No Foreign Lands

Inside the mall *gasp*

I love it hurrrr… except the past tenses are still not easier than they were in the estados unidos. Ah, well. I went to the mall with two of my friends today. We bought groceries at Eroski, which is a superstore. I had some issues communicating with a security guard about a broken locker door for my stuff from outside (because you can’t carry fillable bags into the store) but we figured it out. I ended up spending 55 euros with my roomie on food and a few other necessities that will definitely tide us over for more than a week. Tomorrow we will buy some clothing, because it’s so hot here and I need a dress and at least one skirt and one pair of shorts. It is so not getting colder yet!!! 😀

También, I went to go see a Pedro Almodóvar movie called La piel que habito with three of my friends in the Modern Cinema, which is, funnily enough, in the ancient quarter of town. It was totally wacky, like dear Pedro, and it had Antonio Banderas in it, like Pedro’s movies do. I’m talking about it like I have any idea, even though I’ve only seen one of his movies before this one. But, boy, was this one good/crazy/disturbing. Whew. You have to go see it. In English, it’s The Skin I Live In. 

After that, we visited a friend and she fed a few of us some great, authentic Japanese food, and they even gave me some seaweed and stuff so I could eat something. Then when I got back to my room I lost my key haha… But not before skyping one of by bestestest friends from home and deciding that, one day, we will do the camino de santiago together. One month, one pilgrimage, one tent. Two chicas with a mission and sore legs. 😀

Hasta luego y Mucho love

Julia

Hey there,

long time no me talking at my three followers 😛 I WENT TO FRANCE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! A couple of the girls in my program have been here before so they kinda know how everything works and what they want to do. We took two buses and a taxi to get to St. Jean Pied de Port, slept at the pilgrim station thingy there for 10 euros, got a free breakfast of bread and jam and tea, then walked a lot.

I thought I had forgotten my extra batteries at home (in Logroño) so I made everyone wait when my camera died so I could run halfway through the little French town we were in. When I got to the tourist shop, the lovely man who spoke a bit of English let me know he had no batteries. I ran back, feeling like and idiot, and then had my feeling confirmed when I encountered said forgotten batteries stuck under my notebook about one kilometer later. WOOT. hahaha

SO MANY PICS are on facebook, and I will get around to putting them up here. It’s just a matter of time :p

I spent all day sleeping to recover from the fun, the muscle aches, and the awesome amount of socializing. France FTW It was awesome!!!

Skyping with my two favorite City College Sophie girls <3

LOVE

Juliaaaa

First real day of class yesterday, superfun. Second real day of class today, también. After class yesterday, a few of us went to a Döner Kebab place by the last church we visited on our tour on Monday. It was me, my roommate, two Chinese girls, two Japanese girls, and a guy from Finland. We had so much fun! We ate outside and it was still sooooo warm!

The guy who worked at the place misunderstood me and put white sauce even though I asked him not to (unvegan!!). He removed it when I reminded him but then he covered the remnants of it in red sauce, and I discovered more white sauce as I went hahah.. oh well, it’s not like it’s goona kill me. Wiped it off as best I could.

We talked in Spanish for the first, like, hour or so. Then we switched to English because it was easier for all of us. There was lots of walking and talking because the place is far away so we had a bunch of fun. I laugh a lot during regular conversations but the mistakes we make in Spanish cause general hilarity.

Today, we got into new groups to talk using some reflexive verbs. It was really fun. There were little flashcards with things on them and we had to like and dislike them with different verbs and then explain a bit.

A bit ago I went to meet someone on campus to practice my Spanish and help him with English and German but I did kind of a fail job. He didn’t seem to mind, though, and we’re going to meet up again, I think.

Now I’m meeting a girl that wants me to help her with German and I’m not sure if I’ll be of any use whatsoever because I don’t actually know any of the grammar rules…

Feeling a bit discouraged.

Love,

Julia

Today was an EPIC first day. We did, indeed, have a placement test. I met three German girls, some girls from Utah, a guy from South Arabia, and SO MANY Chinese and Japanese people. I am so going to try to learn some Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. So fun.

I have a lot of pics on facebook and I will transfer them onto here when I have time.. Right now it’s gonna be text for a while because it’s the first week and I’m like AAAHHHH!!!!

Today I spoke Spanish a lot, saw the old quarter of Logroño, which was beautiful, and answered a few emails from people who said they want to practice their English and help me with Spanish. It’ll be almost like being in class but funnerer.

There’s a few cute café-bars where I could meet up with people, and I’m pretty excited to find someone that I can practice with. I talked as well as I could with some the other students, but I’m very glad that we’re being placed into levels tomorrow. Then I can try to make friends that are where I am, forms study groups or whatever, and just get some general culture.

Honestly, everyone says to befriend the locals but my Spanish might not be conducive to that until after the first trimester, and I don’t think most people have the patience to deal with someone who is below the 50% line of Spanish-speaking knowledge.

Right now I need to figure out cheap travel and cellphone info, then travel the dorms to see where everything is, but I really should just go to bed. It will happen soon!

Much Love,

Julia

for me it’s chargers… Today, it was my macbook charger. Look for epic posts of how my trip was and what I did today over the next few days. Right now my mac battery is at 8% and I’d rather talk to my Mami than blog.

LooooooOOOooooOOOOve

Me

Hint: It’s not you, it’s ___.

and no, I’m not breaking up with you! We’ve barely started seeing each other at this point… (code for SKYPE ME 😀 unless I don’t have your skype, in which case either let me know that you have one or realize that you’re a creepy stalker)

Was going to skype two people tonight but one of them never signed on :/

I’m really excited about letting people know about my blog tomorrow. I think I’ll do it RIGHT before I leave ^^ One more post and then BAM. That annoying girl on facebook who thinks it’s all about her… oh wait, I just described everyone on facebook :X

On that note, buenas noches. I know this post was substance-free.. the next one will be more entertaining 😀

Lovey love at 0:40

Julie

aaaaand I missed more than the first half of the new Vampire Diaries episode to watch the movie Arthur with my lovely friend, Faith. Don’t regret it. It was awesome to spend a couple hours saying goodbye to her.

I’ll watch it later, It’ll be up in a few hours and I wholly support the copyright infringement on sidereel.com

Go there..—–>>>

They have everything

Still haven’t packed much, as predicted. I have socks that have the days of the week on them, some jackets, some slippers, and three books for the flight…. Jane Eyre (I WILL CONQUER YOU), The Bluest Eye, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Most likely, all three of them will make me cry. But I am of the firm opinion that if a story doesn’t make me cry, it usually isn’t good.

It’s not like packing really takes a lot out of you, especially when you’re me. (What? lol) I am bringing a lot of clothing, some electronics, and a few basic toiletries. Maybe some food. It does all have to fit into a bag, a carry-on, and the very easily explained “personal item.”

I’ll update in a few. Trying to get in another post or two before anybody really knows this blog exists. It might feel different when this is no longer just for me.. :p

Looooove and sleep deprivation, (that should be a movie title)

Julia