Semana Santa with my favorite person in the world.

Last Friday, after 7 months and 10 days I was finally reunited with my mom. Our moth/daughter Spanish adventure began in Bilbao, were my mom flew into and I took a train to meet her with a lot of "ganas" (if you remember that Spanish word from my previous blog post). I can't explain how surreal it was to see her walk out of the elevator and greet me in the lobby. We didn't stay very long in Bilbao, just overnight, but we were able to fit in a visit to the Guggenheim, a modern art museum. It was, well lets just say...interesting. I think it's safe to say neither of us really understand modern art.

Saturday we headed back to my town where I introduced my mom to all my friends in my town. The next day we went to a Palm Sunday proccesion at the church I got to(pictured above), and after had lunch with my host family. They also took us to visit some pueblos (which are small village type towns) close to where I live. We ended the day exhausted, but eager to for the next leg of our trip.

Our next stop-Barcelona. Monday morning we caught the train there, where we stayed until Thursday. Barcelona is a beautiful town, but not as spectacular as I had expected. It wasn't like how they always show it in movies, but nonetheless a great city. We had a really good time, walking around, eating tapas, relaxing on the roof top deck at our hotel. I even got to meet up with one of the other exchange students who I had been missing since the rotary trip in March. One thing, because in Barcelona they speak both Spanish and Catalan are spoken. I actually heard more Catalan and English than Spanish.

Madrid was our final (and I like to think best) stop. One of the most breathtaking cities I have been to, and by far my favorite in Spain(closely rivaled by Sevilla and Salamanca). We saw all the monuments and important things(as we did in Barcelona), but in our typical fashion we didn't enter one of them. We however experienced the Cafe life of Spain! We would joke around about the fact that instead of entering the musuems, we would instead sit in a cafe across the street and admire them. The reason was because the lines were so long everywhere it was impossible to go in.

Unfortunately, it had to come to an end, but fortunately we got to experience it. I was super sad to have to say goodbye all over again, but this time instead of having almost a year ahead of me, I don't even have two months. Let me wrap this up by saying thank you to my wonderful mother who I am so thankful to have! Thank you for the trip and for this whole year...and might as well throw in there for my whole life. xoxoxoxoxo

besos

Cristina

Me da igual

Marina, Patricia, Me, Barbara, Isabel, Andrea

On a beautiful day that felt like summer!

Well here we are...another month, another season. I can’t believe that a month has gone by since the Rotary bus trip with the other exchange students. Pathetically enough I am having exchange student withdrawl syndrom! It really is crazy though how quickly the time goes....I’ve already been here for 7 months and even crazier my mom comes to visit me in less than a week. I’m obviously very excited, but at the same time a little sad because the reality is hitting in that this great experience is coming to an end. Once my mom leaves I’ll have one 1/2 months left in Spain. As much as I miss home (my bed, my backyard, cooking for myself, and everyone there) I know I will miss Spain like crazy once I leave. I guess this is the “emotional roller coaster” they warned us about (I swear an exchange year is enough to make a person think they're schizophrenic)...but like LiL Wayne said “Life is such a roller coaster then it drops, but what should I scream for this is my themepark.” And yes...I do take advice from marijuana smoking rappers.

Nice mix of Canadian, Spaniards...and of course me!

Excitingly enough, there were Canadians in my town! They came for three weeks(left this morning) and were staying with my Spanish friends who went to Canada for three weeks in September. I think they were from Alberta Canada, where (correct me if I’m wrong) they discovered a bunch of dinasours at one point? Anyway they were super nice, I didn’t get to know them to well because they were at a different school, so I only saw them on weekends. But regardless we had a lot of fun and they gave Canada a good name. It’s funny cause some of them were telling me I have a really strong New Jersey accent...which other english speaking people who aren’t from Jersey(or as I like to call them "foreigners") always seem to tell me. A couple of them kept calling me “JOISEY” (which obviously we real new jersyians don’t even pronounce it that way”.

SHOUTOUTS!!!

ISABEL LAZCANO-THE NUMBER 1 LOQUILLA IN MIRANDA DE EBRO!!!

PABLO GOMEZ- who taught me everything I know about Spanish and is the best actor on the face of the plane