Just an interesting/humorous fact, my "Amsterdam" post has gotten the most views, with 56 views total. The next highest viewed post? "Perfection" with a mere 35.
I wonder what people were hoping to hear my talk about in the Amsterdam post...
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Let's not jinx it...
How about we all collectively knock on wood when I say (or type) this, but I have a feeling that this is going to be a really good semester.
It all started Thursday night when first Elena, James and I went to Abica for dinner. If you've forgotten about this restaurant, go back to the post about when my parents came, I'm 99% sure I raved about it for a while. After dinner Arinelli joined us and we went to a bar to get some drinks. Kat had talked to Elena before and told her to call her about getting together. It turns out she and her boyfriend were in a park nearby with friends, having some drinks and hanging out (I know it sounds sketchy, but it's a very common thing to do called botellon). James and Arinelli had never met Kat before, and it was fun to talk with her, Pablo, and their friends. At some point in the night too we started talking with a group of guys who were sitting next to us. They weren't from Coruña, but live here in apartments during the year since they go to school here. They were really nice, and when Kat, Pablo and all of their friends moved on to a club, our new friends invited us to go with them. We spent the rest of the night with them, exchanging names, numbers, and promising to find each other on Facebook.
Then the next day one of the guys was talking to Arinelli on Facebook, and they invited us to go get tapas with them! So we went to La Bombilla which is a tiny little corner "restaurant" with three 2 person tables inside, and a giant crowd of people outside. It's an old, famous spot in Coruña because they serve big portions of tapas (I know, that's kind of an oxymoron) for only 1 euro each. After dinner we went to a cafe and just got coffee, waters, ice teas and talked. I was exhausted from Thursday night, so I went back home after that, but Elena and Arinelli stayed out for a little more hanging out with them. James and I walked back and we were talking about how we're not quite sure why they want to be our friends! They are genuinely nice guys, not creepy at all, one of them has a girlfriend... It seems that they could easily befriend people who speak their language fluently.
Anyways, the next day they again invited us to go out with them. First the 6 of us Holy Cross kiddies in Coruña grabbed dinner together to plan out traveling for the rest of the semester, and then afterwards we met up with them at botellon. The rest of the night was so much fun, speaking a lot of spanish, them occasionally attempting english, dancing, singing, and maybe a couple drinks? Sunday was a pretty relaxing day. I left the house once to go work on an assignment with Nora. Later that night James, Kelsey, Nora and I went to our program director, Pablo's house to watch the Jets vs. Patriots game. He has this insane television package and gets a bunch of American channels. It was interesting to watch the football game, with Spanish commentary, and another weird thing- no commercials. Now you'd think this would be a good thing, it's not. I mean, they still have all the breaks, it's just that instead of commercial we had to listen to two Spanish commentators talk ever 4 minutes. Poor guys, you could tell by the end of the game they really had nothing to say, and were definitely tired. It was still fun to watch the game though, and Pablo said that we could all come over for the Superbowl too!
Then the next day I was talking to one of the boys on Facebook and he invited us to hang out with them in the afternoon. Elena and Arinelli had told them that they'd never been to Monte de San Pedro, a park area on top of a mountain where you can get gorgeous views of the ocean and the city. So they invited us to go with them. There is a cool bubble elevator thing that you can take to the top of it, except it costs money so they decided it would be better to walk up the back. Turns out it's pretty long and steep walk up the back of that mountain. We were all cracking up as they were making fake news report titles, "3 American girls found dead on mountainside" "5 young people perish in freak-avalanche". Thankfully we made up the mountain with no injuries/deaths, and it was gorgeous as always. We walked around, took some pictures, and then grabbed a coffee at the cafeteria that's up there. After hanging out with them Elena and Arinelli came over and we just hung out in my little room and talked. 
Arinelli went home for dinner, but the 2 of us then met up a little later that night to get some cheesecake and wine. Just livin' the life over here.
So yeah! If things keep going like this, I'm pretty sure that this semester is going to be awesome! Of course, I did have a little bout of bad luck. I think at this point I would feel like something was wrong, if everything actually went right. Saturday night I went to an ATM and the machine ate my card. As in it gave me no cash nor my card back. It was kind of a bummer, and one of those "did that really just happen" moments, but I got my card back no problem yesterday. Actually, I had a little bit of good fortune there considering that most banks are only open in the morning. I think maybe because it was a Barclay's bank which are based in England, it has a more flexible schedule? Whatever the reason, it worked out for me!
So that's the update! I realize that I've been forgetting about my shout outs. So, this post's shout out goes to Ms. Audrey Gehring, because I JUST received a card and a beautiful doodle from her.
It all started Thursday night when first Elena, James and I went to Abica for dinner. If you've forgotten about this restaurant, go back to the post about when my parents came, I'm 99% sure I raved about it for a while. After dinner Arinelli joined us and we went to a bar to get some drinks. Kat had talked to Elena before and told her to call her about getting together. It turns out she and her boyfriend were in a park nearby with friends, having some drinks and hanging out (I know it sounds sketchy, but it's a very common thing to do called botellon). James and Arinelli had never met Kat before, and it was fun to talk with her, Pablo, and their friends. At some point in the night too we started talking with a group of guys who were sitting next to us. They weren't from Coruña, but live here in apartments during the year since they go to school here. They were really nice, and when Kat, Pablo and all of their friends moved on to a club, our new friends invited us to go with them. We spent the rest of the night with them, exchanging names, numbers, and promising to find each other on Facebook.
Then the next day one of the guys was talking to Arinelli on Facebook, and they invited us to go get tapas with them! So we went to La Bombilla which is a tiny little corner "restaurant" with three 2 person tables inside, and a giant crowd of people outside. It's an old, famous spot in Coruña because they serve big portions of tapas (I know, that's kind of an oxymoron) for only 1 euro each. After dinner we went to a cafe and just got coffee, waters, ice teas and talked. I was exhausted from Thursday night, so I went back home after that, but Elena and Arinelli stayed out for a little more hanging out with them. James and I walked back and we were talking about how we're not quite sure why they want to be our friends! They are genuinely nice guys, not creepy at all, one of them has a girlfriend... It seems that they could easily befriend people who speak their language fluently.
Anyways, the next day they again invited us to go out with them. First the 6 of us Holy Cross kiddies in Coruña grabbed dinner together to plan out traveling for the rest of the semester, and then afterwards we met up with them at botellon. The rest of the night was so much fun, speaking a lot of spanish, them occasionally attempting english, dancing, singing, and maybe a couple drinks? Sunday was a pretty relaxing day. I left the house once to go work on an assignment with Nora. Later that night James, Kelsey, Nora and I went to our program director, Pablo's house to watch the Jets vs. Patriots game. He has this insane television package and gets a bunch of American channels. It was interesting to watch the football game, with Spanish commentary, and another weird thing- no commercials. Now you'd think this would be a good thing, it's not. I mean, they still have all the breaks, it's just that instead of commercial we had to listen to two Spanish commentators talk ever 4 minutes. Poor guys, you could tell by the end of the game they really had nothing to say, and were definitely tired. It was still fun to watch the game though, and Pablo said that we could all come over for the Superbowl too!
 |
| Elena, Arinelli, Yelco and Javier at Monte de San Pedro |
Arinelli went home for dinner, but the 2 of us then met up a little later that night to get some cheesecake and wine. Just livin' the life over here.So yeah! If things keep going like this, I'm pretty sure that this semester is going to be awesome! Of course, I did have a little bout of bad luck. I think at this point I would feel like something was wrong, if everything actually went right. Saturday night I went to an ATM and the machine ate my card. As in it gave me no cash nor my card back. It was kind of a bummer, and one of those "did that really just happen" moments, but I got my card back no problem yesterday. Actually, I had a little bit of good fortune there considering that most banks are only open in the morning. I think maybe because it was a Barclay's bank which are based in England, it has a more flexible schedule? Whatever the reason, it worked out for me!
So that's the update! I realize that I've been forgetting about my shout outs. So, this post's shout out goes to Ms. Audrey Gehring, because I JUST received a card and a beautiful doodle from her.
Monday, January 10, 2011
A Random Assortment of Thoughts
Hi All!
I hope everyone is doing much better than I am on day 10 of New Years Resolutions. My healthy eating ended yesterday when I got all off on my eating schedule and ended up having tortilla (something like a potato omelet) and chorizo around 6:30 as lunch/extremely early tapas, an apple tart from my local bakery, and then pizza and the most delicious cheesy garlic bread rolls from telepizza. Everything was obviously delicious, but probably not put into the healthy food category.
Things are going well in Coruña, and going back to the University today definitely has gotten me back into the swing of things. As of now everyone is back except for Arinelli who'll be here tomorrow. Given that I was the first one back I spent a good amount of time with the family which was great. The highlight was definitely going to the Grandma's house outside of the city on Saturday. She's so nice, and made a delicious Paella. Kat, who lived with my family last year, and her boyfriend came too so it was a pretty large group at the table which made things fun. After we ate we ended up playing the spanish versions of the games B.S and asshole. Wow, I just realized that those both happen to be games named after swears, what are the chances. I'll reccomend Go Fish or Old Maid next time, you know, just to keep it clean.
The night before that I went out to dinner with the family, and their cousins which was tons of fun. I did have a bit of an epiphany though, which is that I may be developing multiple personality disorder. Believe me, as a Psychology major, and after taking the course Abnormal Pyschology, this is NOT a good thing. Let me clarify first though before I get too dramatic and start freaking people out. I would describe myself as a cautious person, and someone who likes to observe and listen to learn, but I don't think that I or any of my friends/family would call me quiet or introverted. The issue is that my listening, observing, and being cautious has caused me to become awfully quiet when it comes to Spanish. I'll speak in class, because that's where I'm used to using my Spanish, and in restaurants/stores when I need something, but I obviously came to Spain for a little more than that.
So that's my new New Years Resolution. To speak more Spanish. To speak it to whoever will listen and forever long they'll listen to me for. I don't always having much interesting to say, but I'll just have to become that annoying girl who rambles on about nothing. With a bad accent. And a handful of grammatical errors. I met a girl before Christmas who wants to do an English-Spanish language exchange, as in 1 week we speak and hour of English and the next and hour of Spanish. So hopefully that will work out, and be of mutual benefit for both of us!
In some lighter news, here are a couple observations that I made today:
1. I think there was a new bus driver this morning. I'm pretty sure to become certified you have to be able to throw someone out of their seat, or learn to not break before turns.
2. I saw a dog with one eye today
So that's what's going on in my life! Oh and another resolution: update the blog with more frequency!
I hope everyone is doing much better than I am on day 10 of New Years Resolutions. My healthy eating ended yesterday when I got all off on my eating schedule and ended up having tortilla (something like a potato omelet) and chorizo around 6:30 as lunch/extremely early tapas, an apple tart from my local bakery, and then pizza and the most delicious cheesy garlic bread rolls from telepizza. Everything was obviously delicious, but probably not put into the healthy food category.
Things are going well in Coruña, and going back to the University today definitely has gotten me back into the swing of things. As of now everyone is back except for Arinelli who'll be here tomorrow. Given that I was the first one back I spent a good amount of time with the family which was great. The highlight was definitely going to the Grandma's house outside of the city on Saturday. She's so nice, and made a delicious Paella. Kat, who lived with my family last year, and her boyfriend came too so it was a pretty large group at the table which made things fun. After we ate we ended up playing the spanish versions of the games B.S and asshole. Wow, I just realized that those both happen to be games named after swears, what are the chances. I'll reccomend Go Fish or Old Maid next time, you know, just to keep it clean.
The night before that I went out to dinner with the family, and their cousins which was tons of fun. I did have a bit of an epiphany though, which is that I may be developing multiple personality disorder. Believe me, as a Psychology major, and after taking the course Abnormal Pyschology, this is NOT a good thing. Let me clarify first though before I get too dramatic and start freaking people out. I would describe myself as a cautious person, and someone who likes to observe and listen to learn, but I don't think that I or any of my friends/family would call me quiet or introverted. The issue is that my listening, observing, and being cautious has caused me to become awfully quiet when it comes to Spanish. I'll speak in class, because that's where I'm used to using my Spanish, and in restaurants/stores when I need something, but I obviously came to Spain for a little more than that.
So that's my new New Years Resolution. To speak more Spanish. To speak it to whoever will listen and forever long they'll listen to me for. I don't always having much interesting to say, but I'll just have to become that annoying girl who rambles on about nothing. With a bad accent. And a handful of grammatical errors. I met a girl before Christmas who wants to do an English-Spanish language exchange, as in 1 week we speak and hour of English and the next and hour of Spanish. So hopefully that will work out, and be of mutual benefit for both of us!
In some lighter news, here are a couple observations that I made today:
1. I think there was a new bus driver this morning. I'm pretty sure to become certified you have to be able to throw someone out of their seat, or learn to not break before turns.
2. I saw a dog with one eye today
So that's what's going on in my life! Oh and another resolution: update the blog with more frequency!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Home for the Holidays
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and are starting the new year off on a great foot. Since going home for break everything has been kind of hectic, and to be honest, I much preferred spending time with friends and family instead of communicating with them via blog. I hope you will forgive me.
Anyway! I am currently writing to you all from the floor of the Philadelphia airport. Yes that's right, the airport curse continues, and it just keeps getting weirder. The situation: a flight attendant has gotten sick and was needed to take off the airport. The solution to this problem? Wait 1 hr to 1.5 hrs for a back-up flight attendant. While I realize that no matter what your job is, you get sick, I have NEVER heard of this happening to ANYONE else. Oh well, I have a very long layover in Madrid, so maybe it's good thing to eat up some of that time. Thankfully the Philly airport does offer free wifi, albeit the slowest that I have ever encountered... Okay, I promise I'll stop complaining now.
So, this trip all started back on December 22nd, with an ungodly wake-up hour, somewhere around 5 AM I believe. Europe handled itself very well, and I had no issues/delays until I got to DC. I had to sit on the plane for about an hour, but eventually the short flight to Boston took off, and before I knew it I was sleepwalking down the elevator into the arms of my parents. They probably were expecting me to act a little more excited to see them, but I think I had just gotten to the 22nd hour of traveling, so they were understanding. The next day was just a day to catch up and see friends who I hadn't seen since August, and then it was Christmas Eve.
Now for those of you who don't know, Christmas Eve is HUGE in my family. 40 people at the house, every casserole imaginable, seared tuna, pickled fish, steak, ham, sausage... Basically everything you could imagine is laid out on that table. Oh and did I mention that Santa comes? That's right, Mr. Clause himself has made his FIRST stop of the night at the Carlson party for the past 20+ years. Basically it was just a great time to see all of my family and eat some delicious food after being away from them for 4 months. Christmas day just continues with family and food, and oh yeah, presents too.
The 26th consisted of my dad and I's annual Christmas decoration shopping spree. Due to the impending storm we had to do a quick and mini version, but we actually got some quality stuff and a pretty good amount too. That night, despite the storm, my friends and I had a little Christmas party and gift exchange. Not everyone could make it, which makes a gift exchange hard, but it was a lot of fun. We also decided to do a plaid theme, which made us look like quite a rugged crew. After the gathering I slept over at Sarahs house and we did some catching up. In the morning Laurel came over and we watched a movie, so that was a fun relaxing time. Of course as soon as I returned home, the shoveling commenced.
**Update** I'm not writing to you from my bedroom in La Coruña. After a lot of traveling and a 6 hour time change, I am back, in one piece, and with all of my luggage!
The next day was the 28th and was my big Massachusetts day! I left in the morning and swung by South Windsor to grab my friend Kelly and we headed up to Holy Cross. We were dropping my car up there in the morning before going to Boston, because we were going to stop there later in the night (more on that to come). It turned out that Sarah and her boyfriend, Chase, were going up to Boston too, so they picked us up at Holy Cross and we drove into the city with them. I have to say, it was like an out of body experience to be back at Holy Cross. Seeing the new dorms being built, walking into Hogan Campus Center, seeing Coolbeans (the coffee shop) open. Very very strange and surreal. Once we got to Boston we met up with Dani, who is going to be my roommate next year! It was a ton of fun with good food, some shopping, and tons of catching up. Later in the afternoon Kelly and I left on the train towards Worcester. There was a basketball game going on, and our friend Joe was doing the radio announcing. We only got to watch the last 15 mins of the game, and they lost, but it was still fun to feel some of that purple pride energy in the gym. After the game, Kelly, Joe, his brother and I went to Moes for some late night Mexican food, which is always delicious.
Okay, so I have lost all memory of what I did on tthe 29th. Or maybe I'm mixing up my days? Anyway, I think it was the 30th that I went to a new japanese restaurant which offers a fixed price all you can eat menu of sushi and buffet. So that was really fun! I also got my nails done, met with my "Aunt" Kathy for some Starbucks, and then casually drove down to Mohegan Sun. My friend Mike who lives in Worcester, was going down there with some of his friends, and since we hadn't been able to meet up the other day when I was at Holy Cross we decided to get together. It was kind of frustrating though, because I learned that the majority of the restaurants in the Casino won't even let you sit in a chair if you're not 21! Ridiculous. They're not going to be handing me free alcohol, I won't be ordering it, so I don't see the issue. Spain could teach them a thing or two. We did find a place to eat though, and we had a good time. He was a junior last year, but he did a 3 + 2 engineering program, so he started at Columbia in the fall, so we both had some transitions to make this semester.
The 31st was New Years Eve! Chase had a party at his house which was a lot of fun. All of our friends were there, including some that I hadn't seen since the summer or longer, and Chase's friends were there too. Sarah, Laurel, Kristin and I all got together at Kristin's house first and got ready together which was fun. There were a lot of people, good food, good drink, just an all together good time! We slept over and the next morning helped Chase clean up his basement. Imagine a snowglobe filled with confetti. That's what his basement looked like. The vacuum filter had to be emptied frequently, but at least it looked festive instead of just dust mights! The rest of the day was spent relaxing/sleeping/watching TV until around 6 when I picked up Kristin and we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house to watch the Uconn bowl game. Even though Uconn got crushed it was fun to hang out with the fam again, and introduce them to Kristin. Turns out her Dad knows my aunt's ex-boyfriend. Small world.
The next morning I the Dalys and some friends came over for a casual brunch, before Dad and I headed off to New York. I had an interview there the next day, so we wanted to keep things as calm as possible by going the day before and staying the night. Most memorable part of the trip? Eating the best steak ever. Seriously, it's not an exaggeration. Amazing dinner.
The rest of my break consisted of interviews, packing, and good byes. It was a busy end to an amazing break. I'm so glad that I was able to do so much, and see everyone. It was also great to hear about how many people are actually reading this blog. I want to thank you so much for that, and I hope you know how much it means to me that people actually care and love me enough to check up on this. I'm really going to try and update it more for the rest of the semester. I can't wait for whatever is in store for me! I'm sure this semester is going to be absolutely amazing, and I will make sure to keep you updated!
Anyway! I am currently writing to you all from the floor of the Philadelphia airport. Yes that's right, the airport curse continues, and it just keeps getting weirder. The situation: a flight attendant has gotten sick and was needed to take off the airport. The solution to this problem? Wait 1 hr to 1.5 hrs for a back-up flight attendant. While I realize that no matter what your job is, you get sick, I have NEVER heard of this happening to ANYONE else. Oh well, I have a very long layover in Madrid, so maybe it's good thing to eat up some of that time. Thankfully the Philly airport does offer free wifi, albeit the slowest that I have ever encountered... Okay, I promise I'll stop complaining now.
So, this trip all started back on December 22nd, with an ungodly wake-up hour, somewhere around 5 AM I believe. Europe handled itself very well, and I had no issues/delays until I got to DC. I had to sit on the plane for about an hour, but eventually the short flight to Boston took off, and before I knew it I was sleepwalking down the elevator into the arms of my parents. They probably were expecting me to act a little more excited to see them, but I think I had just gotten to the 22nd hour of traveling, so they were understanding. The next day was just a day to catch up and see friends who I hadn't seen since August, and then it was Christmas Eve.
Now for those of you who don't know, Christmas Eve is HUGE in my family. 40 people at the house, every casserole imaginable, seared tuna, pickled fish, steak, ham, sausage... Basically everything you could imagine is laid out on that table. Oh and did I mention that Santa comes? That's right, Mr. Clause himself has made his FIRST stop of the night at the Carlson party for the past 20+ years. Basically it was just a great time to see all of my family and eat some delicious food after being away from them for 4 months. Christmas day just continues with family and food, and oh yeah, presents too.
**Update** I'm not writing to you from my bedroom in La Coruña. After a lot of traveling and a 6 hour time change, I am back, in one piece, and with all of my luggage!
The next day was the 28th and was my big Massachusetts day! I left in the morning and swung by South Windsor to grab my friend Kelly and we headed up to Holy Cross. We were dropping my car up there in the morning before going to Boston, because we were going to stop there later in the night (more on that to come). It turned out that Sarah and her boyfriend, Chase, were going up to Boston too, so they picked us up at Holy Cross and we drove into the city with them. I have to say, it was like an out of body experience to be back at Holy Cross. Seeing the new dorms being built, walking into Hogan Campus Center, seeing Coolbeans (the coffee shop) open. Very very strange and surreal. Once we got to Boston we met up with Dani, who is going to be my roommate next year! It was a ton of fun with good food, some shopping, and tons of catching up. Later in the afternoon Kelly and I left on the train towards Worcester. There was a basketball game going on, and our friend Joe was doing the radio announcing. We only got to watch the last 15 mins of the game, and they lost, but it was still fun to feel some of that purple pride energy in the gym. After the game, Kelly, Joe, his brother and I went to Moes for some late night Mexican food, which is always delicious.
Okay, so I have lost all memory of what I did on tthe 29th. Or maybe I'm mixing up my days? Anyway, I think it was the 30th that I went to a new japanese restaurant which offers a fixed price all you can eat menu of sushi and buffet. So that was really fun! I also got my nails done, met with my "Aunt" Kathy for some Starbucks, and then casually drove down to Mohegan Sun. My friend Mike who lives in Worcester, was going down there with some of his friends, and since we hadn't been able to meet up the other day when I was at Holy Cross we decided to get together. It was kind of frustrating though, because I learned that the majority of the restaurants in the Casino won't even let you sit in a chair if you're not 21! Ridiculous. They're not going to be handing me free alcohol, I won't be ordering it, so I don't see the issue. Spain could teach them a thing or two. We did find a place to eat though, and we had a good time. He was a junior last year, but he did a 3 + 2 engineering program, so he started at Columbia in the fall, so we both had some transitions to make this semester.
The next morning I the Dalys and some friends came over for a casual brunch, before Dad and I headed off to New York. I had an interview there the next day, so we wanted to keep things as calm as possible by going the day before and staying the night. Most memorable part of the trip? Eating the best steak ever. Seriously, it's not an exaggeration. Amazing dinner.
The rest of my break consisted of interviews, packing, and good byes. It was a busy end to an amazing break. I'm so glad that I was able to do so much, and see everyone. It was also great to hear about how many people are actually reading this blog. I want to thank you so much for that, and I hope you know how much it means to me that people actually care and love me enough to check up on this. I'm really going to try and update it more for the rest of the semester. I can't wait for whatever is in store for me! I'm sure this semester is going to be absolutely amazing, and I will make sure to keep you updated!
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