QUARANTINED

29 Sept 2008

No historia del arte today. Poor Basilio. This morning I swept floor before class and then mopped in between. I went with Kel to Maria Cristina to get her suitcase that her mom sent over with a family friend. I was so excited to hear “Proximia Estacion: Maria Cristina,” but got caught up in coversation and missed then voice over completely. We stayed at the hotel for a while and chatted with the friend of the fam--nice guy. On the way out I completely ran into glass sliding door. Oh god, I wish I could have seen it from afar! The consierge guy was all, “Are you alright?” SO GREAT! That night we saw Vicky Christina Barcelona for cine class. Fabuous movie! There were so many recognizable places/traditions, it got me excited! And Javier Bardem isn't too bad to stare at for a couple hours either!

1 Oct 2008

Yesterday Elena kept her phone out in class “just in case she gets a call and has to leave running.” Oooh dear, I hope poor Basilio is alright =(. The other day we were at our small supermarket and a woman walked out and whistled for her dog but it was nowhere to be found. So she said “shit” a couple times in English and then got back in line swearing in Spanish. So Ames and I went out to see if we could see it and we saw the golden just walking around at the end of the block. She came out and whistled again and it came back! It’s crazy how dogs are everywhere off leashes. They’ll be sitting outside of stores, sitting with their owners at outdoor cafes, in the metro…its just nuts! I had the rest of my chicken empanadas last night even though I didn’t want them. Every bite was literally torture. Couldn’t fall asleep because those freaking empanadas were making me sick. I kept thinking about them no matter how hard I tried to put my mind elsewhere. Had they gone bad and started effecting me mentally? Perhaps! I literally thought I was going to vom! I didn’t know what to do so I just downed some water and let my nerves get the best of me. I had weird dreams that night. One in volved a magical music video, complete with slippers, a table, and a drugged out Kurt Cobain. Then it jumps and I’m late to class and I’m driving like a madwoman to get there. Eventually get there and am soaked after having to go through the “late student” water tubes. I walk in, and everyone just stares. So I say "sorry" for my lateness and ask what everyone’s staring at. The teacher (glasses Monica to be exact) says they got a notice that I had died. She then proceeded to point to a poster with drawing of me on it which says “died yesterday, this room is quarantined” Umm, yikes! So I sat down like I wasn’t dead and tried to figure out what language they were learning. Maybe died from the chicken? But then I woke up to find out Sox won the division, yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

2 Oct 2008

MY ABSENTEE BALLOT CAME TODAY!!!!!!! It’s in it’s “official election yada yada envelope,” love it! Off to Lisbon, like, right now! Much more later!

5 Oct 2008

So on the way to the airport, we saw this terrifying woman who had had waaaay too much plastic surgery. It was one of those things where you cant tear your eyes away, even though you’re terrified of what you’re seeing. We all got to the Vueling terminal super early so we hung out at this little bar/snack shop area for an hour or so. I got a beer, they got some food, and we just chatted until it was closer to flight time! The flight was good, except for the landing. Before the flight, Kevin was like, “wouldn’t it be funny if the plane crashed?” since that’s what old Basilio always talks about. I legit thought we were going to die. The plane was alllll over the place and and kel and I held hands for dear life! Portugal is gorgeous. It’s so open and spacious compared to Barcelona where everything is built right on top of each other. Weird people though. We got offered fake drugs, which is apparently completely legal there? Throughout the trip, there were just a lot of creepy and rude men, but I wont get into that. Our first night we found a place that sold hamburgers, fries, and drinks for 4,80! YESS! We also got like 30 ketchup packets which got us all jazzed. The hostel we were staying at was super cool. It was decorated all funky (complete with a chandelier made of shot glasses), and there were people from all over just hanging out and listening to Bob Marley. I don’t think we were cool enough to be staying there, haha!

On our first full day, we decided to go to the aquarium since all of us were secretly dying to go. I must have fallen/slipped/tripped at least 30 times during the trip because I’m a klutz, my shoes have no traction, and the roads were made of glossy little blocks of stone which stuck up unevenly. However, this certain time, I had a nasty trip and my toe started bleeding. Poo. Good thing Mamma Kelly had band aids with her! We saw the most adorable little Portuguese kids running around by the water. All the boys were dressed in matching blue, and the girls in matching pink. One fell and started crying…it was so cute! The aquarium we went to is supposedly the biggest in Europe and the second biggest in the world? It was neat! Got to see a lot of stuff and took a lot of pictures! Afterwards, we discovered the way to Belem, which was on the complete opposite side o f Lisbon. Such a pretty town! We first went to a pastry shop to get the famous and delicious Pastry of Belem, and then we headed for a pita lunch at Bread Bread, Cheese Cheese. So delicious! We were ordering when I heard 3 of our group start laughing hysterically. It turns out that while they were trying very hard to speak Portuguese/Spanish/English , the guy at the counter started laughing at them and then spoke to them in perfect English (minus the Boston accent). Turns out he was born in Boston, but came here with his Portuguese mom about 17 years ago. Such a small world. Afterwards, we kept walking down the road til we saw the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. We checked that out and then went to see the Torre de Belem which was supposed to protect the monastery from a sea raid. We saw the big statue on the way home (too lazy to look up the name, sorry), and then headed back home. For dinner, we went to a little restaurant for some real Portuguese food. I had grilled bacalau (codfish), which was surprisingly good! That night, we found a place where they have fado, a traditional Portuguese way of singing that is poetic and supposed to bring the listener to tears (assuming you understand Portuguese). The place we went to was up in the mountains, so it had a gorgeous overlook of the city all lit up at night—SO PRETTY! The place with the music was under that restaurant, but so cool looking! We had some port and one of the waiters (who kind of looked like a chubby Jude Law) helped us get closer seats—nice guy. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the fingers of one of the guitarists. He was seriously AMAZING! They moved lightning fast and he was just the coolest dude ever. So jealous of his guitar skillz!!!!

The next morning, I went and bought some post cards as well as some bumper stickers to put on my guitar case…so excited about that!! That day we wandered up towards the big castle on the hill but stopped in 2 churches along the way. The tower was crazy awesome, but I was worried about falling on the stairs, and there were a LOT of stairs in that freaking tower! Being accident prone and all, I had a mental fiesta whenever I got to the bottom successfully! We went to a little place for lunch on the way down the big hill and had some more traditional Portuguese food. Something with ham in port sauce, rice, and then some weird looking potato-ey soup with green grass-like things in it. All incredibly delicious though! The fat little dog we saw earlier in the day was roaming by the restraint…we think it was preggers. We got some cheap ice cream afterwards and continued our journey across the town and up another incredibly huge hill to go see the botanical gardens. So weird. We finally get there and its closed! Like, there is literally a chain around the entrance! However, there were two old ladies picking crap up off the path, so Kelly asked them in Portuguese if it was closed and the woman just stared at her for a minute, and then ignored her completely and went on with her business. Really? You're mature! We ran into some other people who told us where the other entrance was and we got in for ,75 with our student discount, chicka chicka yeah! It was so pretty in there! We took dinosaur picks and laid in the luxurious grass for about 20 minutes. There was a boyman sleeping in the grass by a tree and I decided he was Frodo Baggins! So we decided it was the shire we were laying in (or perhaps Edward’s meadow for those who have read Twilight?). It was so relaxing and so Across the Universe-esque. That night, we went to Hard Rock for dinner where everyone was singing and cheering for people’s birthdays. It was very different.

After becoming sick after the first night, I knew it would be hard to sleep for the 5 hours we had before having to get up for our flight. It was another non-sleep night since I couldn’t breathe and didn’t want to make a lot of noise. We got to the airport, had some McDonald’s breakfast—pancakes of course (which were totally crappy since they were small and thin and didn’t come with a sausage). I got a hot chocolate and a McFlurry as well. The flight was fine—I slept most of the way. However, my wallet did get stolen at the BCN airport. Home sweet home!

MORE PICTURES!!

Lisbon

And just watch this video

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