break is a tradition we started 3 years ago and I look forward to it every year. I read two other books (Testimony and Two Truths and a Lie) in between our nightly family dinners, family game nights, and watching the latest season of 24 with everyone... or rather the 4 of us watching it while my mom snoozed. She woke up int he middle of one episode screaming 'Chloe!', who is her favorite character in the show. We still haven't let her live it down, I think that Dad is still calling her Chloe occasionally.

Since then, and before school started up again last week, I started reading Einstein:His Life and Universe (fascinating!), The Book Thief (recommended to me by my Aunt Medelice, it is beautifully written and I recommend it to everyone who reads my blog) and The Serial Killer Files,which is not a novel, but rather a book about the psychology of a serial killer... while this is an unsettling and bloodcurdling topic, recently I have found it to be mesmerizing... so far I have slept through the night, but I've only made it through the introduction, I'll keep you posted on my reaction to the text as I continue.

School started up last Monday, I am taking 20 credit hours (the normal maximum amount taken is 18, I had to get special permission) which consists of 8 classes. 7 of them are Education classes and 1 is an English course. This very blog has rekindled the flame in my heart that exists because of my love for writing... so I decided to add a minor in Creative Writing to my list of things I plan to accomplish by graduation in 2011.

My English class is entitled 'Women In Literature' and every time I walk out of that class I feel strong passion for gender equality and am very proud to be a woman! Amit is started to get a real kick out of is as we are making it a habit to get lunch after that class, since it is our only aligned lunch break. I don't have much to say about my other classes yet except that I love each and every one of them.

XQuizit... last thing I will write about, I promise!

I am still in XQuizit, the hip-hop/modern dance group on campus, and am still in love with it. It a) keeps me social, b) keeps me active c) allows me to eat the occasional 1-7 cupcakes (okay, thats a lie, my favorite dessert is actually fried icecream!)

I have started to choreograph a piece for the group to a song called Fancy Footwork by Chromeo, and I am having a lot of fun with it. I will post a video of it when I am done and have taught it to the group.

Okay.. I need go do homework now and then sleep. Love and miss everyone who is not in Saint Louis!

Now go update ME on YOUR lives!

xoxoxo

Xquizit Link!!

Here is that link that I said I'd post but I didn't!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO_EpIn_3z4 .

So I haven't updated this in quite some time...

I have been so busy these past few months that I have not made this blog a high enough priority and for that I apologize, I also apologize for how long this post is might end up... or for how much I skim over because I don't have forever to sit here and dump every detail from the last 5 months...

So after Rome we went to Venice and Florence, which I'll give a more in depth update about later, when I have access to the notes I took each day. From there we went to Interlaken where it all fell apart...

Interlaken is possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen as far as natural landscape goes. Annie and I had the best time riding rented bikes around the city and through the meadows near by. The rest of the group went off on an intense hike that I was not up for by that point in EuroTrip. The next day we got up early to go white water rafting, in FREEZING cold water, we couldn't feel our hands by the time we got back and it took forever to warm back up again. However, that would not stop be from going again if I were offered the chance, it was so much fun, such a rush. After we all dried up and re energized we all split up again for more hikes while Annie and I did a ropes course for a couple of hours before regrouping and cleaning up to go to an extreme sport video contest. There we met some really famous skiers, snow boarders and sky divers. The next day we all went canyoning... which consists of repelling down, sliding down, and jumping off of natural waterfalls in water that was even colder than the white water rafting water... sounds like you'd have to be crazy to sign up for that right? Well call the 9 of us crazy cause we did it... well we tried... only 8 of us made it to the end. On the 1st big jump, which was about 30 feet high, Annie jumped off perfectly, landed in the right position, and didn't hit a rock or the bottom or anything but managed to fracture her spine in two places. This led the two of us to spend a few hours at the Interlaken hospital, stay and extra night in Interlaken, get her a customized back brace, skip our final two cities (Leon, France and Madrid, Spain) and come straight home. Since we missed those two cities we say it is our excuse to go back! Annie had to be in her back brace for most of the rest of the summer but now she is out of it and almost has full range of motion and is taking all the necessary precautions to not hurt herself again.

The rest of the summer I spent a lot of time at the Judevine Center for Autism, that is now called Touch Point. I worked in a summer school classroom with 6 middle school boys with different degrees of autism. I learned so much from the kids and the facility, I just hope that I helped make a difference, that I was able to help the kids.

Okay so now we are at the end of August... school started! I am taking 18 credit hours... Health for Education Majors, Methods of Advanced Reading, Principles of Economics, Methods of Teaching Science, Creative Arts & Movement, Curriculum & Instruction, Methods of Teaching Social Studies and Basics of Sign Language.

Health for Education Majors - This class is such a joke, the text book is informational so we have the opportunity to learn from it, and I do enjoy reading it, however the teacher is not the brightest crayon in the box. She says things like medicine can help cure MR and that if a kids tooth falls out you should put it back in and call the dentist. Our midterm was open note, open book, fill in the blank and if you couldn't find the answer in the book she'd write it on the board. She should be paid in bubble gum balls cause that's all she's worth.

Methods of Advanced Reading - this is my most challenging education class, we spend many hours of side of class creating full lesson plans, 2 hours a week teaching 3rd graders how to read, and 1 hour a week in class on SLU campus talking about how to teach reading. With these 3rd graders we are currently preparing them for a Science Fair project that is taking place this Wednesday, we are very excited. I really am going to miss the kids when the semester is over.

Principles of Economics - This is my most difficult class over all, I spend more time working and studying for this class than any three others combined. I take this class with Amit which is nice, I enjoy having someone there to motivate me and to study with. The first test I did really well for myself, my biggest mess ups were that I was really nervous and kept thinking about how important the test is and how much time I did NOT have left to complete it. So this second test that I took on Tuesday I made sure that I had a better state of mind during it and did not freak out. I walked out feeling extremely confident and cannot wait to get it back on this Tuesday... wish me luck!!! I also really enjoy this class, I love that public service majors are required to take it, it is so interesting.

Methods of Teaching Science - this is my least favorite class because the teacher is really mean. He was a middle school science teacher and does NOT understand that how you teach a 13 year old science is NOT how you teach a 6 year old science. I think he may have been a great middle school teacher but does not know how to teach college students or elementary students. We did spend some time teaching at the same elementary school as the reading class, and that went alright... I really cannot wait for teacher evaluations at the end of the semester, this teacher yells at us, and told one of the girls in my class that she should teach 2nd graders because she is really good at acting like one. I'd rather take another class with my drawing teacher from Spain than go to one more class with this teacher.

Creative Arts & Movement - This is an interesting class because it is a 3 parter... the first 1/3 was drawing, second 1/3 music and final 1/3 is PE. We have not learned much in this class but it has been enjoyable nonetheless.

Curriculum & Instruction - I had this teacher my freshman year for my Foundations of Elementary Education course and he is amazing. We learn a lot and he really pushes us to be the best teacher we can possibly be. We hosted a field trip for the elementary school at SLU for a group of 5th and 6th graders on Friday and it went really well, the kids learned a lot and are now more motivated to get to college!

Methods of Teaching Social Studies - The teacher for this class really believes in spending as much time in the classroom with the kids as possible. At this point we have learned as much as we can for now about how to teach, now is the time to put it to practice, we won't become great teachers unless we practice. And the more we practice now the more impressive we will be when we have our first classroom all to ourselves. We also hosted a field trip in this class on Thursday for a class of 2nd graders that we have been teaching this semester and we had so much fun, but sadly that was the culmination of our time with that class, I already miss those students!

Basics of Sign Language - I love this class, it is just 1 credit and Mary (my roommate from Spain) talked me into taking this class with her for fun and boy is it ever. I look forward to this class and enjoy studying. In fact, I have had a crazy busy week (with the field trips and various performances that I will address in a minute) so I have lost my voice entirely which has presented me with the opportunity to only use Sign Language today. Who knew losing my voice could be so much fun?

Extracurricular.... my favorite part! So there is this dance team on campus called Xquizit (pronounced 'exquisite' ) it is a hip hop group and I was friends with the lead and I knew a few of the other members from Amit's floor at his dorm last year. When I tried and failed at making it into Astha, the Indian fusion A Capella group that Amit is the president of, I decided to try out of this dance team (which makes much more sense for me to dance than to sing). After the audition I went home and got a call that I had gotten in just a couple of hours later, honestly, I have never been more excited or proud of myself in my entire life. I cannot express in words how much it meant to me, being accepted, being good enough, having people want me to be apart of their group. Now we are performing all the time, getting really close as a team, and having so much fun. I performed for the first time a week ago last Wednesday, then we had a HUGE performance on this past Wednesday where we opened for Kaba Modern (http://kabamodern.com) This was possibly one of the top 15 highlights of my life so far, amazing time, we ended up hanging out with them afterwards til they had to leave for the airport, so much fun. Then we performed on Thursday for a campus talent show, to a very small audience; then we performed last night for SUFA (Student's United For Africa) and that was a blast, not all of us could be there so it was a smaller group and we looked really good, I did the best I have done yet, I was really proud. Also last night before Xquizit performed I got roped into learing the dance to Single Ladies by Beyonce to teach and perform it last night... it went all right, the audience loved it, and now because of that performance we have booked a couple more gigs with it. It is a lot of fun, totally not my style, but I enjoy broadening my horizons. Below is a link to one of the Xquizit performances and later I'll post one from the Single Ladies performance but I can't now because the room last night was REALLY dark so you can't see anything on the recording.

Anyways, I must get going to finish homework (I have about 5 reflections to write).

Love you all!!!!

Rome

Day 1
Annie and I had most of this first day to ourselves because we decided to fly to Rome and get in around 2pm instead of wasting an entire day on the trains like the rest of the group and getting in around 9:30pm. Once we arrived, and made our way to the hostel (in an area I won't be recommending because it isn't near anything except for 1 metro stop that only takes you to the outer parts of the city) we dove out the door again to find a good Italian lunch. Power by a recommendation from the hostel worker, we dined at a hole in the wall, almost cafeteria style pizzeria with pastas and veggies. Then together we trekked on out to the marvelous Spanish Steps (which we learned were a peace offering from the French so then the Spanish and the French would be nice to each other if only on Italy). From there we wandered around the city, map in hand, in search of good Gelato. We learned that when going to a gelateria, the first thing to check out is the banana flavor... because if it is bright yellow then it's fake which means the others are fake... if it's banana colored, light brown/cream-ish, and all the gelatos are in metal bins instead of plastic, then that shows that they use all real fruits and that they are fresh! After I decided upon a delicious lemon and banana cone and Annie got a tasty frutti de bosco and mango cone, we licked our way to the Piazza de Navarro to see one of the many Egyptian obilisks, a fountain, and many paintings being sold on the sidewalk. Figuring we'd like to get showered back at the hostel before 7 other sweaty roommates showed up to take over, we headed back and got cleaned up/ read our books while waiting for the others to arrive. When the finally showed up we ended up back at the pizzaria we were at for lunch but this time for dinner and then we all collapsed early, preparing for a full morning of touring the next day.
Day 2
7am the next morning we were picked up by a minivan and taken to the entrance of the Vatican City. 6ish years ago I came to Italy with my family and in Rome we had an amazing tour with the best guide we've ever had, Ludovica, so in preparation for our time in Rome for Eurotrip I contacted her and arranged to have 2 half days of tour for the group thanks to my parents extreme generosity. So we met up with Ludovica's daughter, Flaminia, who is a wonderful lady and brought everything to life just as Ludovica did. I was surprised at how much I had forgotten from my last visit so I wrote everything down that I learned in the Vatican. So I am just going to make a separate post just about the Vatican, so keep checking for that post and my Florence post that will be up as soon as I leave the city (that is where I am right now while writting this post). After the Vatican at St Peter's Cathedral we got a very nice lunch and some delicious gelato, re-visited the Piazza de Navarro with the rest of the group, and then headed back to the hostel to take a very needed nap and get cleaned up before dinner. We got a bit to eat that wasn't amazing but then turn our night around when visiting the outside of the Coliseum and the Trevi Fountain (making our wishes by throwing a coin with our right hand over our left shoulder, hoping to come back to Rome again.
Day 3
On our final day we were with a tour guide named Tony who started us out at the Forum were we stopped above it with a great view and learned so many interesting stories about what happened there all those years ago. Afterward he took us to a place that not many tourists get to see, an orange orchard that looks out over the entire city, the most amazing view. He told us that that is where Danny Divito likes to go with his Italian sandwiches every time he comes to Italy, so cool! From there we saw the embassy to the Vatican of the smallest country in the world (which no is no the Vatican), called the Knights of Malta, it is actually just 1 building but it has its own passport and currency and everything! At this embassy you cannot go into it but you can look through the key hole and see a straight pathway of a vine garden that overlooks the dome of St Peter's Cathedral, so from that point you can see THREE countries... Knights of Malta, Vatican City and Italy! After that we stopped at the Circus Maximus before visiting a small old church that has that big Truth Stone from 'Roman Holiday' (let legend is that if you put you hand in its mouth and tell a lie then you get bitten, and the guy in Roman Holiday puts his hand in and tells a lie and pretends to get his hand bitten off by putting it up the sleeve of his jacket, scarring the character that Audrey Hepburn played, thus making this stone famous. For no other reason is this stone famous). Inside this church, the floor tiling contains this rare/ very expensive purple stone that is found in many Roman churches that today, one 6x6in x 2mm tile is worth 1.5 thousand dollars!!! From there we saw a fountain created by a student of Bernini and then the statue of Moses that Michael Angelo made for Pope Judias. He was supposed to made a huge square with 20 double life sized statues on each side (total=80) but only completed the one because he worked so slow and funding got pulled. His students made the other statues that surround Moses at this monument. The differences between Michel Angelo's Moses and all the others is remarkable. Near the end of our tour we visited a church that was build on top of another church that was build on top of an ancient Pegan equivalent of a church. Only recently did they discover this so they are still excavating and it is so amazing. For lunch we stopped at a restaurant referred to as "Mickey's" which is a popular favorite for American college students as well as our young tour guide, Tony. This guy, Mickey, is so amazing that the US ambassador in Italy gave him as a gift access to this military channel that almost nobody is allowed access to, to put in his bar/restaurant so he could show American football games to the people there. This gift was a thanks for all the help and guidance Mickey has given to American students over the years!! To top off our already full stomaches we stopped at a gelateria that has over 100 different flavors to satisfy your sweet tooth! Before the day ended we swing by the panthenon on the way to the train station to head to Florence.

Nice

Day 1
We arrived in Nice exhausted (which seems to be a common state of being during this trip for te lot of us) but hailed a couple of cabs and made it to our hostel without any problems. The boys immediately went out in search of cheap French wine and instead came back with cheap Spanish and French wine, woops! We all attempted to stay up and celebrate our arrival but soon collapsed into out squeeky bunk beds in heaps of tired failure, hoping to have better luck tomorrow.
Day 2
After a late start we headed towards the rock covered beach to see the view, hills and all. Noticing a path near by we started a hike up one of the hills in search of a better view. The orange-pink rooftops accenting the plush green hills were such a site. Annie and I being hungry hungry hippos, wandered off at a stop and got crepes which we enjoyed from the ledge of a park over looking the rest of the city/ sea. From there we could see Elton John's house and enjoy a small playground. Afterwards we walked back down the hill to beach via beautiful off streets and stopped so the group could see a museum of modern art. I bought a couple of American novels that day and am flying through them like reading is going out of style. After a walk down the pier, certain hunger pangs turned us towards our hostel to get cleaned up and ready for food/ a pub called Thor we read about in one of our travel guide books. Along the walk individuals stopped at food stands when something stuck their interest but by the time we got to the pub Annie and I still hadn't found anything but noticed a restaurant with 2 person seating with a lovely view of the area that we joked about being out plan B if we didn't find food. Only after
finding Thor, and deciding upon a place to get a quick sit down meal as the two of us did we realize that we were being seated at that very table/ restaurant. At the end of the night we ended up at an Irish pub (a frequent favorite of ours throughout the various cities) before
heading home to bed.
Day 3
First thing in the morning we hit the train station to get to Monte Carlo/ Monaco. There we saw the casino from Casino Royal, many nice (under statement) cars, the sea, beautiful (again, undertatement) yachts, and a Japanese garden where we had out two loaves of bread worth of peanut butter and jelly sandwitches. From there we decided to take a train to Cannes where we stumbled upon the 64th Cannes Film Festival. There we saw the cast from the new Quentin Terantino movie which included Brad Pitt and his wife, Angelina Jolie, accompanied him. We also saw Mike Myers, the lead guy from the Twilight movies, Sharon Stone, Joss Stone, and Emil Hursh. Finally we took a train back to the hostel and split up for dinner. Caitlin (one of the 3 people from New Jersey that came for Mary/ Justin) and I bonded over Indian food. Later that night Annie and I went to a big jewelry market and shopped before going to bed, soaked up the last bits of Nice that we could since we were leaving for Rome the next day.

Barcelona

Day 1
After we landed in the beautiful city of Barcelona (which I have been to before but was really excited to see/ experience it all again with more of an adult eye), we were forced to endure a long long walk to the bus station while feeling like mules with all our bags and such tightly strapped to our backs, following the bus we discovered that out next leg, the metro, would be impossible as it had already closed so we had to walk what felt like miles from the bus station to our hostel. I am naturally a much slower walker when we meander around the cities because I like to relax and soak up what I am seeing, so my roommates were afraid that I'd fall behind on this walk and were constantly cracking jokes about it the entire way there. When we finally arrived at the hostel we were gobsmacked when we found sitting in the lobby 5 students from SLU Madrid, only then did one of the girls remind me that she had asked for our itinerary that I had created for our eurotrip so she could get ideas for her own Eurotrip, apparently she booked all the same hostels for any overlapping cities we had. After all that physical labor we rightfully passed out.
Day 2
We woke up the following morning to find that out MIA 8th roommate was an awesome Asian kid who has no hands or feet. This kid was so inspirational because he was more capable of doing anything than any of us probably are. And he had the best attitude, which someone in his situation would need to have in order to backpack through Europe on his own. This guy was so cool and helpful with giving us ideas as to what to do during out stay in Barcelona. After breakfast, bathing suit clad, we made our way to Las Ramblas which is bout 5 blocks of different themes on each... one is a pet market, one is an accessory market, one a flower market etc etc. Then we made our way to the biggest fresh food market I have ever seen, almost overwhelming. We all bought soooo much fruit and juices and some makings for a sandwich. Then on out way to the beach, walking down the sidewalk we
encountered a completely naked man walking in the opposite direction??? Hmmm. Gross. Once at the beach we snacked, had lunch, laid out (properly lathered in the proper sunburn-preventative lotions this time) and caught up on vacation reading. After that we took a
very long walk on the boardwalk before heading back to our hostel for dinner and collapsing into bed.
Day 3
The previous night all of my roommates went out to paint the town red but I decided to be a good best friend and sleep early so I would be well rested to get Annie from the airport in the early AM. Collecting by best friend was soooo exciting! I still cannot believe that we are in Europe together. When we got back to the hostel my other roommates decided to take a long train ride to go hiking just outside the city...something jet lagged Annie was not up for so we unwound, unpacked a bit, and then slipped into out bathing suits and made our way to the beach. However, I messed up the directions completely and so it took us 4 hours to get there since we wandered through the streets, a family festival, and then I talked Annie into going to the zoo that we stumbled upon. I, for some weird reason, love love love zoos, I could spend all my days at the zoo. We saw almost everything, avoiding the fish for Annie's sake (she has an unusual fear of water-bound creatures). Once we left we finally made our way to the beach, relaxed, giggles profusely, and each got a fake tattoo drawn onto our feet that lasts like a week... I got a vine with a butterfly (of course) and she got a sparrow (of course). When we got back, got cleaned up and reconnected with the rest of the group, we all made and ate dinner in the hostel kitchen. We tried to go out to a fairy wonderland-esque themed bar that night but due to laundry and lack of energy complications, that failed and we all just went to bed.
Day 4
On our last day in Barcelona, before flying out to Nice, we visited the Sagrada familia which is a cathedral designed by Gaudi that STILL is under construction. Once built it will be the largest cathedral in the world, probably. This is the most beautiful and unique piece of architecture I have ever seen. I want to move into it and live there
forever. We also took the elevator to the top to see the colors and external architecture and the rest of the city...then made our way down the bajillion steps of the spiral taircase. For lunch we went back to the fresh food market so Annie could see it before going to the Parque Guelle that was also designed by Gaudi before flying to Nice.

Grandparents!! (&Papi)

Just as my sophomore year was coming to an end my grandma and grandpa came to Madrid for a visit!!! It was such an extra special treat because I hardly get alone time with them, let alone in a beautiful foreign country. It was also really cool because apparently in the 12 years that Ana and Juan have been host parents, not one of their students has ever had their grandparents visit them until me!
That first day I got up and met them at their hotel where they greeted me with not one, not two, but THREE BIG bags of Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups!!! (And I am as surprised as the rest of u that I still have nearly 1.5 bags left for my Euro trip!!). After we caught up for a bit, while still trying to fight off jet lag, GM n GP decided it was time for lunch... Keep in mind that it was noon, and here nobody has lunch til 2 or 3, so it took a while to find somewhere that was even open, but alas we found a small tapas place around the corner from their hotel that agreed to serve us. Lunch here is nothing like lunch back home but we had fun and I thought the food was pretty good. Afterwards I got them back to their hotel where we hung out a bit more but by this point it took what seemed to be every ounce of strength and will power to keep their eyes open so I freed them of their conversational duties to relax and prepare for the next morning's tour of Madrid.
9am that next morning when I met GM and GP at their hotel lobby they were much more awake and were excited for this driving tour. Our tour guide was a very nice Spanish man, who speaks 6 languages!! We started out our tour with the bull fighting arena, seeing it from the outside and learning a bit about its history. Fortunately we all were in agreement that seeing an actual bull fight is not worth our time. Grandma didn't want to see either the bull or the matador get hurt, Javier (the guide) thought it was really boring, and I would probably pass out at the site of that much blood. After that we went to the major train station to look inside (which sounds weird, and well it kind of was) to see the plants they have that is similar to a mini-rain forest. I enjoyed checking out all the turtles that were in the fake pond, made me miss my turtle, Sharkbait, who reportedly has grown quite a bit since I left! On our way to our coffee/tea/ churros break we drove past the palace and noticed the 1/4 mile long lines that influenced our decision to not visit the insides later in the afternoon. At the churros place, Grandma and I each ordered a hot chocolate, only for it to come out as actual melted chocolate for dipping your churros into. (Btw that is how you eat a Spanish churro, it is not like the Mexican churros we have at carnivals and Disney Land back in the US...here it is a skinny churro, sans cinnamon or sugar, that u dip into hot, melted, thick chocolate... Mmmm mmmm mmmm, yummy!). Now I'm not entirely sure how this next bit happened but Javier convinced GM and GP to visit Toledo that afternoon with him, but since I still had a bit of Drawing homework left to do I was dropped off near my apartment to let them carry on for a few more hours. It seemed that Javier really just wanted the company for the afternoon since he had nothing else to do all day. Sounds like they had a lot of fun. When they came back we went to a restaurant for dinner called VIPS which is like a Red Robin and a Walgreens all in one. The only issue was that I was literally walking back from lunch when Grandpa called asking me to meet them for dinner in the next half hour. So needless to say I still hadn't figured out how to balance my eating schedule with them in town.
The next morning, Sunday, we went to the same Opera brunch that Mom, Aunt Med, a couple of my friends and I went to for Easter Sunday a few weeks prior. It was delicious and we were right next to the piano player who caught Grandma's eye. Haha. Afterwards we walked to Sol, the center of town right by my apartment, and showed them where they could spend some time while I had class the next day (my final class as a Sophomore!)

The next day, after my drawing class during which time GM and GP went shopping, we met up at the hotel to walk over for an early Spanish dinner (that I had stomach-aly prepared for!!).

9am the following day we went to Segovia with Javier... After a slightly rough start because my alarm didn't go off so I was running a few minutes behind, woops! We saw the castle that supposedly inspired Walt Disney when designing the castle for the Disney logo, or was it the Cinderella castle...? After coffee at a place that offered a beautiful view of the city we swung down to see the magnificent aquaducts before heading out of the city... At which time, again, Javier convinced us to visit yet another town outside of Madrid, Avila. We stopped to see a great view of that town before lunch and then visited the town's cathedral. I asked GM to light a candle for my Nana since I understood that since I'm not Catholic I'm not allowed to do it myself. By this point we had had a very long day and headed back to Madrid to quick meet Ana and Juan and see where I was living before saying goodbye until I visit Arizona this summer. I had such a great time with them and miss them so much. Grandma, Grandpa, if you are reading this.... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR VISITING ME!!!!

I am also going to add to the bottom of this blog the details of my dads visit because he was only in Madrid for about 16 hours...
Dad had a work-related event in Barcelona so on his way out he swung down here to see me before RaCiNg back to Saint Louis for Steven's 18th Birthday.
I met up with Dad at his hotel (the same one that Grandma and Grandpa AND Mom and Aunt Med stayed in so it was veeerrry familiar by this point). We had a drink with Vic and Christina (two people from Peabody that were with him for the thing in Barcelona) and then headed out to dinner at Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world, where Mom, Aunt Med and I ate with Leticia. After stuffing ourselves full and having the most fun catching up, chatting, laughing etc, we went to Ana and Juans for a bit where they talked my dads ear off. I dropped off the Lucky Charms and Mac&Cheese that Dad brought me while I was there too. (We'll see how far into my Eurotrip I can make those last...). Before saying goodnight we wandered back to his hotel to had a Diet Coke, chat some more, and call Mom/ Steven. The next morning Dad swung by the apartment at 7:45am to take with him back to the US all of my luggage and a few of my friends things so I could just have my big backpack for the next 3 weeks. It was so sweet of him to do that for me so I got him, Vic and Christina each a Starbucks coffee. I said my goodbye (ending, of course, with the famous full-body wave goodbye that was passed down from my mom's side of the family, and my roommates Lisa and Mary helped me with it! Too funny!)
I'm going to have to say that saying goodbye to Dad was the hardest of any of my familial goodbyes from these past 4 months because he was gone before he even got there it seemed, I didn't get to prepare myself for his departure because I was still preparing myself for his arrival. I am really missing home right now but I am officially on my Eurotrip now, I leave for Barcelona tomorrow, and Annie joins me in 3 days so I am really excited about this trip but ready to go home!!