PS I'm all over Kelsey's blog again...look!

spanishlifeofkelsey.blogspot.com

I'm tonta, I wrote that Aurora struggles with Spanish.  No she doesn't! She struggles with English!

Aurora's Flash Cards and my First Sunrise

So Aurora takes English classes twice a week.  She struggles a lot with her Spanish.  Finally, after we did her homework (because we always do it together because she needs my help!) I decided I was going to make her flash cards.  Well, she had never seen flash cards before....SHE WAS SOOO EXCITED!  It was hilarious.  She is so excited to be able to practice on her own.  I guess the Spanish don't make flash cards but for me its the easiest way to learn a language!  I plan to make her more as soon as I can.  I made about 30 last night.

This morning I got up at 6:49 and had a Nescafé then I left to dar una vuelta a la playa AKA go for a walk to the beach.  My hope was to catch the sunrise.  Boooyyyyy, did I catch the sunrise.  Its about a 30 minute walk to the beach so by the time I got there I was obviously sweatinnnng but I got to walk along the beach.  It was fairly light out but the actual fire ball that is the sun had not yet slivered out from underneath the sea.  At about 8:10, it began to sliver up and the beach and the water filled with sunlight!  By 8:20, the entire giant ball that was the sun was up and the water and the beach looked magnificent!!!!!  It was such a cool experience.  I plan to do it again.  And great exercise.  I had already walked an hour by the time I got ready for my day.  Whooo!!

Pics, although not mine, are what I saw.

Two things I have noticed that I want to share with you within the last two days:

Spanish people love to give advice but on the street arent very friendly.  In that aspect, I think Americans definitely win.

2.  They cover their babies with plastic bags here, over their heads, I guess to keep out the cold. Poor suffocating babies. I know this doesnt look bad but they are worse than in this picture.  I dont know where the airholes are! I have seen babies pushing their way out of them!

How to Be Spanish

Today in class, we talked about what we would have to do in order to appear Spanish. Here is part of the list we made:

-Wear black

-Have dark hair and dark skin

-Wear tall boots with high heels on them

-Always match your purse with your boots

-Smoke... a lot

-Speak Spanish with a Spanish accent

-Stay out until 6 in the morning

-Participate in massive Public Displays of Affection

-Speak very loudly

-Drive a motorcycle 

Last night I went for my VERY FIRST RUN in Alicante.  I know, its taken me three weeks to finally dig my tennies out of my armario and hit to streets.  I went around 7pm so I was just starting to get dark.  I strapped on the ol' iPod and bam!  My iPod headphones are broken so only the right one works.  I didnt know I would return home practically deaf in my right ear!  I ran to the beach (20 min) and all along the beach.  Come to find out, they have workout machines (weight) on the beach!  I ran all up and down the beach and then I stopped to walk.  I turned on Coldplay's "Swallowed in the Sea" and had my first moment with the Mediterranean.  I stooped to put my hands in and ended up just cupping a ton of sand in my hand, so then I had to put my hands in repeatedly to be able to get all the sand off...and believe me, its not very warm in January!  Some people were looking at me like I was from another planet, so I said, "Es mi primera vez", its my first time, EVER!! Then I ran away.  This crazy lady handed me a flyer as I was running off the beach for an internet cafe which i might try, but she looked crazy, she had pink hair and was kind o wearing a witch hat! Haha!  So I ran back past the port and looked at all the huge yachts and the wateer lapping up against the boats and wondered who owned them all.  Probably foreigners.  

Ran all the way home then up to my flat with my face as red as a beet.  It was warm enough to just wear yoga pants and a tshirt (I wore my Delt Mekong shirt :)  It was exhilarating, and I cant wait to run again.  It looks like it will be a nice day again today.

LOVE YOU!

I guess I am not quite as detailed as Kelsey, because she writes really beautifully on her blog, and I'm in quite a bit!  If you would like to read about our experiences in Granada, since we basically had the same ones, click here:

http://spanishlifeofkelsey.blogspot.com/

Sorry, the space bar on this 1970s keyboard is not working too well...please pardon my connected words.

University classes start today!

Hi all, today University classes start so I am up earlier than I normally am. I have already been to one, Medieval Spanish Lit. It sounds like it willbe okay. It is sohard getting allthe equivalencies for Mizzou, though. Thank God for email.

My trip to Granada was great, we all had a lot of fun. There were two downsides though, 1 that we were with such a huge group and spent most of our time on a bus and 2 that it rained the whole time. I got some great pics though of the Alhambra, which was the neatest thing we did. The hotel was nice and had a buffet for every meal but the more I ate the worse I felt so I didnt enjoy it as I could have! I was still fragile in the stomach and felt like i could have thrown up after every meal.. We went out afterwards but I didnt drink anything because I knew it would not agree with my stomach. It was hard getting around a big city we didnt know, somost of us just ended up going home after searching wround for awhile in the cold...not really a successful night out. I think I developed an eye infection in my right eye, probably from napping on the bus there and back in my contacts, even though i took them out on the way back so i only might have slept like 30 minutes. i am going to talk to Aurora today and see if I can go to the Farmacia to get some antibiotic drops. They give away prescription medicine here without a prescription, you just tell them your symptoms and wait like 10 minutes. Hopefully something willwork for me. Right now I need to go talk to Cynthia about classes and get my stuff I left in her office on Friday. Tomorrow I will have my computer with me again so I will be uploading pics from Granada and life in general!

Miss you all, love you, and happy birthday yesterday to Jen and Grandma Kate!

OK, apparently if you write to me in Spain you have to use SPAIN and not ESPAÑA on my address when mailing from the states, just like I have to use USA instead of EEUU.

Sick.

Hola, hola, today I am finally back at school.  I missed class yesterday because I got really sick Tues night.  I threw up a few times and decided I would not be going to school.  I couldn't really keep anything down until yesterday when al I ate was toast and rice and broth (and of course Aurora shoved some codfish in there, hidden within the rice) and a chicken breast.  I am also drinking a ton of Aquarius, which is like a mixture between Sprite or 7up and Gatorade, good for re-hydration.  I feel better now though and am hungry and thirsty, which I think are good signs.  

Tomorrow I leave for a weekend in Granada.  I am very excited to see the Alhambra and dance flamenco!  

I am in the process of setting up my classes and schedule. I have to ask for equivalencies in classes at Mizzou, so it will be kind of a long process.  I should have my schedule all figured out in about a week or so.  I won't be able to write until Monday, but I will tell you all about Granada then!  

Saludos,

B

Also, here is my address.  I got a letter from Gram yesterday that made my day. :)

Bryn Edmonston

Calle Pardo Gimeno

No. 55  Segundo G

C.P. 03007 Alicante

España

Hello! Last night I made American breakfast for Aurora.  French toast and eggs, our way.  Reminded me of my childhood and made me really miss my family!  I searched all around for a calling card and finally was able to call Jen after so long.  I set up Skype calling today so I have some money to call people without Skype, like Grandma!  I think she will be happy about that.  Last night our group went to the beach for a little while to hang out and listen to music but then it started raining so we went to McDonalds and I got a coffee.  Its just about the only place you can get a coffee to go here, as there are no Starbucks or equivalent.  

SPAIN sends America its Congratulations today on our new president.  There is a feeling of excitement all over.  I can't wait to watch the inauguration on TV.  This morning the bus driver when Kelsey and I got on the bus, said "O-Ba-Ma! O-Ba-Ma!"  They love him and the hatred for Bush here is extremely strong.  Fine by me.

Love you all.

There is more graffiti on one block in Spain than all the graffiti I have seen before I came here.  Every single building, fence, store, garage, new or old, is covered with the stuff.  Its so normal that a building without it looks alien.  

This post is going to be long so I will try to divide it.  But here my mind is all over the place taking in all the things I experience that sometimes I find myself a bit scatterbrained.  I'm writing this post early and posting it tomorrow when I get to the University.  If I don't write it now, I will forget a detail of the last two days of my life.

The last two days of my life, my first weekend in Alicante, have been absolutely amazing.  Yesterday I went to the Mercado Central and went shopping with my mom Aurora but the best part was after when we had comida in an open air restaurant/bar/market thing.  It is hard to put into words how good I felt just sitting there eating all this Mediterranean food, drinking Heinekens with my Spanish mom, the sun hitting my back, and all different types of people just relaxing and enjoying themselves.  And it was so cheap! I had a bocadillo which is a sandwich on a loaf of french bread with codfish (bacalao) and tomato and we had olives and two fried fish things.  Easily the most gorgeous day since I have been here.  It was warm and...you know how I love the sun. :)

Today, Aurora's friend Pedro picked us up.  Aurora says that he wants to marry her so badly but she doesn't feel the same for him.  But they are best friends.  He is a very interesting person, very fun and very nice.  We got along very well!  He is obviously in love with her, its too cute.  Anyway, so we drove about an hour to the next province over, Murcia, and to the city of Murcia which is about an hour away.  The paisajes, or landscapes, the views, during the trip were incredible!!! The mountains are very dry here and so they don't look like other mountains,  They are all dirt colored with a little bit of green on them.  I will put pictures up.  The landscape fascinated me the entire way there so I was basically just gawking at everything I was seeing.  When we got there, we went to this place where they have hot springs and although we didnt swim in them, it was a gorgeous place... We sat on this warm sunny patio in front of this amazing building and had drinks and aperativos (basically appetizers)

Next we went to a tapas restaurant at about 3:00 pm.  We waited, standing, for about an hour before we could steal a table.  I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.  We literally ate for 2 full hours.  And then we talked and left...it was amazing!  We ate something like a lobster (my first time), squid, clams, mussels, plates of ham and cheeses, asparagus, mushrooms, a fruit plate, sausages, 2 bottles of wine, bruscetta, coffee, chupitos de coffee liquor, bread and pretzels-like bread.  YIKES!  My diet is out the door.  Oh well.  I am enjoying everything I am eating and I really love that about Spain.  WHoever said the food here wasn't anything special clearly was not a food-lover like me.

Más que la comida, the conversation was also  incredible, as is usual with Aurora and especially when she gets with her friends or when she is drinking.  At one point she told me she was feeling a bit drunk, and it was hilarious.  Pedro was also a lot of fun.  I wish you all could have experienced all the things I did today.  If there is anything that bothers me here, its that I can't have you all see all the things I am...all of my loved ones, I want this for you too, because you all deserve it even more than I do.  Pictures don't give justice to anything I am experiencing, so its hard for me to describe it all in a way that you all can understand.  The value of life here, the eating habits, resting, relaxing, and drinking all have totally different ways.  Its otro mundo (another world) like we always are saying.  We sit down for a meal and 2 minutes in we are philosophizing at life and how things are, the world, languages, history, love, and just sharing stories.  It is very different.  We ate for 2 hours today and we got a new plate of food about every 17 minutes.  Incredible! It never stops.  

After we ate, we drove to another city called Torrevieja, and the sun was setting over the mountains.  I wanted to cry it was so pretty!  Damos una vuelta (we went for a walk) around the city and looked at everything. It was also incredible.  Its a completely marine city.  Everything functions because of the sea.  They call it the city of salt and Habaneras, a type of music brought back by the sailors from Havana.  There is an amazing statue on the rocks that the water hits of a girl sitting on a bench looking at the sea, waiting for her sailor to come home.  I'll put pictures up.  It really moved me.  She was longing for something that she didnt have, and it was just a beautiful sight.  

Afterwards we drive home, and Pedro has a ton of American CDs (as everything here is in Spanish and English and there is a big American influence), so we listened to Elvis and some other American bands as well as traditional Flamenco from Spain.  Aurora's favorite artists are Rufus Wainwright and Amy Winehouse.  Today we cleaned the house and we were blaring Amy Winehouse's "Rehab"!  Anyway, I asked Pedro if he had Johnny Cash to see it I could find a song I like.  Turns out he had a 2-disc set of 50 songs by Johnny Cash, and what was number 1 on CD 2 but "It Ain't Me, Babe"??  I said, "Put this in! Turn on Number 1!!" And so I sat in the back watching the sun go down over the mountains listening to a song that Z and I always sing together really loud on all our car rides (clearly where we have the most fun).  It was a little unreal.  I took a video to prove to you all that we were in fact listening to Johnny Cash in Spain...

SO.  Thats all I can remember for now.  I have so much to say but I always forget when I'm writing.  I LOVE YOU ALL, AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!  LIFE IS DIFFERENT HERE, BUT ITS A GOOD DIFFERENCE.  I WISH YOU COULD ALL BE HERE WITH ME BECAUSE YOU DESERVE TO EXPERIENCE ALL THE MOST WONDERFUL PARTS OF LIFE... :)  My trip here would be PERFECT if I could have everyone I love here with me the share it with.

Ahhh, what a day. I am sitting here in this Internet place here near my house and there are a millino 12 year olds playing video games all screaming. What an environment. I had a great day today with my mom. We went to the mercado central which is this huge market with everything "de todo" and its like nothing we have in the states. it reeks of fish. but very interesting and very fun. WE walked all over the city and then we went shopping in a few stores. then we went to this outdoor cafe that was incredible! i had a bocadillo, which is a sandwish on a whole loaf of french bread with codfish and tomatoes. interesting. we had fried something and fried something else. both really good. instead of chips or bread here they give you olives. and it was really cheap. we also had cervezas, like with every meal! and our whole bill was only 10 euro. have to go, my time is running out on the computer. i wish every one of you could have spent the gorgeous day with us. miss you and love you!

My First Night Out

Hi there all! Last night the group went out for the first time.  We went to two bars, one called Oliver Gallery and the other Carpe Diem.  They are basically bars for the tourists or American students that are in Alicante.  Once exams finish at the University at the end of the month there will be more Spaniards there. My friend Kelsey and I made friends with everyone we saw!  Someone stole Kelsey's coat from off the hook and I was really nervous because I have been borrowing coats from my host mom and I was afraid I might lose hers.  BUt thank goodness I did not.  We had a lot of fun!! In the bar, they played all American songs, such as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham! and YMCA. When YMCA came on, Kelsey and I started talking in british accents as to not be mistaken for American girls.  We were incredibly embarrassed.  American things here are so common but very cliché so it is always hilarious to see/hear them.  Here when we toast we say "Salud, dinero, y amor" which means Health money and love.  It is a beautiful toast!  Last night when I left my house my mom made me take a banana with me because she said if you eat bananas right before you drink and you stick with the same drink all night you will never be hung over, here we say "Tengo resaca." for I'm hung over.  Finally got the Wireless set up at the Univ.  but I will be all weekend without internet so I'll talk to you all on Monday.  Today we told jokes in Spanish in class.  I tried to tell my one about why did the turtle cross the road...to get to the Shell station.  BUt here no one can understand it.  :(

My mom Aurora says I speak the best out of any of the 6 students she has had which makes me really happy.  Yesterday we visited Auroras daughter Ana and her husband and daughter Marina, who is sooooooo adorable. Pictures coming later.  

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Here are some new pics for you all to enjoy! Some are sideways, I can't figure it out!  

There is my street, my room, my bed, and the university.  If you look close at the one sideways with the tree, I'm standing below it!  I love my class and the campus is SO beautiful.

I am signing up for a weekend trip to Granada next weekend.  I'm so excited!  PS..I finally slept last night, well ok, I cheated a little with my Tylenol PM.  I stayed up without knowing it with Aurora til 1AM talking just chatting and watching TV.  She is an interesting lady and she told me she is so happy I'm there.  Today I get to eat 'comida" or lunch with her daughter and son, Beatriz y Jose Carlos.  I am just beginning to know my way around the city!  I got a buss pass for youth, and I can take the bus to the Univ. and back with no trouble.  YAY! More later, love you all!  

no pics yet but they are coming within the next few days..

HOLA HOLA, i will say in advance that all my post from now on will be wihtou capital letters. the keyboards here are really old, im on this circa 1980 windows in the computer lab. needless to say the technology is very different here. but! things are looking up. although once again i did not sleep last night, i do have a nice little room and they found my other suitcase, i am so glad. what a relief. it is very hard figuring out how everything works here but luckily i live with a very nice lady, age 59, her name is Aurora. She is very fun. she swears marijuana is good for you but don´t worry i wont be trying it! no she does not smoke marijuana, but she does smoke the cigs like a chimney! but everyone here does. but we get along really well, i´m her 6th exchange student. we live in a little apartment with 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and a living room. i will post pics later. we have our first day of class today! i have to go, we are leaving the computer lab. i dont have internet at my house but i will have wifi tomorrow on campus.. love you all, miss you so!

Running like a Bryn out of hell...

I wonder how I made it out of the Madrid airport alive. But yes, i am finally in alicante, at the hotel. after 3 .5 days, 48 hours without sleep, 2 nights sleeping in the airport, and 4 long flights, finally we made it. everything is ok except my first 2 days in spain were the worst two of my entire life. it will only get better though! i´ll let you all know soon what is going on. love you all!