tiz

holy moley it's been quite some time, hasn't it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA-tOsM6F4Y

this kid is the shiz.

Also, last night i played poker and, starting with 3 dollars, I left with 6.70! Drunk Jano and I laughed for awhile about the phrase bring home the bacon.

Rafa is in Madrid and looking as good as eva.

Saturday Jano and I are going snowboarding in a mall!

Sevilla

Seville! Happy Holy Thursday! We are on spring break here and Jano and I just got back from Seville.

The drive to Seville from Toledo was about 5 hours. We stopped for lunch and had sandwiches that Jano´s mom made for us. We had tons of snacks and when we got into Andalusia some of the signs were in srabic! We arrived on Sunday, checked in the hotel and took a nap. Then we walked around a litte that night and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that had the biggest spring rolls that I have ever seen. They were like the size of half a plate.

Monday we got up at 10 and went out to see the city! First we went to plaza de espana which was right by our hotel. We took some cool pictures, but the plaza was under construction so that took away from the atmosphere a bit. Then a stupig gypsy woman tried to put a branch of some plant in my hand and I told her I didn´t want it, but she said don´t worry no pasa nada and she wouldn´t let me go. Then she tricked Jano into giving her two euros. stupid gypies. Then I got interviewed by some student doing a survey about tourism in Seville. After the plaza, we walked toward downtown and went to a hookah bar, where we had juice and smoked. I also learned that Habibi means love or dear in arabic and was in every single song they played there. Then we went to the royal fortress/palace where we got in free because we were students! It would have cost 7.50 each so we saved 15 euros! woo! The gardens were really cool with the orange trees in bloom and some other tree that makes the whole city smell really good! After the gardens, we walked by the cathedral and the Giralda, a big tower, but didn´t go in because there was a really long line. Then I was a good tourist and bought some postcards, a shot glass, and a little something for calley´s birthday. Then, e went to a bar downtown that one of Jano´s sister, Alba´s friends from Sevilla, recommended for tapas. I had a calamari sandwich and manchego cheese sandwich. While we were snacking at the first bar it started to rain. It took us forever to find the second bar, and we were walking around in the rain. Finally, some guy told us where it was, and, it turns out, we were right next door to it. Then for lunch we had steak with a goat cheese sauce that was really yummy, fries and fried chipirones (Í´m not sure how to say it in english but it´s like calamari). After lunch, the rain let up and we bought tickets for a boat tour on the river. While we were waiting for our boat to leave, I had a coffee at a cafe on the riverside. The river tour was cool. We saw bridges, the gold tower where they stored all the gold that came from america, isla magica, the amusment park, and other cool things. After the boat cruise, we bought an ice cream and we tried to see a procession, but it turned out to be harder than we thought because we didn´t have the schedule. We ended up just going back to the hotel and had crackers with meat and cheese for dinner that we had bought. The next day we got up and went to take out more money and then went to Triana the neighborhood in Seville where are all the famous flamenco singers and dancers used to live and had lunch there. Jano had a serranito, which is a sandwich with pork, ham and grilled pepper and was our favorite moment of the trip. hehe. I had cod al pil pil which was some sauce that was good and garlic shrimp. After lunch we went to the grocery store to buy chocolate and drinks for the trip home the next day. Then we walked back toward the hotel to drop that off. Our plan was to buy doner kebabs and eat them in the park, but the kebab place we went to didn´t look very good so we decided to get VIPS to go. On the way, we bought penny candy because we are fatasses. On the way to VIPS we saw our first procession. They consist of music, people wearing KKK outfits carrying candles, crosses, or lantern things and a big statue of Jesus on the cross or the virgin Mary, depending on the brotherhood. We ordered salad and chicken fingers and then went to the park to eat our lunch. After lunch we took a nap and then later went downtown to see more processions. Monday we didn´t see any processions, but Tuesday they were everywhere. We had dinner at a little terrace downtown and ate croquetas and fried anchovies. We ended up walking A TON on Tuesday and went to bed tired but having seen almost all of Seville!

Wednesday we woke up, showered and packed and went home. We stopped at a Mcdonalds on the way home for lunch. We also passed through Cordoba on both trips which I forgot to mention earlier!

Now we´re in Toledo just relaxing and tomorrow we are going to have a barbecue I think!

love you and miss you all, there are pictures on facebook. I´ll try to put some on here later, but we are going to watch a movie now. mwaaa

FALLAS

PAELLA!

ME BALANCINA A BEER AND CUP ON MY HEAD FOR LIKE 10 MIN

SO MANY PEEPS

PARADE FINALE

BEACH, I'VE OFFICIALLY BEEN IN THE MEDITERRANEAN--IT WAS COLD

YO <3>Hey guys I had an exciting week!

Wednesday was St. Patty's day, so I went to Orange, a bar in Arguelles, with the gang. It was 5 to get in with free drinks for an hour (if you were wearing green) and one free shot after that. It was a fun time except that the bartender tried to skeet Laura out of her free drink cup and by the time it was figured out free drinks were over! That night I spent the night at Laura's so I wouldn't have to take the night bus home which really isn't working out well for me..

Last Thursday, I went to a mexican restaurant with some american friends and it was awesome! Free chips and salsa and guac (no queso or tortillas) None of us, however, knew what mole was, so all of us ordered the enchiladas with mole on top. We then discovered that mole is a nasty sauce made from chiles and chocolate. but the chalupa I had was delish! After that Laura and I went to Jano's basketball game. They lost, but its ok! After that we went to Burger King with his team where I ordered a BK Fusion, chocolate cake flavored. Then I went to Janos house and later home to pack for Valencia!

Friday I had to be at Plaza de Espana at 9 to get the buses to Valencia! woooo Of course, the whole thing was completely unorganized, but still fun. We stopped halfway at this rest stop where literally EVERY bus going to Valencia stops. There must have been 1000 people there. Then, when we got to Valencia, we went to the beach! We had sandwiches and tinto de verano that the ESN provided! Then we decided it would be a great idea to walk downtown from the beach to meet up with our other friends. 2 hours and a bottle of sangria later, we found them! Laura bought us chocolate covered churros which ranks very very very high on the goodness of foods that I've eaten lately scale. Then, we walked around downtown for a bit and looked at some of the statues. Again, there were people everywhere. Every street was like walking through a mosh pit. Then at 7 the parade started. It pretty much consisted of music, dancers, girls in fancy dresses (falleras) and at the end fireworks! The fireworks were really cool because it wasnt like in the US where there usually far away; it was right up the close and the whole sky was smoke and everyone smelled like fire. Then we went to the bar where we were supposed to meet the coordinators and had agua de valencia (orange juice, brandy, champagne and other shiz) and beers of course. We got really mad at ourselves that we didnt think ahead and buy stuff to drink outside. Laura and I had dinner at the restaurant next door to the bar. Later we went to watch the burning and that was when we had the most fun probably. Afterwards we went to a discoteca with everyone from the erasmus trip and were reallly tired by that time and some biatch stole Laura's sweater...hmmm I also realized that every single song they played was the same song. They would play 5 seconds of the beginning so I would get excited and then go right back in to the techno beat. We left at around 6 and got to the hotel around 7 which was of course super organized and we could go straight to bed...not. I ended up sleeping from around 8 to 12:30 and then got up to have Paella!

Saturday was a chill day for most normal people, but, as I discovered, Italians either snort coke or have extra batteries somewhere because they were drinking, having water fights, stripping, fighting with table legs all day. (straight out of Jersey Shore) We left at 6 and got back to Madrid around 12:30. No comment about the night bus...

Sunday I went to see Shutter Island with Jano which was reallllly weird but it was pretty cool.

Today I found out I won one of the MLLL scholarships! I don't know how much it's for yet but I'm still pumped!

St. Patrick's Day!

Hey!

Last Friday Jano had a basketball game on Friday and I went to that with Laura and Laura. It ended up that the other team didn't show (they were afraid) so we just watched them play around, but it was still fun. Later that night, we went over to Laura Hill's apartment. It was Jano and I, Laura, her roommate Terez, her other roommate Heleen and Heleen's boyfriend Yurun (im guessing), Billy, and Jano's friends Juan and Jesus (ketchup). We played my new game Party! It was so much fun and interesting because the game is in Spanish but we had Heleen who speaks English and Dutch and her boyfriend who only speaks Dutch, so someone had to translate the questions from Spanish to English than she had to from English to Dutch. hehe Apparently 2 liters is a lot more than I thought because I always buy two liters of beer and am like, this is not enough, so I bought a budweiser to go with my 2 liters of Mahou. A few hours later I was throwing up in the parking lot on my new boots (just a little).

Then on Saturday, I was pretty much wiped out, obviously. I was sleeping on and off with some attempts at eating and taking medicine and throwing up mixed in there until 5 pm. Then, after I finally got some medicine down, I was fine! We ordered pizza and watched some movie that right now I can't remember.

Sunday I hung out at Jano's most of the day and he made yummy pasta for lunch!

Monday, nothing really exciting happened. I went to class and bought myself a fresh orange juice which is ALWAYS delish but costs 1.40 for a small glass. Oh! I also booked a hotel for spring break in Sevilla! We are going from Sunday the 27th to Wednesday the 31st! woo happy holy week!

Tuesday was yesterday. I came home and studied bunches! I've been so good this week! Then Jano and I went to dinner at Gino's. I had farfalle primavera which was sooo good! BUT, European service has dipped to a new low. They now have buttons on your table that you press when you want the waiter. Now the server can literally do nothing all the time. He or she doesn't have to pay attention to you AT ALL until you press a little button and it calls. hmmm...Jano likes it though.. Then we started to watch el secreto de sus ojos but I fell asleep..I also had to do my first translation assignment on Tuesday and it's hard! It's so much more difficult than just talking without translating. I also made an english friend in my translation class because she's in my group.

Today is Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day! Today I had one class and I came home and was super productive again! so much studying and translating going on in there. except for the break I took to watch American Idol..and since I've been so good this week I'm going to go out to celebrate St. Patty's with my American posse.

Friday is Valencia!! wooo

sorry my blog is so boring and pictureless..

love you guys!

Lauren's birthday!

Hello friends!

Last Friday, Jano and I went to Toledo. It was pretty rainy and we didn't really want to spend any money so we just went out and had a couple of drinks with his friends for about an hour and a half and then came home.

saturday, Jano and I went to a nice dinner. We ordered an appetizer sampler platter and really good venison with like a marsala sauce I think. Then when we got home Jano made crepes with nutella. That night we went to some girl's apartment for her birthday party, but it wasn't really even her birthday! It was mine! Not to steal her thunder or anything...

Sunday, all of Jano's family came over to celebrate his sister's birthday and mine. Jano's parents got me the board game Party, Jano got me a toaster, earrings and a necklace, his aunt got me a bracelet and his grandma got me a coin purse! I didn't expect so many gifts! They even made us each our own cake and mine had candles that said 21 on it! We played Party once and then we played poker. I got second place because on the last hand we both had a pair of 7's , mine with a 10 and his with a 4, and then on the river another 4 comes up! :( Oh well! When I got home on Sunday night, I had a birthday card from Buddy and Vickie waiting for me!

Monday, I went shopping to buy my parents gift! I got jeans and a shirt from Zara and a pair of lace-up short boots! Thanks guys! I also got my eyebrows waxed, and went to lunch with some friends from school. That day when I got home, I had four cards waiting for me from my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Vince, Aunt Bette and Uncle Steve, Lauren, and my grandparents! They gave me a little bit of money that I will most likely, unfortunately, spend on books for school.

Tuesday was productive. I washed my sheets, swept and mopped the floor in my room and typed up my notes in a new blog so that all of my friends and I can share notes from class. I also went to the Taste of America store. I bought homemade tortillas, black beans, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a chocolate chip cookie mix to make cookies for my roommate's birthday which is today!

Today is Wednesday and I just got home from class and there were flowers from my very wonderful, thoughtful, sweet and amazing mother waiting for me! They are beautiful! Now I'm going to watch the American Idol episode from last night and read El Lazarillo. love u all

Lauren has a visitor!

Rachel came to visit me this weekend!

but first! on Thursday, Jano, Cris, David and I went to Rodilla! They make sandwiches and stuff that are really good but usually overpriced. Howevverrrr, All of us are members so we got 4 sandwiches for 3.20! woo hooo. The best one was pollo al curry, curry chicken.

Then on Friday, when I got out of class, Jano and I went to the airport to meet Rachel who was supposed to arrive at 5:30. Apparently, due to an air traffic controller strike in France, her flight was delayed and didn't get in until 7:30. As much as we tried not to waste money on food, we ended up buying a chocolate pastry (napolitana, my fav) and a bag of chips that Jano swore cost 90 cents. Then, when the cashier said they cost 1.30, Jano said, no, they cost 90 cents. Anyway, it didn't say 90 cents anywhere...hmm. These are the kind of crazy things that happen to me in Madrid. When Rachel arrived, we went out to have sangria and tapas. We ordered Iberian Ham, croquetas, tortilla espanola and sangria. Rachel didn't like the sangria or the tortilla. Then Jano decided he was still hungry so we went to Don Oso (home of reallly really good burgers for only 2.10!!) and after to McDonalds where I have discovered coffee with ice cream! I don't think we have that in the states but it's really good and only a euro! Again, really exciting stuff going on here!

Then, Saturday, Rachel and I got up to go site-see a little bit, but it was raining so it wasn't as active and impressive as it could have been. We went to Plaza Mayor, Sol, Gran Via and the palace. After that we went home, had lunch and siestaaa. That night was supposed to be a huge party with all of Jano's friends from home, from school and my American friends. Welll, it ends up it was Jano, Rachel, Jano's friend Juan and me, but it was still really fun! We went barhopping in tribunal, ordered the smallest pitcher of beer I have ever seen and then kicked ass at fusbol! Oh yea! We decided to take the night bus home to save some money, something I have never done to my new house. Inevitably, Rachel and I ended up in the middle of nowhere at 4 in the morning freezing our assess off. (Don't worry mommy I was totally in control of the situation.) Thanks to the ipod and cell phones, Jano was able to come to the rescue on his shiny, yellow horse. It ends up we were in Christiano Ronaldo's neighborhood, so I don't think we could have been much safer anywhere else in Madrid!

Sunday we went to Jano's house and he made us very very yummy chicken. Then Rachel took a 5 hour siesta. That night we went to VIPS for dinner and went home to watch U.S. vs Canada in hockey! It took us awhile to find somewhere to watch it online, and many porn ads came up. We were even just watching the facebook posts people were putting up about the game to know what was happening for awhile. We found a website just in time to see the last-minute goal and overtime. After we lost, we went to bed. Rachel also gave me a present! A shot-book page converted into a page for people who don't have shot books, haha. Thanks so much for coming and everything, babe. It was so nice to see you.

Monday morning we got up at 4:45 to take Rachel to the airport. Good news, that early in the morning we didn't have to pay the tolls! I got home at 6:15 and was able to sleep for another hour and a half or so before I had to get ready for class. Monday, I was informed of something extraordinary! There exists a website where I can watch not only project runway, but also The Bachelor, American Idol, America's Next Top Model, 30 Rock, Dexter, Californication and pretty much anything else. Not to mention they have movies on there! So far I've caught up on Project Runway, watched 4 hours of American Idol, an episode of The Bachelor and The Lovely Bones. :) I almost feel like I'm in the U.S.

Tuesday nothing exciting happened. I spent the night at Jano's and we had sandwiches for dinner.

Wednesday, today, I went to the store and bought myself a second pillow and a second towel!! It's almost like I have a real home now! The only thing I couldn't find was the clear plastic hair rubberbands I use, sooo if anyone was thinking of sending me a care package...haha

OH! I almost forgot, one of my roommate's friends told me about an American store where they sell American brand food and stuff. Rachel and I checked it out online, and basically it looks really expensive. A box of Lucky Charms is 8.50 euros. The only thing I considered buying were the measuring cups and spoons for making American recipes. They also had chocolate chip cookie mix that was pretty reasonable.

I also signed up and paid for a trip to Valencia for las Fallas on March 19th! wooo. Las Fallas is a festival in Valencia where they spend all year building these wooden figurines and then burn them at night, eat Paella and drink. A couple of friends and I are going to do that, and I'm suuuppeer excited..

P.S. Think of me on my birthday :( I wish I could be there to celebrate with you guys. It's going to be hard to celebrate my 21st here, but I know Jano and his family will make it special for me.

Lauren: Weekend in Toledo

Hello Friends!
Last Wednesday is when i left off I suppose, so if I can remember I´ll start there.

I don´t really remember what I did Wednesday and Thursday...

Friday February 19th
On Friday Jano and I went to Toledo. When we got there we went straight to the car dealership where Jano´s parents (for Jano´s mom and sister) bought a new car. They bought a Skoda Fabia (blue with a white roof). Then Jano and I went to dinner at his friend Huxiao´s Chinese restaurant in the historic part of Toledo. So yummy! I know this sounds stupid, but the spring rolls here are so much better! After the spring rolls we had Peking Duck with rice and then bombon things for dessert. After that we went home and watched The Pianist on Jano´s new home cinema.

Saturday February 20th
Saturday I got up around 11 i think, then we had breakfast and watched tv until lunchtime. We had albondigas (meatballs, but really yummy) Then after lunch I studied for awhile and at 6 jano and I went to see some of his friends play soccer and had a beer and tapa with them after. Then Jano let me drive his car a little bit around the parking lot. I am pretty fine doing that; I think I need to move up to real roads and hills and parking and stuff. Then we went home for dinner. Fish (with bones of course). Then we went out for botellon. Jano and I both got pretty drunk and at 4 we left because Jano decided he really needed to eat a Doner Kebap, but! they were closed. Good thing we had chocolate in the car.

Sunday February 21st
I got up at 12 and we left at 1 to go to Madrid because it was Jano´s cousin Paula´s birthday and she was in town from England. (She is there for a semester to try to learn English). The lunch was really yummy. There was ham, of course, salad, mussels, almond soup (my fav) and then the main dish was stuffed squash which is fine but nothing great.

Monday February 22nd
This is today. This morning was weird. I left my house at 9:07 and was waiting for the bus 50 min (therefore getting on at 957) because apparently there was an accident. Then my class starts at 10 so I got there late, at around 10:15. Then I open the door to the class and there´s a different class in there. Anyway, I found out later that they had switched rooms but I wasnt aware since I got there late. Then I found out that on Mondays I don´t have my second class, so I got up at 815 to go to one class at 1 oclock. Then I was going to go to the erasmus office to pay for the trip to Valencia for las Fallas and it was closed. Pretty much a day full of failures. but its ok!

i love you and miss you all.