herro 2012

it's been a while since i've blogged, so here it goes.

lots of things have happened, and as all of you know i have the propensity to just divulge them in a convoluted stream of consciousness...this post will be no exception.

i should start with new years, when i went to atlanta with some pretty awesome people, and did the following things: went to my first bowl game, survived the peach drop and wandering around for an hour afterward, visited the world of coke (lalalalala), spent numerous hours listening to semi-charmed kinda life in a car, lost my voice, shared every meal as a collective, and made some excellent friends.

then i came back, voiceless, was home for about 9 hours, and drove to charlottesville to take a jterm on russian politics. looking back on that class now, i vividly remember the following topics: the ashkenazi jews' cultural center was vilnius, georgia is kinda a big deal in terms of the former soviet republics, and that conflict arises in the world because everyone always thinks they're right. also orthodoxy was adopted by the russians in 988 ad over judaism bc vladimir wanted to eat pork, and over islam bc he wanted to drink.

i celebrated my birthday with the most awkward jello shot in the history of...well...history. this is not an exaggeration.

my dad moved to guam. yup. it happened. guam. only 22 hours travel time away.

my little got a little...proudest moment of my srat life.

i really like my spanish classes - which is somewhat comical because i feel that i spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about writing spanish papers. but this semester the bane of my existence is a class on brazilian history. i didn't know that understanding the intricacies of hegel and max weber were paramount to studying slave rebellions and independence from portugal. but i'm workin' on it, i will liberate my thoughts like the brazilians liberated themselves (sorta) in 1822. and 1851(ish).

aside from all this, there isn't much left to say. which should mean something because i always have something to say. cheers.

22 things for 21 years

As I sit here typing this, 3 important things have occurred since my last post. 1. I survived the most horrendous round of finals I have ever had (altho it doesn't come close to the week before spring break Junior year) 2. I am 21 and 3. It's officially less than 3 months until I am windmill bound.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you some random things about myself that you would never know despite my ridiculous blabbering. But, in the spirit of my birthday here's 21 things for the 21 years of my life.

1. I am extremely adept at doodling spirals.

2. When I was 11 (in the 5th grade) I won the Daughters of the American Revolution Essay Contest for the state of Florida.

3. My parents only bought me one stuffed animal my entire life. It is on my bed in Cville, and it's name is Dog.

4. I read, on average, over 100 books a year.

5. I love roadtrips. And driving. And of course, cows.

6. In kindergarten I lived in Tennessee and my parents swear that they left the state because I was developing a twang.

7. I can tell you almost anything you want to know about Adams County, Ohio and the Great Serpent Mound.

8. I like to walk on top of monkey bars.

9. I never eat rice, except at Chipotle.

10. I used to play the viola, just so I could learn to play Pachelbel's Cannon.

11. I don't like nail polish.

12. I had a boys haircut until I was 13.

13. I find the sound of chalk offensive.

14. My two absolute favorite foods in the entire world are Publix fried chicken and Meijer donuts.

15. I really like NASCAR and Indy Car racing.

16. I wish my name was Lucy.

17. I truly believe the best place to go when you are sad/need a laugh/or on a first date is a Modern Art Museum.

18. I really like chemistry. Although I don't do anything with it.

19. I like to dance barefoot in the rain.

20. My favorite book in the entire world is Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery. I can quote passages to you. Followed closely in second by A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. And of course Don Quixote, but that goes without mention.

21. My favorite word is impish.

And as my babcia would say, here's one more, since I have officially started by 22nd year of life.

22. If I could do anything in the entire world, I would work for a non-profit in South America as a grant writer.

Hasta pronto friends.

Am I writing a paper? No, I'm having an adventure.

Hello (un)faithful followers!

I have an anecdote that is noteworthy, involving my favorite place in Washington D.C., Georgetown University. Yes, the point has been made to me that I do not actually attend this establishment of higher learning, but when has that ever stopped me?

On Thursday I had two exams, and a paper due the next day. This paper required me to analyze 2 rather obscure sonnets that Lorca wrote in the last years of his life. Luckily, there is a book out there that helps with all the mythological references and seemingly random imagery - but alas it was checked out of Alderman. Folks, I NEEDED this book. It was imperative. So after a frantic google search, I learned that William and Mary, Washington and Lee, Georgetown, and the Library of Congress had copies. So I made the executive decision to drive to DC to get those 12 pages.

I made it downtown at about 7:30 pm, and tried to park on campus. This was an unintelligent move on my part, because there is literally no parking. So after being laughed at by the security guard who watched me drive in and drive out (she was literally like, honey I knew you wouldn't find anything), I attempted to park in what looked like a parking garage.

WRONG. It was a parking garage for buses because just as I tried to pull in a huge door opened and a bus drove out. So now I had caused this traffic jam. The bus driver called to me and asked if I was lost - I said I was looking for the parking garage. She told me where to go and essentially stopped traffic so I could awkwardly back out. Thanks Georgetown transit lady.

Finally I made it to the garage! But then the attendant in the security kiosk didn't want to let me in. She says: There is no overnight parking. I, in a desperate manner, try to explain that I don't want to park there overnight. I just want to park there an hour so I can photocopy 12 pages of literary analysis so that I can write a paper. I even showed her my envelope with the call number I frantically scribbled before I left my apartment. She was tentatively convinced, and told me I had one hour.

So I managed to park. I then attempted to find the library. I knew where it was in theory - it's the really ugly building on their main quad next to Healey Hall. I knew I had to go up - I just wasn't really sure where because they have a lot of construction and paths are blocked. So I ended up in front of the business school where these 3 asian guys were smoking. I was like, "Excuse me, where is the library?" They had no idea. They were like, on the other side of the campus. They gave no explicit instructions. So, still confused, I continued on my way until I ran into these four REALLY tall guys. I asked them where the library was, and seeing my confusion they walked me there. Thanks really nice, tall boys.

So I had arrived at the library. Success! Except the Georgetown library has a security guard and you have to swipe in with something called a GO-Card. I explained to the woman that I was not a Georgetown student, I go to UVA. I showed her my student ID. I desperately explained (using the envelope with the call number) that I just wanted to copy these 12 pages. She asked for my student ID, my drivers license, and took down all my info. By the time she finished documenting my presence there were like 20 people waiting to swipe into the library. Way to cause problems, Lexi.

But yes, I had made it. There I was, in the cradle of knowledge of my favorite school, despite its incredibly ugly facade. I took a moment to basque in the moment, and then I made my way to find the book. I found it. It was a magical moment. I cried on the inside. But then a problem presented itself - how will I made photocopies if I don't have this GO-Card. I went downstairs and was confused for a while, until some boy took pity on me and was like - you just insert change/dollar bills here. While I was slightly embarrassed that I showed such incompetence at my favorite school, this was a ephemeral thought and I was overcome by elation coupled with supreme stress. I photocopied my pages, said goodbye to the security desk woman - she inquired as to where I had obtained the goal of my quest. I showed her the pages. I left the parking garage (notice that I did not stay overnight, as I promised) and drove home.

I was supposed to get on the Key Bridge, but per usual got lost and so ended up passing the Kennedy Center, the ugliest building in Washington DC. I mean it seriously aesthetically displeasing. But I made it home, pages in hand, and I wrote that paper furiously.

What is the moral of this story, you might ask? Well there are a few. 1). Don't trust the Alderman recall system, because chances are if you really need the book the person won't return it. 2). It was probably a bad idea to wait so long to start, but I needed that book, and Alderman failed me. 3). Georgetown University just reaffirmed itself as my favorite school - it solves all problems.

So there you have it. Yes, I finished the paper. Yes, I clearly love Georgetown in a questionably unhealthy way. Yes, I am sleep deprived and possibly certifiably crazy because of finals. But my friends, for one hour of my college career I was a Georgetown Student, which is ironic that it happened in the week of my birthday. But that, too, is a long story. For now I will just say thank you ugly library, and Hoya Saxa.

hey, did you know there's a country called bhutan?

hello friends.

today an exciting thing happened. mr. andrew and i conquered the second grade. sort of. we...did not get conquered by the second grade, so in my book that is a victory. we made christmas tree ornaments and talked about candy canes.

as per usual, the primary reason i'm making this post is because..gasp..i have a spanish paper that i reallllllly don't want to write. i literally have done nothing else but work on this thing, and it still is an incoherent ramble of a draft/outline. i, in true grace fashion, am blaming the feminists. and maybe i'll just throw in technological determinism for kicks. yeah i don't know what that means either.

here's a thought - in my free time (i have a lot due to the procrastination) i have memorized the location and names of all 196 countries in the world. every single one. from kyrgyzstan to nauru to burkina faso to burundi to grenada. if you google sporcle countries of the world you should find it. even my brother nick only got a 173/196, and he has a photographic memory so it's like perpetual cheating. no, my perfect score was earned through a copious amount of wasted time and dedicated keyboard typing. oh the benefits of being under-motivated.

ok, not to harp, but this essay is really a downer. the boredom of calderon is almost as depressing as the actual depression of lorca in poeta en nueva york. read a translation if you haven't. oh also lorca was a homosexual. apparently so was walt whitman. and lorca was murdered by a firing squad outside Granada in 1936. i've been told i should have known this, i sat in the class for 4 months, but hey. living obliviously is an art form.

i have a strange desire to eat cheese. alas, i don't have any. but, this does remind me of cows, which suffices.

well it's 11:44, and this paper on what la tragedia calderoniana can tell us about the role of women in the spanish golden age remains unwritten. it beckons, calling "12 pages, 48 hours."

but, as a last statement, shout out to big fish if you clicked on the link and actually made it through an entire post. you made my day, even though i don't know it.

From Shakespeare to Oscar

I wanted to take a moment to recall something that happened...6 years ago. Brinda and I had to act out the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. For reference of this, B, check your email again. I mention this because it is almost absurd to think of all the stuff that has happened in between then and now. I know your week is horrendous B, but I love you as much as an entire herd of moose (do they have herds, who knows???) loves Canada. That's a lot of love.

Once upon a time, in 2005, I went to bed at 10 p.m. This worked out well for me, until I stopped and life has been a downward trend since.

Today was, in fact, a revolutionary day in that my boss at Aldie shared that we FINALLY, after 2 years, got new stamps that no longer require me to fidget with the shipping list numbers! As a result I processed 3x my normal amount. Success.

Dorothy's last name from the Wizard of Oz is Gale. How hilarious, because of it's correlation to the wind! Thanks C.R. for this fact, even though you will never read this and probably have no idea that I even have a blog.

I thought I'd end with a quote from the one and only Oscar Wilde, "It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information." Happy med school library studying.

Thoughts about Russian

russian. is. hard.

like, really hard.

because bilingualism isn't enough...

soooo, since the last time i came on here, some stuff has occurred. i passed stats (i can now officially graduate college tomorrow if i wanted to, good for me). my two best friends moved into my empty room. i got my russian books (wasn't really freaking out about the whole cyrillic alphabet thing until i opened said books, now i am). i have watched an inordinate amount of t.v. and to top it off, i have not worn real clothes for the past month. when i say real clothes, i mean i basically wear the two pairs of pseudo-athletic shorts i own and an assortment of kappa delta tshirts. shameful.

in other news i can't believe 1/3 of my summer school in cville has gone by - i would say it was quick but that would b a lie because really it was quite tedious and useless to go to class every morning. so it was slow in that regard. but i suppose a lot happened over the past 4 weeks, and really if you think about it a majority of my time was devoted to watching reruns of brothers and sisters, boy meets world, and an inexplicable desire to listen to radio songs that i don't even know the names of. and even tho i got a tiny pay increase last year to go from shelving to processing books, i have been relegated to wandering the stacks and getting papercuts in strange places, straining to find slots for the miniscule pamphlets that someone in the u.s. government cared about printing. thanks, america, for printing 54,834,324 versions of some obscure national park in nevada that literally no one will ever check out. but i have to shelve it anyways.

i must say, being in the stacks isn't all that bad. i was beginning to see regulars - well actually just the one person who happened to be at the same carrell every day working on who knows what, but still there was a solidarity in the awkwardness of my rummaging through call numbers (not the dewey decimal system, the weird library of congress filing that uses letters) and reordering shelves. thank goodness, actually, that no one's in the stacks, because i make a lot of inconvenient noise that would interrupt any stereotypical studier. sorry in advance, stack-dwellers.

thank goodness russian starts on monday. it's from 8:30 to 5:30, so there will be significantly less time to shelve my life away, and more time spent actually sitting at one of the desks making strange symbols that translate into a culture that loves vodka, spies, and siberia. my mom, as an ardent polaca, doesn't particularly care for russian as a language. neither did her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents...you get the idea (altho ask my babcia and she'd swear that the ukranians were the worst, hands down). but, i guess if i were born in a country that got partitioned a million times a century, i'd be irritated too. i would really like to go to petersburg though. i like all the old buildings and history.

orientation is tomorrow, so i'm sure that will be interesting. i'll be spending the next 40 weekdays with the same 20 people, for 9 hours a day, so i'm sure we'll all be good friends by the end of it. In the verdadero espiritu de Rusia, here's two Tolstoy quotes i felt were especially poignant.

"Instead of going to Paris to attend lectures, go to the public library, and you won't come out for twenty year, if you really wish to learn." - Leo Tolstoy

"I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence - I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love." - Leo Tolstoy

NoVa has cows too...kinda

In an effort to combat my extreme irritation at youtube failing to load rando videos that I waste a majority of my time watching, I find myself writing this post. I'm home for Memorial Day weekend, in my room, with ridiculously bad internet - thanks to my brother who is playing call of duty online and freezing the router or whatever computer lingo correctly summarizes the decrease in connection bars at the top of my screen.

I have go to say, as much as I dislike the impersonal, overcrowded not-suburbia-not-a-city feel to NoVa, my favorite part of the drive home is hitting 66. Hands down. Cville driving drives me insane. Literally. For one thing, you can't speed - a). because every 5 seconds you hit a light and b). because there is nowhere far enough away to even allow you to accelerate. For another thing, there is something strangely beautiful about traffic. And merging. Not that I particularly enjoy sitting in it, but I do like the idea of collectivity of everyone being in their own little universe (their car). And of course, there is a therapeutic nature to driving that you just can't get in Cville. I also enjoy the much wider variety of license plates and bumper stickers that are up in NoVa. Sorry Cville, although you might be winning on scenery (except go 20 miles on 50 and you can see them in Middleburg). Oh and speaking about aggressive driving, it's Indy 500 Weekend! Bring on the crashes.

So I've been home for about 10 hours, and where's the first place I drove to? Dairy Queen. Some things just never change.

Ok I'm going back to youtube, hopefully the internet cooperates.

The truth about cupcakes

So, if you're following this you know by now that I am not the greatest when it comes to keeping this blog. I try, I really do. And by try I mean that every once in a while I think about the fact that I have said blog and that I don't update it, and this often inspires me to log on and do something about it. The only problem with this logic is that it requires that I actually physically complete the action. And then updating is a fail, per usual.

I was reflecting on the idea of the blog itself and all these internet sites where people can express themselves via autobiographical accounts of what they do, what they think about life. It's an interesting thing. One the one hand, it's kind of fun to put yourself out there in a seemingly anonymous way (altho how many "the internet is not your friend" lectures did i sit through during high school? thanks teej administration, glad to know you care). I even recently, due to the efforts of my best friend, got myself a tumblr. I didn't even know what tumblr was. And now that I have one I must admit it's 1 billion times better than blogging. It requires virtually no effort. Oh you internet enthusiasts, you can check mine out at www.laughingandlavender.tumblr.com.

Perhaps a bit tangential, but has anyone ever noticed that there are an infinite amount of pictures of CUPCAKES in the world? This drives me insane. Since when were cupcakes such a big deal? I literally log onto this newfangled tumblr that I psuedo-understand (figured out how to reblog the pictures, my work is done) and every 4th picture is of cupcakes. It is borderline ridiculous. Cupcakes arranged in geometric formations, cupcakes with all types of icings, cupcakes with weird frosting designs (weirdest I have scene - cupcakes that look like mustaches?). I should start a tumblr just reblogging pictures of cupcakes, then this trend would be more apparent. The other big winner is macarons. Yeah, I didn't know what they were either. Oh and true love being separated by supreme heartache...which actually might be the root cause of the occurrence of cupcakes. Something to ponder.

So now that I have expressed my deepest, most perplexing thoughts about the internet, I hereby emphasize my point of why I don't blog that often. Just look what comes out! A rant about people blogging about baked goods. Oh the facets of my mind.

In other news about my life, I'm in Cville until August - which is how I have so much time to be bombarded by confectionary creations and update this electronic gem of a blog. My stats class might be the most monotonous, least intellectually stimulating thing I've done in a while - but it is entertaining. Some of the mathematical incompetence is just genius. I, in true Stueben form, laugh unabated. Good times.

It has been fun to see pictures of all the people who went to beachweek from UVA, and although I didn't go it does bring back memories of beachweek 2009 in Corolla at the Multiculturalism House. Quite an experience, not sure is the strangeness and epicness can ever be replicated and subsequently surpassed.

I bought a pair of athletic shoes. Yes. This actually happened. And I wear them in all their white and blue glory (it's nice to have two feet again, that boot was the worst thing ever).

Ok, now even I am getting bored writing about my life so I am gonna wrap it up for now. And remember, think twice next time before you buy cupcakes. I hear the cake market could really use a boost.

For my Philly friends

If you went on the CSM Philly trip with me, and somehow found my blog, this post is for you. Fuego and sea-themed cards (especially the christmas tree worm), that is all. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Actually, Wednesday's are pretty mundane, but still I suppose today is worthy of a post...

First of all, I would just like to let everyone know that the rodent problem has been rectified. After barricading myself in the front 2 rooms of my apartment for 3 days, I finally asked my neighbor to come and handle the situation for me. I essentially locked him in the barricaded rooms, shut the door, and crossed my fingers it was dead. Lucky me, because the rodent was very dead. I tend to imagine (even though I refused to actually go in and look at the carcass) that it wasn't a pleasant end. They set up glue traps, so when this rodent (which was a mouse) first got stuck in the glue, it was only part of it's body... in it's last moments it dragged itself and the trap across my kitchen floor. Kinda sad, even for a rodent. My neighbor threw it out and I then spent the next 5 hours sanitizing and washing all the floors in my apartment. Everything is back to normal now.

I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon reading tjbash, which was just generally hilarious. I hadn't been on that site in a very long time...now that I've viewed it I should be set for the next 3 years bahaha. www.tjbash.org

I felt this quote was worthy of posting in that Brinda has a physics test tomorrow she is freaking out about and this appropriately sums up my sentiments. Leave it to Doc Walk to add hilarity to my day.

// Semester Exam review
Dr. Walker: The semester exam is next... Tuesday. Anybody have anything they have questions about? Something you've been struggling with for the past few months? Anything?
John Jaskot: Physics.

My mom sent me an e-mail this morning that said Mother Teresa was made a saint last night in Rome (well I suppose Vatican City) at 11 pm, which is pretty awesome news.

Otherwise, my paper is still nonexistent, words with friends is improving, the weather is seriously unfortunate, and my feet are cold. Pretty typical day.

Hello, first floor clemons

At the request of my good friend Sarah, who just saved my blog to her favorites, I have opted to update more frequently. As in now. And presumably in the very near future.

So here I am, currently sitting on the rather dull and dirty first floor of club clem, home to groups of people looking stressed and eating awkwardly so as to not make a lot of noise. It actually is quite comical to watch how unhappy everyone looks with their headphones and srat cups littered among the open macbooks. Oh clemons.

So I am here...not because I particularly like this library...I'm an aldie fan, hands down...but because alderman after 8 pm kinda creeps me out and i don't do clark. So I'm in clem with my freshly checked out textbooks about the Italian Risorgimento and Otto von Bismarck trying to come up with an essay topic for my paper that is due in about 72 hours... 50% of my final grade ftw.

So far this is what I have learned that may or may not be useful: Cavour was a badass, but Bismarck was even more of a badass (I am an expert on how to be a badass, I read blogs about it and everything... if you don't get this joke don't worry it's not directed at you). Sardinia was pretty important. Napoleon III pretty much allowed Italy to unify under the premise of crushing Austria. And there we have it. Months of sitting in a class about the evolution of Europe and that's all I've gotten about Italian Unification. Obviously I make excellent use of my time.

Words with friends update: I have lost every single game I have played, with the exception of 1. I declined it by accident, so I technically didn't lose it. But no worries, folks, I'm making progress...I think a win may be in sight in the near future. Although I don't want to speak too soon.

In the spirit of procrastination (and the recent realization that I really should know more random trivia), here are a few pieces of info to expand your horizons and brighten your day:

- Hippo milk is pink.

- More than 10 people a year are killed by vending machines.

- You can overdose on caffeine (this does not bode well for me).

- The warmest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed this, Sarah.

An unfortunate occurrence

Dear Friends,

So looking at my blogger history (full of unfinished thoughts, random anecdotes, and large lapses in posts) I am making an entry today to document the unfortunate incidents of the past 24 hours.

Namely, one incident.

There is a rodent trapped in my kitchen. Yes. It's in there. Well actually it's more like...contained in half the apartment (kitchen and empty room) - I closed the door to that side of it and stuffed rags under the gap so hopefully it does not burrow through. How it got in I have no idea. How long it's been here, I also have no idea. Don't really want to contemplate that one. All I know is that it is large, brown, fat, ugly, and has a tail. It is also apparently pretty stupid.

So now what do I do you might ask? After rapid iphone communication with my Dad, a newcomer to the world of technology, I have learned that no one is going to swoop in and hoist it out or shoot it on spot. No. Apparently they will set traps - and apparently the types of traps they set are important. After a mild freakout and sleeping in my uggs (I cannot access my rain boots because they are in the kitchen, fail) in case the situation necessitated a speedy exit, it is safe to say I have survived the night.

Now they come to set traps and the rodent (who I have designated as a "he") will hopefully die in a trap on my vinyl kitchen floor until I have the courage to go in and check, at which point I will have to wait until someone comes to dispose of it. Classy.

It really is unfortunate that I'm not on Spring Break at the convent right now so that I could freak out with my roommates and Fr. Stephen could deal with it for me. But seriously, I miss you all. I got words with friends, my username is impish nomad. Add me.

So yeah. Guess I won't be eating this week. Wait STOP is this for real? There is an app called chess with friends??? Ok I'm going to go download that and then go see my apartment people. I will keep you posted on the...developing situation.

Besos, lex

The end of an era...goodbye 2010

So, in the last 80 minutes of 2010, I will just say that I am ridiculously ready for 2011. 2010 was a looooooong year. 2011 will be infinitely better. Oh and, you know, going to El Salvador on Sunday is pretty exciting. :) I will be ringing in January 1 by reading articles and finishing a book I bought a long time ago called "The Monster of Florence" (it's a true story about a serial killer in Italy).

Happy New Year!

santiago, soda, and sunshine

Above I have posted a picture of pilgrims hiking the way of St. James (Santiago de Compostela), a trail that spans the entire length of northern Spain. This summer I learned about it in Valencia, and it is something that I would really like to do at a date in the near future. It takes about 40 days (700 km...don't know what the equate to in miles). Many people, Catholic or not, have hiked this path and say that is a deeply spiritual experience, regardless of your religion.

There are soooo many things to do out there. Tonight I was talking to someone about how I really want to go see the coca-cola factory in Atlanta. Anyone who knows me knows I carry this drink around me essentially at all times. It seems fitting to go see where they make it. I also really want to go see the old antebellum mansions and plantations in the deep south...i've never been to the south really (i don't consider florida the actual south).

A few years ago (actually the day after the trial of the horrendous speeding ticket senior year), my mom and brother and i went back to merritt island, florida after quite a long time. Merritt Island is...well like it sounds...and island about 5 minutes from cape canaveral and the kennedy space center on the atlantic. It's 50 minutes east of orlando. I think this is a tangential anecdote that is subliminally conveying my deep desire for sunshine and warmth. i despise the snow and cold. altho i must say i would never live in florida again if i could help it. once is enough.

In other news, I changed the background of my blog (idk how really i clicked a button and it looked ok so i'm leaving it for the time being...thank you science and tech high school for my inability to operate a computer) to outfit a more globetrotting outlook. I'm going to El Salvador in a week...which is so EXCITING! I haven't had time to be excited about it at all, and i'm slowly but surely getting through the feminist and microfinance readings (not my 2 favorite topics to be sure)...but it's interesting stuff. which i am going to read now.

so happy boxing day (altho it is technically the 27th now) and a belated christmas to everyone. wow. :)

procrastination part dos

One last spanish essay of the semester and then i am finished with spanish essays hopefully for a very long time. it is actually quote atrocious of me to be blogging at the moment, especially because i am about 8 pages away from being finished with the first draft of a paper due tomorrow afternoon. can someone say unfortunate life decisions¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?

soooo in other news it is the christmas season....and that translates to holiday shopping¡! which i normally wouldn't care about except that i work at Bath and Body Works up in NOVA. talk about some ridiculously rude people. not all of them obviously, but it is amazing! i feel like navigating the store is metaphorically related to driving in 66 during rush hour and having people cut you off and honk their horns and be altogether unpleasant. i got an award (well award might be stretching it but it was at least a distinction?) for providing excellent customer service! some person went online after black friday and filled out a review that said i was an excellent salesperson. my manager was super excited because it was the only compliment the district got that entire weekend. good job me. oh the hilariosity that is retail.

also did you know there are a bajillion types of lotion??? there is body lotion, body cream, body butter, shower cream, hand cream, antibac hand cream, shea lotions, and don't even get me started about the ridiculous amounts of aromatherapy stuff. yeah. lotion is complicated. who knew?

in other news here is something interesting. my birthday is well i guess tomorrow (since it is technically now the 14th) and today i went to the good old DMV to renew my license. procrastinate? yes perhaps i did but NO ONE likes the DMV. anyways i show up and they tell me i have to retake the permit test because i got a ticket under 21. i got a ticket two years ago for going 75 on 495 right before the braddock road exit (for those who know - this is not speeding at all, in fact i was the slowest person on the road in the very right hand lane about to exit and some unmarked car pulled me over...am i still bitter? not until today¡¡!¡!¡!¡!¡). even tho i went to defensive driving, went to court and plead guilty, paid the fine, and have been driving just fine for the past two years, i know have to retake the test. the man says to me - you will be fine you should know all this stuff. like i know how many feet i need to stay behind an ambulance. just use common sense, numbers are unnecessary! anyways this entire ordeal irritated me so now i have to go back tomorrow and take the test i passed literally 4 years ago (sophomore year of high school???) to reinstate my license. and the ironic part? if i fail the test i can just drive away! at least until wednesday.

well it has not been a fun semester, but at least it is wrapping up. in honor of lisa reading this blog and lorenzo, sofia, and paloma in valencia.......besos y que vaya bien.

Ramblings of a stressed college student

hello all! so i was recently reading my valencia blogs - a shame since i never finished them, and got a bit nostalgic about the blogging process in general. it is also a little fitting that i am procrastinating epic amounts of spanish homework while writing this post. some things never change.

here is some exciting news about spanish...tomorrow i am set to write approx 10 pages (possibly more) on the symbol of el gusano (the worm) in the poetry of Delmira Agustini. For those who don't know...and that is probably many people seeing as I had no idea until I had to sit in the class for 4 months...was probably the first recognized/esteemed Latin American Woman Poet. She was from Montevideo, Uruguay. Her life basically sucked, and ultimately she got murdered by her lover/ex-husband. But her poetry was amazing. eerily disturbing, but amazing nevertheless.

not to be a downer about school, but i am ridiculously excited for this semester to be over. it has been stressful in the way that e^x (an exponential function) approaches infinity -- don't mind my awful attempt at math humor.

december is always an eventful month at our (as in the fam's) house. Feast of the Immaculate Conception (which i only mention b/c it is the day before nick's bday and a Holy day of obligation so he complains about it every year), then nick's birthday, then my birthday, then xmas, then new years, them mom's birthday....and this year working is so fun! I have never worked in retail before, so it is a very enlightening experience. oh wow totally didn't realize it's like 1:30. getting up at 4 am to do homework = must sleep now. maybe i'll blog again in the future?

An attempt to correct my lack of updating

Hello all blog-readers (which is surprisingly more than i expected because there have been some requests). So today is July 25 (also the feast of St. James the Apostle, patron saint of Spain - learned this at the cathedral this morning) which marks the 2 month date for my stint here in Valencia. Going home on Thursday, the 29th. So. Since i am lacking about a months worth of posts, how can I summarize my time here in Espana? I have brainstormed a list of my top 15 favorite things that i did/experienced while I was here.

15. Becoming quite adept and navegating and reading maps

14. Climbing the Torres de Serrano

13. Watching the World Cup games

12. Getting asked for directions by confused spanish tourists and then knowledgeably directing them to their destination....in spanish

11. Fallas workshops

10. Bullfights (Madrid and Valencia)

9. Chocolate y Churros in the Plaza Mayor (thank you Doctora Konz)

8. Ibiza and the Dalt Villa

7. Parque Gulliver, el Rio, Valencia

6. Sitting in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento

5. The Flamenco dancing in the caves of Granada

4. El Miguelete/La Catedral (and the Holy Grail) - Valencia

3. Aimlessly walking around the city of Valencia for extended periods of time

2. Seeing the grave of Charles V at El Escorial

1. Campo de Criptana Windmills on the train from Madrid to Valencia

So this would be my master list documenting my time in Valencia. Truthfully, I did a lot of stuff (a lot of things I didn't even realize were significant while doing them) and it's hard to say which were the most interesting! However, allow me to elaborate.

15. Reading maps. For those of you who know me - and a lot of you wouldn't know this because you haven't traveled with me - prior to coming to Valencia i was a horrendous map reader. I could never tell you where i was, what street i was looking for - i didn't even use maps. HOWEVER upon my roommateless arrival to Valencia, i lived and breathed by my map. I have it now and still use it, even in it's frayed stated (currently in 4 pieces from overuse). I learned how to read the metro map. I learned how to figure out what street i am on. I learned how to hail a taxi. I am now an acute and adept traveler. This was not anything that interesting in terms of Valencia, however it is an important life skill and i am quite proud of the accomplishment.

14. the Torres de Serrano is the oldest standing gate to the old city of Valencia. Actually, here's an interesting fact - Valencia was actually founded by the Romans and they layed out the structure of the area by the cathedral and irrigation/water and all that - there is actually a set of the old ruins called the Almoina that is right next to the cathedral, but I saw it a long time ago and cant remember the reason the romans left. Anyways so sorry for that side note but the point of this was that Valencia used to be surrounded by a wall/guarded against invaders. Hence, the Torres de Serrano. It is located at the northern most part of the centro (city center). It was the first thing that I did in Valencia that was touristy - my friend and I walked around for 5 hours the first weekend we were here and climbed it. It's really neat because they have every level opened for public viewing and you get really nice views of parts of Valencia and the cathedral. At the time that i did it (day 2 of my residence in spain) i thought it was ridiculously cool and i just did it again 2 days ago and hey guess what - it was still ridiculously cool. Entrance 1 euro instead of 2 for students.

13. Oh the World Cup. Well what a good time to be in Spain, considering it was the first time in all of the history of the country that they have been to the finals or won a world cup title. So for the games versus Ghana and Germany, we went to this plaza next to a Doner Kabob (which i actaully don't care for that much - but many of my cohorts are fans) which had about 4 tvs playing the game. But there were TONS of people. Wrapped in spanish flags, waving spanish flags, jerseys - a lot for the player Villa because apparently he is from Valencia (but he was recently sold to FC Barcelona for about 40 million euros). So there was a ton of smoke, noise bombs that kill your eardrums, screaming (the 2 favorite cheers - something about Villa and the second (and my personal favorite) yo soy espanol espanol espanol). witnessed a few drug deals go down, or at least the handoff portions. Saw more alcohol consumed in one place then thought was possible, while police just watched. and when they won, it was NUTS. i have some videos of it, i need to upload because words don't really explain these spaniards. and the uva group, after germany, climbed the statue like locals in the celebratory maneuvers. Also for the rest of the night all the cars would honk at each other and speed by with spanish flags hanging out the windows. I actually was not in Valencia for the final - I was in the Ibiza airport with Catherine and there was not 1 tv in that entire airport. however we watched it on a computer screen with about 100 other people outside of check in.

12. Directions - pretty self explanatory from the title. The most common questions were for plaza de ayuntamiento (my fave place ever) and la mestalla (the football stadium).

11. Fallas - pretty much the coolest festival in valencia. There are 2 origins of the Fallas - one is a prehistoric pagan love of fire, the other is a slightly more concrete manifestation of the old carpenters guilds. They would use these mechanisms called parots (think of the hangman shape) made of wood to hold their lights in the winter. by the time march would come around the carpenters would burn the parots as a symbol of the new spring, longer daylight hours, and no need of the superficial light. pretty neat. now the festival coincides with the feast of saint joseph because he is the patron saint of carpenters - march 19. Fallas is basically a yearlong process, almost every neighborhood chips in money to build a falla - enormous caraicatured float - that is presented to valencians for a week and then burned on the feast of saint joseph in a massive city wide bonfire. pretty interesting stuff. i didn't get to see the fallas - which is too bad but i did go see their museum and then we walked around and saw all the workshops and how they actually assemble the floats. it was soo interesting and soooo valencian.

10. Bullfights - All the stereotypes that American have about spanish bullfighting is incorrect. I went to see my first bullfight at the corrida de toros in madrid and i was really nervous that it would be horrendously gory, and agonizing death for the bull, etc. It wasn't at all. It's actually really interesting because the torreros are more of dancers and dare-devils then they are killers. There are 3 official rounds to a bullfight. But before the rounds begin first everyone has to assess the bull - make sure it is physically able to fight and will attack, not just be idle. A toro is never allowed to enter the plaza and live (unless it is an outstanding fighter and is pardoned - which is really rare). So they assess the bull. Here is an interesting fact - bulls are colorblind, so they actually don't respond to the pink and red capes, the just respond to the movement. Anyways the first round is when picadores - men seated on blindfolded horses - come out and stab the bull a few times with lances to get it's energy down. 2nd round is when the men holding banderillas (sticks with metal on the end in bright colors) jab them into the bull. And finally the last round is the torrero alone in the corrida with the bull and interestingly he usually doesn't kill it - he just has to jab his sword into it. A lot of times a crew comes up after the sword is in and jabs the brains out of the bull. Amazingly it's not as graphic as you might think. all you see is some blood (and not even that much) on the bull. However a lot of spaniards are against bullfighting in general - they have banned the corridas in Catalunya - aka Barcelona and there is a petition to ban it all through spain. I hope they don't.

Def should probably be sleeping right now (12:06 here) butttt writing this post. Today I went to the Lladro Factory, which manufactures all the Lladro porcelain and is the only factory in the entire world...and it just happens to be located in Valencia. They showed us the process to make one simple piece. It's ridiculous. The people who make them have to be trained for 3 years before they are allowed to work on even the simplest pieces. It's really too bad they wouldn't let us take pictures inside the room because it was really neat. and for anyone who hasn't seen Lladro pieces (which I really hadn't so I'm betting you haven't either) they are gorgeous. The pictures really don't do them justice. For example we saw the woman making flowers. She made every single one of them by hand. Amazing. I really liked one that was a flower cart. Unfortunately it was a few thousand euros. NBD of course compared to the one that was 120,000 euros. Let's not even try and think about what that costs in american dollars. Luckily for those of us who are at times more frugal, they have a locked other store where they have the "defective" pieces at lower prices. Many of them did not have flowers, sadly, but they had some cool stuff. I really want to go back next session.

Today I met my intercambio, Andrea, in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento. I think my spanish has improved soooo much more than I expected it to because we basically talked fluently in spanish for 40 minutes. Nonstop. I mean she translated some words for me, but still. Impressive I must say.

Yesterday I went to the Cathedral for the thousandth time, but this time for the tour and the Holy Grail. Sooo the Valencian Cathedral is basically REALLY legit. It has the relic arm of San Vicente Martir (ironic that it's in the Cathedral because the church dedicated to him is literally 50 yards away) and none other than the HOLY GRAIL. The actual Holy Grail. I feel so accomplished that I have seen it. Who would think that it's in Valencia? I forget the reason that it's here, but I bought books on it from the Nun in the bookstore. She was nice. I like Nuns. Also there are just random works of Fransisco Goya hanging in the Cathedral, no big deal. He wasn't important at all. Its basically like a giant art museum. Gotta love the Catholics...or the patrons of the Church 500-600 years ago.

Last night I went to a class on how to make paella. SO NEAT. Ok I have seriously tried to upload pictures to this blog/facebook but there is some sort of server failure when the uploading finishes and it will never work. So paella valenciana - the staple Valencian dish - has rice, vegetable, some type of bean unique to Spain, assorted spices and broth, chicken and rabbit. Rabbit does not taste good. It is noticeably tougher than chicken and there is a conejo named Thumper that lives in our kitchen here. Needless to say I did not eat any rabbit. We also made some sort of black rice squid paella and a blood sausage and squash paella. And flan and sangria. It was really good. I am not a chef and cannot do any justice in descriptions, hopefully my picture will upload at some point in the near future.

Oh and just an fyi for all you world cup fans, Spain has redeemed themselves after the disastrous outcome with Switzerland (i think) and beat Honduras yesterday night. Viva Espana.

This past weekend I went to the beach all weekend instead of Barcelona...best decision ever. Less intelligent decisions of recent noteworthiness include typing this entry when I need to get up in 6 hours. Oh before I publish this, stay tuned for my thoughts on Coke Zero. Why does everyone drink it? I am trying it tomorrow...i.e. today.

Que vaya bien

I will make this post as quick as possible (and without pictures) so that the 2 people who have asked me about this will be satisfied until I can make a satisfactory post. Wow, I'm such a bad blogger! But that's ok! In the time that has elapsed since my last entry I have done many thing. Allow me to list them

1). Went the Granada and the Alhambra in Andalusia.

2). Went to the City of Arts and Sciences Aquarium and saw the dolphin show.

3). HAD MIDTERMS.

4). Went to the beach a lot (always fun times).

5). Painted some spanish fans.

6). Went to the Museum of the Fallas and saw actually fallas being created.

7). Went to the Modern Art Museum - IVAM.

8). Walked the streets of Valencia numerous times in various incorrect attempts at following map directions.

9). Went to an authentic paella restaurant.

10). Discovered coca cola CON CAFEINA at mercadona.

I am sure there are lots of things I am forgetting but let this be a preview for descriptions to come. Here is an overview of the rest of June. Tomorrow, Monday is the cooking class where we get to make paella in hugeee pans and apparently some other types of typical valencian cuisine. Tuesday I am meeting Andrea, my Intercambio (spanish student learning english) to practice speaking and such. She seems SUPER nice i'm quite excited. Wednesday I'm going to the beach and cramming, barring inclement weather. Thursday I have a semi-final. Friday I have 2 finals, comida de despedida (even though I didn't sign up for it and am not actually leaving Spain I still had to mark pollo o verduras so not exactly sure what's going on with that). Saturday Claire and I are going to Madrid until Tuesday night when I will come back to Valencia for round 2 of summer school.

Tomorrow I will update this for realsies (I hope?). Expeditions for the day include finally going to see the Holy Grail at the Cathedral. I have tried 3 times and every time it is either closed for siesta or actually closed. tragic. But tomorrow's the day. In other news I am doing what I do best - which is studying. More to come. Besos.