Leadership and Independence (If We Want To Sound All Fancy...)

I've learned some important things since I've been here, both about myself and other people and my feelings towards others...have you sensed a common theme in my blogs yet???

Anyway, item number one that I feel it is important to note - if I actually need to accomplish something, it is better for me to go alone, rape, pillage, and plunder and get on with my day. When other people are involved, things just fall way off track and take forever.

Item number two - I love my plans. It's kind of a problem. I need to learn and understand that there is a time for plans and that it's also ok to do things and just go with the flow.

Number three - I've gone back and forth over the years wether it is better to lead or if it's better to follow, and while there is a time for both, I'm going with it's better to lead right now. Mind you, that may leave me alone on some crazy adventure and not having a clue what's going on with my life, but hey, at least I tried right?

And finally, number four - When all else fails, I go with my gut. Yes I love my plans, but I also love spontaneity. When I feel something and it sounds good, I'm gonna go for it without looking back. (and again leaving myself with the possibility of being stranded, alone, wondering what the hell am I doing, but hey that's the risk I'm taking)

And to my family (particularly my mother) - no, that does not mean making stupid decisions. Clearly I'm gonna consider all things while I'm running around some foreign country. I as well would very much like to return home in one solid piece.

So, all of this being said, I want to comment/update on some exciting and what I feel is (insert the english word here that I seem to have forgotten because my English is getting worse and worse by the day that means I'm pushing myself as a person and it's going to better me).

First, yesterday I went to a cooking class with the group Disfruta Madrid Más. Basically it's a group for university students to meet each other and gain cultural experiences for discounted prices by paying to be a member of this "club". Anyways, cooking class was amazing - I learned all kinds of yummy things that don't seem to hard to make again. (let me point out the word 'seem'). But yes, getting to the place where this class was, I got lost (what's new right? I'm always lost...) Well, while being lost is usually a problem, I actually enjoy the opportunity here because it gives me an excuse to talk to random Spanish people and not have to have some dumb excuse. Well, I asked about 5 different shops and random adults on the streets, and no one knew where this place was. So as I'm walking around like 'oh crap' and it's pouring rain, I run into 6 teenage girls looking to be around 16. So I ask them, and what do you know, they knew where it was. So they actually walked me all the way to the place, and we talked the whole way. It was pretty awesome for me and made me feel cool. (no I'm not too cool to hang out with people 4 years younger than me lol) But, I didn't get any of their names or phone numbers (sad face...) None the less, I feel like this was a good example of doing my own thing and bettering myself.

Next, today I'm asserting my leadership skills. My goal of being here for the year (along with learning spanish) is to really understand the culture of all of Spain. This being said, I want to explore all of Spain. So today when I found flights to the Canary Islands for 35 euro, I was all over that. (we just got done talking in class about how great the canary islands are to visit and my professor highly recommended all of us to go if we could) So, I called 2 of the girls I like (the same ones I'll be going to Poland and Dublin with) and asked if they were in. So, what do you know, vacation on the beach in the December, perfect.

And finally, Lisbon, Portugal is on my list of places to visit. Originally I had planned to do this more in November or next semester, simply because October is a crazy month...but Disfruta Más just happens to have a trip there the weekend before I'm going to Galicia, so what the hell lol, why not? (It was much, much cheaper than anything I could find on my own too) So, here comes the independence part - I booked my seat and I'm going for it. This will be the first trip I've booked/planned that doesn't involve anyone else from USAC. I won't be alone because it's all organized with the group and there will be other students, but it's no one what I actually know.

So yes, that's my life. My list of places I want to go is growing. Don't worry Mom, I took Croatia off the list per your request/demand/threat of disowning me and replaced it with Moscow, Switzerland, Berlin, and Sweden. Fair trade right? =D

Anyway, as always I'm avoiding my homework and have to go read 150 pages of some Spanish play...sigh...college

Patinaje en Hielo...I Think Yes!

My newest mission in life is to coach figure skating while I'm in Spain. I think it'll be a good way for me to meet people and practice my Spanish and stay in shape.

There's only 2 problems.

1. I don't have skates. So either I'm gonna have to buy some here or ship mine over from the US...
2. I have to write a resume in Spanish about my teaching experience. Hum...how does skating vocabulary translate??

So yeah, I'm excited. I really hope I get to do this and it fits with my schedule. I don't know what dates it will be or what I'll have to commit to, so this is still in the works, but I'm really hoping it works out!!

Not much to say other than that...

I should probably do more homework lol

My Complaint For The Day

I wouldn't consider myself a very Type A person, but I do like plans, and I like to stick to them.

Without typing out an entire boring rant, I'm just gonna sum it up pretty quick...

Today there was a soccer game and the tickets were pretty cheap. I wasn't planning on going, but eventually got talked into it because I thought it would be good to spend time with the other USAC kids. Well, the plan was to go from school to the ticket office at the stadium. The stadium is on the opposite side of the city of my house, so after buying tickets I needed to go home, get some homework done, then go to my dance class, and then to the soccer game.

Perfect, right? No. Well, instead of going straight to the stadium, we had to stop at 2 different people's apartments, go buy shirts for the game, go to 4 other gift shops, and then finally go to the stadium.

Mind you, I didn't know where the stadium was, or I wouldn't have wasted 5 hours of my life riding around the entire city on the metro.

So eventually, I'm pissed because the person I'm with who "knows" where we're going won't tell the rest of us how to get there and is bitching at me because I won't "relax". This person then continues to insult me and my relationships with both my family and my boyfriend.

As if this wasn't annoying enough, once we got to the stadium this person decided that the tickets were too expensive at the stadium and instead is going to buy their tickets online (even though they are from exactly the same place).

In the end, I bailed. I ran into another one of my friends and we went and got lunch.

However, it was frustrating and it wasted a day that could have been used for studying and catching up on my work. Eventually I got home (after my dance class).

Sigh - I have no faith in anyone here. I wish people were reliable and would just stick to the plan.

No Quiero Estudiar!!

That's right, tomorrow is my first exam and I do not want, nor do I have any motivation to study.

While yes this exam is important, and yes after I write this quick rant I will suck it up and go study, it is so hard to study here - even though the work I'm doing I feel like my 10 year old host broth could do better than I can.

There are so many things to learn, so many words, so many phrases, so many cultural ideas - I want to study the things I'm using in my everyday life. And, yes I'm sure what they're teaching in my classes is relevant, I feel like there are things to which my time would be more beneficial.

I want to cover the house in post-it notes because I don't know the words for anything...

Sigh.

Ok, back to work I go. Gonna go learn how to spell in Spanish, even though I can't spell for crap in English...Wish me luck!

God Gave Me You

Something hit me today. Something that I knew but didn't really realize.

As most of you (should) know, I'm currently living in Madrid, Spain and my boyfriend Keith is living back in Toledo, Ohio. It's a 6 hour time difference.

That being said, this post is about us.

When we first starting dating, we were very open with each other. He knew from the beginning that I was going to be leaving for a year, and we were ok with that. We have always been very open with each other about everything and have a great relationship.

So, of course, when the day came when I had to leave we were both pretty upset. We sat in the middle of our hotel hallway crying together before we drove to the airport. The airport was sad for everyone and my whole family and I cried. But once I had gone through security and there was no turning back, I sat waiting by my gate for the plane to arrive. And in that moment, I knew. I wasn't scared. I knew that we had a strong enough relationship to have a successful long distance relationship.

I don't know what we would do without our iPhones - they are literally a necessity for life!

But this morning was a rough morning for me. I was thinking about Keith as normal and I started to cry. I've been here for 3 weeks now, and while yes I always miss him, this was the first time it's made me cry. (Naturally I called and woke him up and he made me feel better...)

On one hand, it is sad to be sad and to miss the people you love, however at the same time being sad is a good feeling, because I know I still care and love him.

So we talked for a long time - about all aspects of our relationship, our lives, our goals, and the future. While this is completely normal for us, the feeling of being that close to each other and having the feelings we do - even across the ocean - was amazing.

I don't think you can really ever understand how complex and truly real a long distance relationship is until you've been there.

There is so much that goes into it. You have to work. You have to accept. But most importantly, you have to take time and communicate.

I'm sure this blog post means nothing to most of the people reading, but to me, today was everything. Today I have felt the greatest happiness since I've been here. Happiness that brings tears to my eyes.

Rock Climbing?!

Today I spent the day with my host family and we went to a park about 30-45 minutes outside of the city. We went on a scavenger hunt sort of thing where families raced each other to find 6 different locations. We each had a map and a compass to find our way around.

Well, we weren't very good at finding the trails, so I led us on a rock climb. By no means was it anything ridiculous, but we were climbing up the mountains. Of course, there were real rock climbers there too - and by real I mean people a couple thousand feet up handing by rope!

After our little adventure, we started hiking and eventually got to this waterfall and hung out there for a few hours, playing in the water and sliding down the falls into tiny pools.

Overall, I loved it. Defiantly one of the coolest and prettiest places I've been so far. I can't wait to go back in the winter when Keith is here. I know he'll love it. 

My host mom took some pictures, so when I get those I'll post them.

And...I only got a little sunburnt =D

Help Me I'm Melting!!!

Ok, maybe I'm not really melting - but seriously Spanish weather, what the heck? Why can't it be 50 degrees like it is back home? I'm sick of this 90 degree crap. I wanna wear my sweaters and jackets already!

Anyways, just a quick update for the night - this week has proved to be very exciting for me because I'm starting to figure out some of my travel plans and different events that I will be attending.

In Chronological order so far I have...

September 22 - hiking with my host family
September 28 - cooking class
October 5 - trip to La Manchu
October 16 - Amaral concert
October 22-25 - Trip to Galicia
November 2-5 - Trip to Poland
December 5-8 - Trip to Ireland
December 20 - Keith gets here
December 23-26 - Trip to Paris
December 27 - Michael Jackson Cirque Du Soleil
January 5-13 - Trip to London with my parents
February 10 - Real Madrid vs. Sevilla Football game
February 25-28 - Trip to Andalucia

I've got more things in the works, but this is all that is finalized as of right now. It's really hard to plan things to do for spring semester because I don't know what my school schedule will be yet, but hopefully I'll know soon. I want to go to Greece, Italy, and Croatia for my spring break so I'm looking forward to booking that. Other places on my list include Amsterdam, Portugal, Prague, Barcelona, and other random places in Spain.

So yes, my credit card is melting and I'm having fun. I just need to meet some people that are willing to travel with me.

I need to go read a book. Who would have thought I was in school right? lol.