2 week hiatus...

Uhhh skipped a week, sorry about that.  As  I have not gotten out of bed for about 14 hours (out of laziness, no sickness here) I thought it would be a good idea to type my blog.  Dad- I'm sorry I didn't make you laugh last time, I will work hard on this one!  There was one kinda funny thing I forgot about the Milan trip-as I walk around every day (an average of 2 hours a day) I have lists running through my head.  Short term to do lists (shower, cut my toenails...) long term (apply for jobs back home, planning trips) things I have to write about in my blog, and then whatever random thoughts I get in my head.  So in all of that I sometimes forget!  But anyways... in the airport I beeped off at the metal detectors and so I had to get pat down and they looked at my passport and whatever.  The TSA lady asked if I was spanish and I was like, 'heck yes!'  But then obviously when she looked at my passport she knew I was American and she said, "Oooh Obamaland", and then the rest of the TSA staff kept saying, "ooooh Sara ooooh Obamaland ooooh!!!!"  It was a strange experience.

I made it to Valencia after a few minor freakouts.  I have a friend who is like our very own tripadvisor.com.  She finds everything for the cheapest price and does fun things.  I jumped on board with her group to Valencia and she told me to buy this bus ticket and that train ticket.  So I bought the bus ticket and then went to the train station to buy my train ticket.  The stapler guy from Office Space informed us that there was no train leaving at 8:25 and our best bet was to buy this 80 euro train!  Ok innocent looking man who is speaking so nicely to us Americans-I trust you!  I buy the tickets but then my other friends start dropping off, saying that eso no vale la pena (it's not worth it).  I go home and check the train site again and see the train I originally wanted! That little turd!  So I went the next day to the bus station with my friends to buy bus tickets in advanced for Semana Santa.  After that I walked up the hill to the train station and started talking to a new guy.

One friend had given me cash to pay for her ticket while I paid with my card (I still haven't gotten my new pin number).  I realized that I had left my card with the lady at the bus station (the mean one from Carnaval) and that the train station would be closing in about 10-15 minutes.  Ah! So I bought my friend's and the guy asked 'Vuelta?' 'Return?' and I was flustered and said 'no' because I obviously would be GOING before I RETURNED right?  But what any normal human being would understand was that he was asking when I was going to return.  So he printed out my ida ticket (to go) and then I said, 'ok now the vuelta'.  He. was. mad.  'I asked you if you wanted the return!' and I kept saying sorry, sorry, I'm really sorry (Lo siento, lo siento, lo siento mucho).  And do you want to know what he said? 'Lo siento, lo siento, lo siento mucho' in a mocking voice! I almost cried.  But I got the tickets and realized that if I sprinted I might be able to make it to the bus station and back in time.  I ran to the bus station, got in line behind a lady who was buying like 100 tickets (!!!), got my card, and sprinted back.  I made it just in time, but one man was still being helped so I got to recover my breath before getting the job done.  A new guy helped me and he was SO NICE! He gave me the 16 and under discount and when he looked at my passport said, "oooh guapisima!"

Las Fallas is every pyro's dream come true.  After 12 hours of bus and train we were able to walk around the city and see a bunch of the statues, markets, and people.  It was slightly scary because people just let off firecrackers and you hear explosions all day.  You never get used to those random ground shaking noises.  At night we stood around our favorite statue  (it looked like Mr. Incredible) and waited.  Finally, a fireworks show, maybe the best of my life, began.  Maybe it was because we were so close and were in a city square, but it was AWESOME.  At one point you couldn't even tell it was midnight-everything around you was alight.  Then the fireworks worked their way up our statue (taller than any building around us) and it BURNED.  Not only did it burn, but it did so along side epic classical music.  Wonderful.  I did learn later though that someone lost an eye and two fingers.

This week was minicourse week at school.  I took comics, digital media, and dance!  I was only supposed to be in two, but I talked to the lady in charge and she looked both ways and then whispered to me, "Just don't tell anyone". :D  Yes, I love school and am a nerd.  What of it?  I learned the merengue and pasa doble, did a project asking people on the streets what they thought would make a better world (one man said the elimination of Spongebob), profiled some professors, and won the comic competition! I'm actually really proud about that- I won the teacher and the popular vote!  I drew 'A trip through Oviedo... for a hamster'.  Spaniards didn't know what hamster balls were though.  Weird.

I know I write way too long of posts as it is (sorry! You could read just one paragraph a day?) but like I said before- I have to get my thoughts out of my head or else I might lose them forever!  While with Chris and Paige I told them how I often wonder if things that are different to me here are Spain things or just city things.  Dog poop is just a city thing.  Vending machines with meat and cheese in them is a Latin thing.  Same with little old ladies walking hand in hand everywhere (I WILL get a picture of that-SO cute). Oh yea- didn't go to Salamanca.  But I did climb to Christ yesterday and that was fun- a two hour hike in our very own Oviedo!  The strange thing was that the higher up we got on the mountain-the more the weather was like Iowa!  The grass, the farm animals, the mosquitos... weird.