We ended up just going into a paella restaurant (I later google mapped it...we were about two blocks away from where we wanted to initially be...Katelyn and I are pretty sure we stared at it for a bit, but the picture on Google Map showed the sign was covered by trees, so that is probably what happened.
We ordered the seafood paella (shrimp, squid (which I know very much like!), prawns, and some random crawdad thing? We weren't sure) and the carne paella (chicken, rabbit, pork, sausage):
Random crawdad thing that no one else wanted to eat because it had eyes, but oh my LANTA was the tail part delicious. Tried to pick out the chest/head area, pretty sure I ate some brains or something...just not as good as the tail:
Here's a picture of all of us...Steph and I on the left, and Katelyn and Matt on the right (the waiter was so nice and funny, he would keep speaking English to us, and we would speak Spanish to him...which actually has proven to be the easiest way to communicate here, quite frankly):
And a pic of the restaurant:
After dinner, we head to Puerta del Sol for some churros and chocolate and to meet up with Sarah...pretty sure this is the clock they use on New Years to countdown to midnight...at each "bong", everyone eats a grape. Twelve grapes. Odd, but it's what they do.
And this is the new advertisement in Sol this week...REALLY REALLY want to see this movie, looks and sounds fantastic. May wait until I get back to the States:
This is what churros and chocolate look like...the churros do not have any sugar on them, they're not super sweet, and the chocolate is really thick and kind of bitter:
This Steph, Matt, Katelyn, and Sarah:
Then it was Tuesday.
UGGGH TUESDAY.
Tuesday was the day that made me want to get on a plane and go home. I was so upset and frustrated. It just plain sucked. The university I'm attending is so disorganized and apparently can't get it's stuff together. And quite frankly, this whole thing just made me want to throw a 5 year old temper tantrum about how unfair it was. Because it was unfair.
So the office people come into one of my classes on Tuesday. They pass out forms and a sheet listing some workshops. Apparently, we are being required to attend two of these workshops to receive ANY of our credit this whole semester (so, pretty much I have 15 credits riding on this). Well, ok, that seemed odd and really lame, but I looked at the list...
Oh, yup...they planned every single workshop on three different Fridays before long weekends (and one random Wednesday night). WHAT?? And of course, all of these weekends I have already bought plane tickets for.
So there I am, in class, frustrated and near tears because I don't 100% understand what's going on, and I can't come up with words fast enough to ask questions or express my concern, and so I'm left there with this form that I HAVE to fill out by the end of the day. I manage to talk to my teacher about it, and she says I just need to go up to the office and talk to the woman in charge. So I go up during my lunch/snack break thing, and the woman hands me another form I can fill out to explain my problem, but I might have to cancel or change one of my weekends to make this work.
I was SO MAD. So were probably about 90% of the other students that had made trip plans and bought tickets because they are long weekends. Yes, I could change my flights, but that costs anywhere from 30-100 Euros. No thanks.
It's not like I hadn't been here a MONTH. You couldn't have told us this when we registered? I waited to make any travel plans...I had heard we wouldn't have classes on Friday, but I wanted to be 100% sure, so I waited until after I had registered and knew for 100% sure that I didn't have class...I was the responsible student. Only to have this thrown at us???
UGGGGGGGGGH. Freaking Nebrija.
We talked to our ISA Academic Coordinator, and I think we've got it worked out...I shouldn't have to change any of my trips, or cancel anything.
But still. Talk about major downer for the week.
I think my classes will be good. All my teachers are great; I have a Composition and Conversation class, a Spanish Cinema class, a grammar class, a 20th Century Theatre class, and a Society class. Nothing to strenuous. And I'm definitely at a good level. I'm probably in the middle of ability to speak and comprehend, maybe a little below, but I feel pretty good about everything. Fantastic.
This is the place I went to practice piano on Tuesday:
It's like a building to rent practice spaces. They have pianos, and dance studios and stuff. The room was NOT sound proof, so I was really self conscious for like the first 15-20 minutes, then I figured someone would tell me if I was too loud. The last like 5 minutes there were a bunch of kids running around screaming outside the room, which was a little distracting, but whatever...but it was SO cute, I walked out and this little 4-5 year old boy came up to me and said, "has tocado el piano?" ("have you been playing piano?"), and I said, "si...." and he just ran off, but I was stoked I understood what the kid was saying. Kids are hard to understand for me here. And it was just so darn cute.
And I'm off to the airport in a few hours...crashing there for the night, then off on a flight at 7am to see my friend Austin from Idaho!!! I really cannot express how grateful I am that I am within 24 hours of a friendly face and a hug. Seriously, I haven't been hugged in over a month. Weirdest WEIRDEST thing to realize, and then to have hit...WOW. It really is amazing how much human touch affects us. So pretty much everyone should just expect REALLY BIG HUGS when I get back to the States. Seriously.
Ok, love you all, can't wait to share my Bilbao pictures!!!!!!!! I'll be sure to take lots!!
♥
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