A Book Of Days

I have the best boyfriend in the whole world, he tells me he loves me all the time and I love him and I am so happy to be with him and to get to stay in spain and to finish my school up here and live here...LIFE IS SO GOOD right now! I could wet my pants! ( ok, not really, I´m not a 5 year old, I just am so happy that finally everything is working so well, that I´ve found my place and fin in so well and I´ve found the one who makes my heart smile)
I´m excited about going to prague too, and then its almost vacation,(when my mom comes and I go to paris again with her-and lord what a trip that will be) and  I only have one class left to do when I get back- so it´s pretty much over! YAY breaktime!

Funny how its thanksgiving in the states, but here they´re like, turkey what?!

I´m spending another 6 months in Spain!  and graduating on time, and have a job and a fabulous boyfriend, a wonderfully supportive family and great friends who love me..what more could you ask for? Finally!! I am so happy I could...well do something that really happy people do...whatever that might be.

My boyfriend....he is the absloute sweetest, kindess, handsomest, fill int eh balnk with yuor own version of gushing! (and if he could read this he would be very embarrassed, but he doesn´t have my blog address!)haha!  We were talking last night in the park and he was like, I know you are the forever for me, so I´ll wait for you if you have to go back.how sweet is that?!?

Ok, gotta run, I´m sure I´ve made someone sick by my lovey dovey stuff, sorry

A

Halfway thru midterms! YAY ME!! Seriously, its not that bad, sicne I´ve been learning some of this stuff since like, highschool....but whatever. I liked my translation exam, I feel really confident about it, and the history of america exam was exactly what I studied for, which is a good thing, since that usually doesn´t happen. I study, but not the right stuff.

So, here´s something that cracks me up. I leave for the US on December 31st from London at 12 30 pm.  I arrive at Raleigh-Durham international airport at 3 30. PM.. But this does not mean my flight is only three hours, its like 7.  Still it makes me laugh some. Gotta love the timezones.

Stuff here is still wonderfully great and I´m so happy I could burst. I love my classes, my family, my boyfriend, my friends here, everything and am enjoying my last few weeks here as much as I can. I´m going to the beach this weekend with David and the crew and that should be fun, although it´ll be too cold to actually swim, its a nice little weekend getaway.  We´re staying at Veronicas apartment in Alumñécar, and thats a lovely little town, so I´m excited.

And I am so excited about my upcoming trip to prague.  I´ve been looking at the guide books etc and cannot wait to see it all.  I am excited abuot the Astronomical clock and the food, even though people say that the food is not that great, I like the idea of lots of meat and potatos.  Today at lunch, we had garbanzo bean soup, and it was good, but not a meat and potato kinda meal. And I really hope we get to go to some operas, as I´ve decided that should be pretty cool.  I´ve not been to very many, only two I remember, and really like opera, so I think it will be fun.  And, its another place on my list of places visited. So it´s all good.

My job ended, and I really liked it.  I´ve discoverd that I am not a lazy person, contrary to what some of you might think, but I am a person who likes to get things done in one fell swoop. So i completed the job in less time that I was given, because I would sit down and do it, rather than postpone and postpone.  The lady in charge said she was very impressed with my work and hoped we could work together in the future, so yay me! I might have a job oppertunity after all, after I graduate!

Um, yea, I think thats it...for the moment. Unless I repeat stuff I´ve already said, or go off on a tangent about Jesús, which I can do, but I think everyone is tired of hearing about him, so I´ll just say I´m head over heels for him, and he is head over heels for me, and we´re super-duper happy!

Love to you all!

Not a very creative title, but I´m noat feeling very creative at the moment...just filling everyone in on what´s going on here.

1-Things with jesús and me are great!  We hang out a lot, and talk a lot and are super happy.  I think head over heels would be a good discription of this feeling.

2-Midterms are this coming week, and I´m surprisingly not that worried about them, as they are all fairly straightforward, and I should be fine.  The one that I am slightly worried about is the art history one, because it will have  a lot of photos and I have to identify them, from where, what are they doing, why, its just a lot of info, and I think that there have been abuot 30 covered so far this semester, so...could be just a little rough!

3-Finished my translation-rivision job, and it was super fun.  I think I could be interested in doing something like that for a real job for a while at least, as it is interesting, and I still have to use my spanish skills! ALWAYS  a plus!!

4-No place to live at western, as the phi mu house is full....so kinda stressing about that, but ph well, I figure something out.

5- GOING TO PRAGUE WITH MY GRANDDAD AND MY GREAT UNCLE GEORGE!! That should be a lot of fun, and I´ve wanted to see Prague since I arrived in Europe, having heard its absolutely precious, and beautiful. So excited about that.  Then I get back and have like, a week vacation, so maybe I´ll do some light trekking across spain... never been barcelona and kinda feel like I ought to since I am in Spain,ya know?

Miss my firends. Going to paris with mommy in decemeber, and she´s coming to spain too, big yay!

Dos besos, abrazos y amor para todos!!

I´m going to Prague!! Yay, I´m so excited!  I´m meeting my granddad and my great uncle George there, and we are going on the Opera Tour of PRAGUE.  They are actually doing the opera tour of Europe, but I can´t take much time off school, so...its just a long weekend, but should be lots of fun!  I´ve always wanted to see Prague, and now I get to.

Other than that, I have a job here, and it´s pretty cool.  I am a revisor for translated materials (translated from spanish to english) adn thats not to bad.  I get paid too, which is really nice.  The work is not the most interesting that I have ever read, but its interesting enough for what they are paying me!  Maybe this can turn into something whenI return because there is no way I am living in the states for the next four years.  I want to live here, and now I have a great reason to do so.  I honestly love Spain, and would love not to have to return to the US, but I do to finish classes.  Buth then... SPAIN for me!

I also am dating some one now, and he is fabulous.  His name is Jesús, and we met through my fantastic host brother.  We´ve been seeing each other for about 2 weeks now, and are totally having a great time together.  It´s fun because we go to movies and walks in the park, and bars, and I get to speak spanish and practice a lot.  He doesn´t speak english, but it´s not a problem.  And I like just hanging out with him. So yay! Of course David is finding this whole thing very amusing, and not letting me ever hear the end of it that I am dating one of his friends, but I think deep down he is very happy for me.  He jokes that Jesús will be his brother in law soon, and I just have to laugh at that.  Sometimes I think David is more excited than I am about this!

The crew and I went out and explored new mexican resturantes this weekend, and it was very good, other than the fact that we had to wait for about an hour to be seated, adn then at least 30 mins to have a waitress come and realize we wanted to order some food.  Seriously, this would never happen in the states....its one of the things that is better stateside, but there aren´t many..well, that and Taco Bell.  OH, and Wendy´s!.  But for the most part we had a good time.  It´s been fun hanging out with the crew now, we´re moer friends than when I first got here, and now of course everyone knows about J and me, so they are always wanting to talk about it, and ask me how things are, which kinda cracks me up too, because he´s their friend first, but they ask me....ha!

Other than that, life is very good.  The only down side is that I have less than 60 days left here. SADNESS!

 Hola amigos.  It´s been a pretty calm weekend, but I´m having fun! I love spain.  Just to let all you know who think that I might not still love it, since I´ve stopped blogging as much as I used to, I STILL LOVE IT HERE!!!

For starters, I´m enrolled in my final semester at univ, and whoa is it a lot of classes to take.  But I have to graduate so I can move back here and live here forever and speak perfect spanish (just a thought;-))

I went out Friday night and hung out with Jesús. We had fun, went to the botellón at the Hipercor, and I swear I´ve never seen so many people there before. It was packed, and the Hipercor has a HUGE parking lot, so for that to be packed is a big deal. Not huge or anything, but big nonetheless. Then we went to Hipnosis, a rock bar. Plus we got to ride on his moto. 

Saturday David and his friends and I went to the mexican resturante and had a lot of fun.  We went thru three pitchers of margaritas, and David would have drank more if they weren´t closing.  Then he´s like, Adrianne you know how to cook right? You can make this food right? Do you know how to make margaritas too? and I´m like, yeah, and so everyone all of a sudden is like, we have to have a party and have you cook! So now we´re having a party sometime, and I´m in charge of the Mexican food...cause being american and all I know how to do that. Honestly, these people : )!!  But it was fun.  I´m getting along better with D´s girlfriend.  And everyone says that I have the andalucian accent, which cracks them up, but at the same time makes them have a little respect for me.

Today was devoted to the continuation of understanding spanish  art history and translation. (i.e., I studied all day). 

And YUCKO; David made tuna lasagna. Bleh, fish has no place in italian food. ( sorry to all you fish fanatics out there, I´m not a fishy person)

hasta la pasta, in honor of cara!

Sorry to let everyone know that I´ve not been blogging, not because I´ve had lots and lots of fun stuff going on, only because I have had lots of stuff going on.  Not nearly as much fun.  School is good, although my translation class is at frickin´ 8 am, and that is just too early for me, but it´s an interesting class, so that at least keeps me awake.  This semester is a good one, because I don´t have any classes tuesday or thrusday, so I can do my homework then!

I´m graduating in May.  I can´t believe I´m  finishing in 4 years, with a double major, a 3.0 GPA AND a year abroad.  BUT that means I have to find a job or go to grad school.  Hmm, what can I do...? I can write, or babysit or be a waitress, but somehow I´m not sure that will pay the rent. Speaking of rent, I don´t even know where I will be living afterwards...I want it to be spain, but thats a long commute, just to try to find a job. Haha, maybe soemthing will come up.

Other than that, nothing really is going on, just the same ole, same ole.

It´s my BIRTHDAY!!!! I´m 22 now. ( well, at least it is my birthday in Spain, where the time difference is 6 hours)  It will b my brithday all October 11th, so lots of happy birthday wishes!

Saturday, October 2nd.

Ahh, Paris!  This morning my granddad and I woke up late, and because we really had nothing we had to do, we took our time having breakfast!  We went to Cafe de la Paix, where he and my grandmother ate 50 years ago, and we had croissants, hot chocolate and orange juice, although it was much more expensive than in Granddad´s day.  But worth it

Then we headed to Sainte Chappell, the other little church on the same island as Notre Dame, and it was amazing.  There are over 1000 stained glass window-stories depicting the bible. It is absolutley amazing.Everyone should go!

Then we went to the store, Samartiane, for the view, because it is a view of paris that you don´t have to pay for.  We split a chicken sandwich and some cafe Richard, which turns out I think is just a brand of coffee, because it was plain espresso, but yummy nevertheless.  And we had fun looking at the department store, even though things there were wayyyyyyyy too expensive for me.

Then we headed to the other store, Galleries Lefaytte, and had better luck with the shopping, not to mention, saw part of  a fashion show, and then we went and had another little snack (Granddad and I ate a lot on this trip, in case you couldn´t tell) and some great wine, and another great view, and lots of time just talking.  Then headed home to rest.  THEN:::we went to our last dinner in Paris, and it was a great as I could have hoped for.  We went to the resturante Chez Max and had a perfect meal.  The menu was set for 23 euros, but it included appitizers, entree, wine, bread and dessert.  And the food was excellent. I had chevre with toasted almonds and steak with pepper sauce and frenchfries and lime sherbert with vodka, and granddad had a vegatable soup, and beef with a burgandy gravy sauce and vanilla ice cream for dessert. YUM YUM YUM!!! And the wine was good. 

Then we walked home and packed and went to bed to get up early and catch our plane to Barcelona.  And then we headed to Málaga and then to Granada.  It was a long day of traveling on SUNDAY, but it was one of the best trips I´ve ever had. Someone once told me to go to paris with my lover (as if I had one of those) but I think it was a better trip to go with my granddaddy!

Other than that, doing classes.  My birhtday is MONDAY OCTOBER 11.  CALL ME!! Send me lots of presents! Lots and lots of presents!!LOL 

I miss all my friends back home in the ´whee, and my family.  and my granddaddy.

Friday October 1st.

This morning we went to the Louvre ( Le Grande Louvre).  It is absolutely amazing.  I think it´s the biggest museum I have ever seen in my life.  HUGE!!  We took the subway there and to my great joy, the guide book was right and we entered thru the underground station, which meant no long lines to get in thru the piramide entrance.  Granddad and I had doughnuts, moka´s and juice for breakfast, then we headed inside to see what we could see.  We started in the Denon wing, and made our way thru hundreds of statues and paintings, until we were in the same wing as Venus de Milo.  We looked at that, and then found our way to Winged Victory, and then to The Mona Lisa, and a lot of other paintings.  It was amazing, but partly because everything was soooooo crowded. 

After about 3 hours of culture, neither of us could take it anymore, so we left and headed to the Place De Concorde and the obilisk and the Eglise de Madeline.  It was very cool.  We also saw Maxim´s and while we looked at the menu, I cannot justify 20 euros for a sandwich.  We then began our walk up Champs-Elysee, and had a wonderful little lunch in a place called Le Berkley, where I am sure we were the only americans within miles, but oh well. I don´t think the waitstaff was particulary pleased with our style, but oh well, we were not behaving like pigs. We had tomato-pumpkin soup and sesame chicken and it was very good, although this was the slowest meal I think I have ever had.  Then we saw the Arc de Triumphe, and Place Charles De Gaul(?) which in Granddads first trip to Paris was Place de Etiole. My how things change! We had a good time though, looking at all the shops and stores and I wished I had more money so I could buy the things in those stores.  Oh well, someday!

Then headed home and rested a little, then made our way back to the Eiffel Tower and took a night boat cruise on the Sienne.  And saw the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkling!! We got on the boat without having to wait much at all, and it was a good tour, although by the end I was freezing cold.  But it was worth it!  Then we went back to the resturante we had eaten at our first night, and had more of the very good soup and another salad.  While we were sitting there, we saw a few rollerbladers in the street.  We were sitting next to the window, and I was facing what would be considered up the street, so I would see the traffic coming.  I was commenting to granddad that I didn´t understand why the french felt the need to be in the street all the time, when I looked up and saw a huge rush of people rollerblading.  I swear there must have been at least 200 people in the street, and it took about 10 minutes for everyone to go past.  It was funny.  Then we finished up and headed home to sleep, because we had had a long day!