Finally made it!

I'm investing in McDonalds first thing when I get home! I am really tired of bocadillas....Sandwiches with a ton of bread, cheese and some uncooked ham...haha! who knew!?! Anyway, I've finally made it to my homestay. We were completely prepped on how to kiss Europeans and clearly informed that it is NOT custom for American women to kiss cheeks with people that they aren't close with (like construction workers) haha! Some people have got to be stupid. But, I met my host family and they are so sweet. The senora is Carmen and she reminds me a LOT of aunt Diane - dress expression etc. and then her husband is Luciano. He is a farmer and has farming property on the coast!!! He's pretty quiet and reminds me of my dad because he just sits back and watches the girls get all fired up! I was mortified watching him lift my suitcases into the car....between Elise and I the poor guy was sweating! Luckily he didn't stink like other Europeans. Okay so next, we got the the flat, very cute, VERY SMALL, and even the homes have signs by water faucets saying to conserve water! She gave us the tour and showed us where all the fruits and veggies (thank you lord....I wasn't sure how to survive on bread and cheese) and then she gave me a piece of fruit that I've never seen. It was like a mini pomegranite with the seeds inside but you eat the skin that its in. We met Luciano, the 22 year old son and he's cool. Not as good looking as I'd hoped but hey, he's probably got friends?! Then Carmen was telling Elise and I (all in spanish of course) that somehow they know an American who was, I think she said a professor, at the University and he wanted to meet us. Well this American called and he is taking Elise and I to "tapas" which are free finger foods that come with drinks. He's 22! I really think I made the right choice with Granada as my home city. However, we did some touring of Mardrid and Toledo the past two days and I've seen some miraculous things! Here I go with them: I went to the Prado Museum in Madrid and saw the works of famous spanish paintors Greco, Goya and Vellasquez and on top of seeing them learned a lot about the painters (all in spanish). Also in Madrid was Palacio Real (which I think I already talked about). The next day we went to El Escorial, which was at one point the living quarters of royalty. It also contains the second most important Catholic library (based on content) next to the Vaticin! The books were amazing and our guide was hilarious! I feel like the spanish either love you or hate you. I'm sure it's different for American boys. Also in El Escorial is this amazing room filled with the caskets of buried kings and queens and their children....just rooms filled with immaculent tombs and burials! We also saw a room that has a golden/bronze statues about 8-10 feet tall of the symbols for each of the books of the bible. (Ex: (totally falsified) the sybol of Mathew is an angel so each day when the Scrires of the church read a chapter of the bible, they'd read the Mathew chapter from the statue of the angel that also has a stand for the bible as they read). That day we also visited "Valle de los caidos" which is a valley with a HUGE, I mean HUGE cross going into the air 140 or so feet on top of a church that goes into the mountain. During its construction some 40,000 workers died and it was all built to commemorate the spanish freeing themselves from dictator Franco. (take a breath, here comes the next city) Then we went to Toledo. It's like a fairy tale. The city is all built within the walls of an ancient castle surrounded by a river that was used as a natural mote. The city used to be the capital of Spain before it was moved to Madrid. In toledo I visited the most famous work of Greco's. The only thing I really remember about him is that he wanted to paint portraits of the king but the king didn't like his elongated style (probably because he was 4' 11"). We also visited the equivalent to the American military school Westpoint, and what used to be a synagog but looks like a mosque because constructed by muslim workers and was then converted to a christian church after the jews were expelled. Later that night the girls and I went for Pizza and the bartenders LOVED us. They chatted and smiled and chatted some more until we left. The fun thing is they were all drinking beer on the job. And McDonalds sells beer! Lastly, there is a schedualed trip to Morrocco with the company that I came with and there were too many people insterested so they decided to pull names. Well, my two best friends had their names pulled and I was still waiting...They finally pulled my name though so Morrocco...HERE WE COME! The week before they have to give us special yogurt to toughen our stomaches. We leave at like 3 am travel to Morrocco, stay in a hotel for 2 nights, get in Range Rovers, cross the desert, ride some camels, came, meet real nomads, watch the sunrise, go back into town and return to Spain, all in 5 days! Thats coming up in 2 weekends, but for this weekend...OKTOBERFEST! Germany is beautiful and I can't wait to buy an authentic German Beer Maid outfit...It will be my Halloween costume until I am so old I shouldn't be dressing like that! For now that is all. I've got to get ready for my 10pm dinner and Tapas! Love you all and I'll keep you posted!

No Longer Nervous,
Molly

Day one in Madrid!

I finally made it!!! After a flight to Washington DC then to Munich then to spain...I made it in one piece, but barely. After so many hours of flying and eating random food I was completley nauseated and walked right off the plane and puked...All I could think of was I hope this isn´t a fortelling of the rest of my trip. On a side note, the bathrooms in the German airport had a dispenser in each bathroom stall so you wipe the seat (before or after?) you go to the bathroom! Needless to day they were spotless! But so wierd. Suprisingly enough after my puking incident, I made it without even turning my ipod on or a flight buddy. My two friends and I were seperated on all of the flights! Anyhow, getting off and the time just before leaving was SUPER stressful...it felt like everything that ould go wrong did. For instance, the scholarship that I applied for didnt go through. I mean I recieved the check and forwarded it to UCLA and they screwed it up two days before I was supposed to go!!! but heres the cool part...the following two days I learned it doesn´t matter how hard you work or how much you do to be a good person...you´ll never get anywhere without friends and family. My office pithed together and gave me some money which helped more than theyll ever know. Then other people stepped in or just called to check on me and literally brought me to tears with all of their support. I´m a lucky lucky girl and I forget all too often at home just how lucky I am. Anyway, Spain is beautiful. I´m in Madrid and today we visited the Prado museum of art and the Palacio Real which is where the royal family used to live but only conducts business now. It was awesome. Then some of the girls and I explored the city. We had our first churros con chocolat which is a churro (minus the cinnamon and sugar like USA) and you dip it in a thick chocolate sauce - it was tasty but not as good as I´d hoped....which i guess is lucky. I wont be gaining wait off of that! haha! What else...yesterday night the girls and I were tired so we settled for McDonalds and it was WONDERFUL! apparently Europeans arent allowed to use trans fat in their oils....my whole meal was less than 500 calories. haha. Í was shocked and almost cried because I feel like I´m on a diet which is NOT my style...this eating small portions thing is gonna take a lot of stomach shrinking or a lot of money....I´m hoping the first so I can maximize the shopping! Then today the girls and I found probably the only Mexican food in Madrid and completely endulged! In our own defense we couln´t read any of the other menus! Plus Madrid is just like LA...I´m ready for some culture so I cant wait to get to Granda and get settled with friends and classes and my homestay...thats where I´ll eat my real spanish food. Well lots going on...Germany in a week. Morocco in two...Its a crazy small little world we live in and I can´t wait to see what it has in store for me. No longer held back by anything or anyone....I can only cross my fingers and enjoy the ride through all of the sad and scary parts until the end then look back and laugh. With my blog you can all look back and laugh with me! Hope all is well in the states! Love you and I feel like such a lucky girl to go and experience all of this stuff and then report back to the people who care...it´s a nice feeling. To cousin nate: my guia del museo se llama javier haha. I definately stayed away from that javier. But to Aunt Tina, any decent javier that sweeps me off my feet will definately get a coffee date! hehe! just kidding. I´ll update you all soon. If anyone talks to Grammie tell her I said hello and i miss her so much. You all know she cant check the computer. Oh yeah! and today I saw a fountain that all of the soccer team from real madrid jumps in with tons of random people to celebrate a win so everyone cheer for a win so I can hop in the fountain! Off to dinner....then tomorrow off to Toledo. Update you all asap!

P.S. I knew people didn´t like americans but whatever right? well I got onto my flight from germany to madrid and the man next to me (who was from iberia) asked me where I was from and I told him the US. He looked at me in disgust, rolled his eyes and turned his head in silence for a moment. He looked like he had to try really hard to speak to me after that while I had to pick my jaw up off of the floor with my right hand. I was shocked! (it gets better) he then asked me why I was going to spain and I told him to study. He looked a little more satified and I threw in like the smart ass I am, ¨pretty good for an american huh?¨then he got to pick his jaw up off the ground...guess I´m not as passive as most women. However he squeezed out a laugh and was a lot nicer so I think he got the point! haha!

***I´m using a spainsh keyboard in an internet cafe so I´m not claiming any typos! haha....its the keyboard.

Con todo de mi amor,
Molly