we no speak americano

Hola Chicas,

I should be watching the Spanish soccer game right now in the "Plaza de Toros" or at some Spanish bar, but I've opted out not only because a) it's cold and rainy but b) Madrid parted me with a gift of a cold. Blasphemous, I know...please don't tell my Spanish house father.

Madrid turned out to be the chic and more modern city that I hoped for. It was super clean and had a good balance of both US and European tastes. In age, the US is a wittle tiny baby compared to to the rest of the world, and it has become so apparent to me when I travel to different cities here. We did all the tourist-y Madrid things and what not (Prado Museum, Palacio, etc.) , but oh my, our hotel was way too sexy for me. Ha, you'll see what I mean when I show yall photos. There were 5 girls in one room with 3 beds... but hey that doesn't even compare to Spring Break when K, B, and myself shared one!

The last night we were there we went to a dicoteca called El Kapital. It had 7 dance floors all with different types of music and bars. It also had one HUGE main dance floor with go go dancers on the stage, and every 2 minutes they would blow this nitrogen gas on us, everything turned white and it felt so awesome. AND then, balloons fell from the ceiling while they continued to play this one song called "we no speak americano" Oh goodness, from what I remember of that night, it was like one of those teen movies from the '90s with Freddie Prince Jr when they all have their prom at this big dance club. Best 20 euros I've spent so far. Right after, we hopped on the plane back to Santander, and I'm very pleased to find that besides my good health, that I didn't leave anything behind in Madrid ;)

Back to reality news:

School is school, as always. I still wear t-shirts (but I promised myself that I will dress like a Spaniard during the last week of class). I swear my lit teacher is Penelope Cruz, she is stunning, dresses well, and when I become fluent in Spanish I want to talk like her.

Oh, and I also received a package in the mail from my family. They sent me candy (already ate them all) and clothes, and sweet love letters. It made me really happy :)

Other exciting news: Adriana and I taught our little Spanish Sister how to do the Hook 'Em sign last night at dinner. It was precious, hopefully I can get a photoof her doing it.

This weekend, as in tomorrow, I'm heading to Barcelona. Hopefully, another lovely Spanish city. And then most importantly, I'll be on my way to London and Paris in exactly one week! Ahh, I can't believe it. Oh goodness, I honestly won't believe it actually, until I'm physically there, staring at the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben.

Photos! At the end of my trip I'll upload all of them to flickr. But for now I'll give you a sneak peak right here and on Facebook.

C-You know that I'm not a big country girl, but I can't wait for you to teach me how to two-step. I'm so glad you're doing that!

K- Bless your heart, I took stats last summer, but I know you're going to do way better than I did! Oh, and I saw some backpackers today on my way to school and it reminded me of you and B. Lemme know where yall are planning to go!

B- where are you?? Ha kidding, I know you're living the dream in Italy, and classes abroad aren't the easiest. Can't wait to hear some stories!

con amor-M

two-steppin' my way through summer...

I've got another thing to add to my "perfect man" list. He must be able to two-step and swing me around the dance floor!

Since I'm spending my entire summer in Austin, I figured I might as well embrace my inner Texan and take a country-western dance class. I'm steppin' out of my comfort zone y'all! What I did tonight definitely took guts...I went to a dance class all alone! I didn't know anyone there, and I definitely didn't know what to expect. However, I grew up watching my parents dance to George Strait in our living room, and I figured that if I'm going to do that someday, I better start practicing now.

When I first walked into the Union there were only old couples waiting outside the room, and I seriously considered leaving. Where were the tall, handsome, college-aged, country men looking to meet a sweet college girl just looking to dance?! Beats me. After paying $51, though, there was no way I was skipping out on this one. I actually ended up having lots of fun, even though I danced with an awkward 5 foot tall asian guy, a 30-something man whose breath reeeeeked of alcohol, and an 80 year old man who could barely move. We initially had to choose someone to partner up with, but we formed a circle around the room and ended up switching just enough times to dance with everyone. I never realized how much responsibility the guy has in partner dancing...really all the girl has to do is follow the lead and look pretty!

Enough about that...this weekend was so great! My mom, memaw, and little brother, Christian came and stayed with me in Austin. We did lots of fun things like buying me a new dresser. (If you ever saw my old one, you'd be proud that I've got a big girl dresser now). We bought it at IKEA, so my mom and I had a wonderful experience building the whole thing together. I tried to see the bats come out, but supposedly in June, they come out way after dark when you can't even see them flying...so we unfortunately waited an hour and a half to be disappointed. I'll have to try again sometime. There are still many things I need to check off of my Austin to-do list this summer!

Love you all! Can't wait to hear more about more summer adventures!

cheers!

Back from aussieland! Excited to be home but I'm also wishing i had a few more weeks there because being home means that right now i'm sitting here in my stats class, we just took a test and i got like a 107!... lets just say I wanna transfer to community college, where you can not buy the book, study for an hour and earn more extra credit than you know what to do with... ohhhh UT...

Anyways..My flight home was once again fantastic, first class is the way to go! I got to lay down, watch tons of movies, and drink my last few sips of wine while being legal! I felt spoiled.. but it was great. Also really weird on my flight home I left Sydney at 3 p.m. on Tuesday and because I crossed the international date line coming home, I got to my flight in LA at 3 p.m. on Tuesday! So basically it technically took me no time to get home! haha it was literally the longest day of my life! I loved Australia so much, but being there for only two weeks and I was already missing Austin, mexican food (non-existent there) and all the food brands that I'm used to. And Meshell! I feel you on the clothes thing, being back here is great because its totally normal again to wear a t-shirt and sweatpants! God bless america!

I took over a 1000 pictures literally (what can i say? in my dream world i'm an aspiring photographer)..so i'll have plenty of pictures to upload for you beautiful women to see :] After I do my spanish homework tonight.. hopefully i can get that done!

Yesterday Callie and I went to a cycling class.. that was fun to work out for the first time in like a month because of finals and australia and hopefully we'll lay out at gregory like a million times this summer because i'm pale!! Michelle, I miss you! Brooke, give me a time/date and i promise you've got a skype date! <3

LOVE KAYYYCEEE

open heart, open mind, open mouth

Seriously, I ate lamb and was introduced octopus this past weekend. Besides moving past the questionable but good food (my Spanish mother is an awesome cook-hola estoy gordita soon!), the fact that my vs underwear is hanging out to dry outside for all of Spain to see right now, homesickness (bf, fam, and yall come to Spain NOW), and stares from Spaniards as I walk in tennis shoes and a t-shirt to school, you never fully appreciate the ways of American life until your 5,000 miles ish over the Atlantic.

yep, 20 years later and I'm a big girl now.

palabra nueva: guay- significa"cool" superguay = super cool

B- tales of Italian men or northern yankee boys soon please?!
C- you made me laugh in "dead bird" I could hear your voice.
K- Aussieland, damn...cant wait for photos and have a safe flight!

P.S. My internet connection isn't so great here, so uploading photos will take until next week. BUT hey, that's good a thing, because I will have fresh photos from Madrid (I'm going there this weekend just in time for the World Cup-viva espana!), and older ones from this past weekend's trip to Burgos, Segovia, and Toledo.

con amor,
M

dead bird

My summer may have hope after all...I've been enjoying laying out at Gregory and attempting to start a workout routine (diet=FAIL). Jacqueline moved in to Brooke's room...and we've been having a great time getting to know each other.

There hasn't been a ton of excitement in this wonderful town, but today was quite the adventure. When I got off of work, I went to fill up on gas and the lady inside the store got on the intercom and said "You gotsa flat tire!"...oh great. I"m thinking...what in the heck, am I supposed to do about a flat tire? "Drive on over to the air/water pump and i'll turn 'er on." Air/water pump?? I don't even know how to work that thing! So, being the smart girl I am, I thought I could just figure it out. Turns out it wasn't so hard, but to make my experience even worse, when I pull up to the pump, there's a freshly dead, whole pigeon right in front of the tire I've got to air up. There was blood coming out of it's head...it was disgusting. Thank God for Mommies...she called Disount Tire and lined me up to meet with Ryan for getting my tire fixed. And, boy, was Ryan a hunk. :)

Other happenings in my oh-so-normal life:

- I got my own Netflix subscription! There will be lots of movie watching in my future.

- Starting texercise with Jacquelyn tomorrow. ZUMBA!

- Read every spoiler I could find online about the Bachelorette today at work...let me just say, men are evil.

- Found out that there will be boys living above Brooke and I this fall...let's hope they're cute and like to do lawn work.

Love you girls!! Michelle and Brooke, be safe over there. And, Kayce, see you very soon, my dear.