Its the little things

Some days
I'm sure I'm a little
Hard to handle.
Some days
I could light up
Your darkest sky.
But some days
I need the little things
To be the big things
Because the little things
Mean everything to me.

I want you to kiss me
As I fall asleep
I want eat dinner together
And enjoy your presence
As if it were a present
A gift from the universe.
Because you are my gift
To cherish and to hold on to

But some days I feel you slip
From my fingers
Into a black hole in the universe

You could be so close
Yet seem so very far.

And the little things
Become the lesser things
And the lesser things
become nothing.
And you will eventually fade.

So when I ask you to help
Make dinner with me.

I don't actually need it.
I just want your attention.
Because the little things like that
Mean the most to me.

Alicante

       This weekend I took a trip to Alicante, Spain. It is on the eastern coast of Spain and approximately 6 hours away from Salamanca. It was absolutely beautiful. The main beaches were crowded, but for good reason. The atmosphere was just something I could not put into words. While my trip was short, I did get to see a few cool things. It would have been nice to be traveling with someone, I still enjoy travelling alone. This whole weekend was just a bunch of awkward moments and bad situations, but nonetheless, it was an experience.

Day 1

     I traveled to Alicante via BlaBlaCar and the people I rode with spoke very fast and it was hard to understand. Dani (the driver) had me meet him at the bridge at 5:50 AM to start the journey. When he stepped out of the car, he acted like he was going to do the Spanish greeting of two kisses on the cheek, but then stopped midway and turned around. I was so embarrassed. I could not understand hardly anything that they were saying so I basically just slept the whole way there and did not talk. Then I could not find the code for the car when we had to leave so that was all sorts of awfulness. Eventually I found it. Luckily it was pretty easy to find the hostel and get settled.



     After all of that I decided to do some exploring. I visited the ever-popular Castilla de Santa Barbara. It sits in the center of the city and you can see for MILES. The water looks breathtaking from there. I decided not to go to the beach that day since I was going to spend all day at the beach the following day. I walked around and ended up finding places I wanted to go, on accident. I made a pit stop to get some dinner and had this really good garbanzo bean salad. I did not do much else that day. I walked on the beach after dark and took the scenery in while eating some fro-yo. It had been a long day, and I just wanted to sleep.














Day 2

     I got up early to watch the sunset and it was absolutely humbling to be able to watch such an often undervalued experience that happens daily. To be able to watch the sun break the horizon puts some extra pep-in-your-step. I was just sitting on the rocks trying to enjoy my sunset when some Portuguese guy in a speedo came up to me and started to talk to me. I felt really uncomfortable, especially since one of his testicles was hanging out. Luckily he got the hint and went away. I went back to the hostel and got prepared for my beach-hopping adventure. I took the TRAM to Playa de San Juan, the longest beach in the area, and sun-bathed for a couple hours. I had some lunch meat that I bought at the market to have as food for the day and it did not settle well. I had to try to run to the bathroom, barefoot across blistering hot (LITERALLY, I have a blister on my toe) sand before defecating in my pants. Mission NOT Accomplished. I should have know this was how my day was going to turn out. Little did I know.

     After I got myself cleaned up, I decided to try out the next beach. I could not find the one I was looking for so I gave up and took the TRAM to a smaller, more secluded beach. Since it was a small beach and it is common in Spain, I went topless. It was so freeing!!! AND I got to work on my tan lines ( well, removing them.) This time, I went into the water about waist deep, but there was a lot of plants floating in the water and it freaked me out so I got out. Once again, after a couple hours, I hopped on the TRAM to head back to the main beach. When I got off, this man followed me up the escalator to try to get me to get a beer or coffee with him after he told me my eyes were beautiful. While I was flattered, I bluntly told him I did not want to. Eventually he gave up and went on his way, and I went topless at another beach. This time I just swam, and I got all the way in. The water was so refreshing. Much needed after a long day of sunbathing ;).

     I went back to the hostel, showered, and then went on my way to search for some food. I went to this place called Rosa's and ate some Pulpo a la Gallega (Galician Octopus) with some tinto de verano. The waiter kept calling me cute and touching my shoulder. It was weirding me out.  After dinner, IT hit me. I started to feel nauseated and blurry. I was nauseated for a couple hours before anything really started to happen. Then, all hell broke lose; from both ends...It was awful. At one point, I got so hot and light headed that I passed out on the bathroom floor, hanging out of the door, pant-less... Some people walked by and asked  if I was okay. Multiple trips to the bathroom and a pair of pants later, and I still feel like crap. Talk about a shitty situation.. I was kind of upset because one, I was exhausted, and two I wanted to enjoy my vacation not spend it on the toilet.

     Today, I still feel like crap and  nothing is normal. I had to make sure I stayed close to a bathroom just in case. Just my luck though, there was no toilet paper in either of them. Both of my blablacar experiences home were a lot better than on the way there. Miguel Angel and Javi were both super nice and I was able to practice my spanish speaking skills. Javi made everyone in the car feel welcome and interacted with all of us. At least I got to end my adventure on a positive note.
     I came home a little earlier than expected and my host mom was trying to worry about finding me something to eat. I told her I was not feeling good and she is worried that it is gastroenteritis. I told her not to worry about making me anything. She gave me some chamomile tea and took good care of me. Bless her soul.

So there is my weekend in a nutshell. Obviously, it was not how I wanted it to go, but it was good nonetheless. Even if I shit my pants a couple times...

My Trip to Alberca and Miranda de Castañar

     I want to start off by saying that  La Alberca and Miranda de Castañar were some of my favorite places to visit since I have been here. We were surrounded by mountains, in a beautiful city that had such good vibes coming from it. I don't know, there was somethings about it that made me feel at peace. We only spent about 6 hours there, but it was an enjoyable and relaxing 6 hours. We were told the history of the places by a tour guide that did a fantastic job at explaining everything and even a little more. One thing I have really enjoyed about the past couple of adventures is that I get to see multiple castles. HOW COOL IS THAT!?

     Among the various sights we saw yesterday, the coolest was probably this store that was inside of a cave that was used as a winery, and is still to this day. It is called Bodega La Muralla, and I think it is worthy of a look should you ever come to the area. The store sold crafts made from the local people of the town. I bought Kyle a Libra key-chain of sorts and I bought a wind-chime-looking candle/incense burner. I feel in love with it as I saw it and it drew me in more and more until I finally decided to splurge and get it. I had not bought anything other than dresses and food so I thought it would be a nice change of pace. This shop had cannabis tea and incense. I found that peculiar.





     Our tour guide told us about the tradition of El Cochinillo which goes as follows: every year a pig is set loose on 15 June to travel around the streets and get fed by the village people. In January, the pig is captured and then donated to a family in need. I think this is such a beautiful thing that happens, even though it ends tragically for the pig. Pigs are a delicacy in Spain, and the Spaniards eat every part of it. So, for a pig to be donated to a family in need is just really cool and they are probably extremely thankful!

FLAN

   




     For lunch, we ate at a super nice restaurant where we ate paella, salad, and flan. It had a beautiful view and our professor was so excited to take us there. He gets so excited about the little things so it is kind of inspiring. We were able to shop around the town for a little bit after lunch, and of course I had to buy some freshly harvested honey from there. It is their specialty there. I also bought some "turrón" candies; also a specialty of the area. I am excited to take it home and share it with the family. There is something about being near hilltops and nature that seem to put me at peace. The weekend was definitely one of my favorites so far and I hope that someday, you can visit the same places and experience the beauty.

The view from the restaurant   

"Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one's lifetime."
- Mark Twain

...And Then I Realized My Pants Were Inside-Out

     Today really did not start off that great. First off, I could not get to bed until almost 3:30 am because there was some kind of loud music or concert of sorts going on near my window so it kept me up until I could no longer fight my eyes to stay open. Of course, as a result, I was exhausted when I woke up this morning. Then, when Haley and I were eating breakfast, our host mom comes in and starts interrogating us about her towel. I had no idea it was even her towel. I mistook it for a hand towel and I guess some of my soap left residue when I wiped off my hands. She went on to say how bad-mannered it was to use other people's towels and we should only use our own. Whatever.
     Since I was still so tired, I decided to get café con leche with Haley. I surprisingly drank all of it AND I enjoyed it. It helped me feel more alert in class and I could think better. As I was sitting in class, I moved the waistline on my pants and became a little confused. I saw the drawstring on the outside and then it hit me: MY PANTS WERE INSIDE OUT. How does that even happen? This was a perfect indication of how my day was going. I just kind of laughed to myself, nonchalantly and thought to myself: this is my life today. It has been a while since I have had something awkward/embarrassing happen to me. Luckily it was not noticeable and I had time to go flip them around. I just want to know how I had them on for 2 hours and gone to the bathroom at least 3 times before noticing such a thing.
     I must have some kind of magnetic pole that draws my life to awkward moments with pants. Usually it is them ripping, like at Zumba or in the middle of the school day. Thankfully, this time nothing ripped and I just had to turn them around. The best thing I can take away from this is that all I can do is laugh at myself, and I invite you to do the same. I told my mom my pants were on inside out, and she found it hilarious. I hope you found it as comical as she did.

Portugal Shenanigans

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Lisbon, Portugal through Cursos Internacionales (the school here in Salamanca). We had to get up around 5:30 AM to leave the house at 6 in order to walk to the bus station. My host mom still made breakfast though. Bless her soul. The trip took about 6 hours since we stopped twice for about a half-hour each time. The bus was extremely cramped so it was not the most enjoyable ride there. Once we arrived in Lisbon, we went straight to the hotel to find out that our rooms were not ready, so we dropped our bags and ventured around the new streets to find something to eat. Being the Americans that we are, we found ourselves at a burger place call Hamburger 21 (I think.) It had probably been a year since my last burger so the taste of a good burger was phenomenal.

After eating we went walking down the main street of Lisbon and saw one of the Plaza by the ocean. Later we stopped by a small cathedral and a huge castle (the first of many.) The castle was exciting! My phone died so I couldn’t get a lot of pictures, but the memories are still there. Once those excursions were done for the day, we had to find some food for dinner so we ate Chinese and it was the most disgusting chinese food I have ever had. There was some redemption though with this bar called the Magic Pool. The atmosphere was calm and enjoyable and the most impressive this about it was the bartender. He had a good sense of humor and was very friendly. It was a nice change of pace from Spain. Sometimes the people here can be kind of off-putting, but to each their own. I tried tinto verde, a wine only made in Portugal, and it was the most enjoyable wine I have had so far.

The most exciting thing about the hotel was that we had air conditioning and a hot breakfast! Breakfast was better than what we had been having. I HAD EGGS. It was excited and it tasted pretty okay. I, of course, had many other carbohydrates to accompany my eggs because I the love I have for carbs in unreal. Once we got around, we hopped on the bus and went to the Jerónimos Monastery and El Torre de Belém. Near the monastery, was Portugal´s famous bakery, where they make pastel de nata, from a secret recipe passed down to them from the monks who originally made them.

Jerónimos Monastery

El Torre de Belém

Boca do Inferno

After that exhilarating morning, we were able to go to the beach in Cascais. We saw the Boca do Inferno and of course the beach. It was kind of empowering the way the waves crashed against the rocks. Wade, Haley and I decided not to go back with the group and stay in paradise for a little longer. I drank mead for the first time there and it is now one of my favorite drinks. If only it was not so expensive. I will definitely need to try it in the states. We hung out by the beach and dipped our toes in the freezing Atlantic Ocean. Even though the water was cold FREEZING, it was a nice change of pace from the extremely hot sun of Portugal. (Not that it is not the same sun as every where else.) My body became used to it once it was numb. For dinner, Haley and Wade ate octopus (pulpo) and I tried piri piri sauce. The octopus was extremely tender and the piri piri sauce was a whole new level of hot sauce. Haley tried some of their white sangria and that was another fantastic drink to have. To end our adventure, we took the train and metro back to the hotel and pretty much crashed.

The next morning we traveled to Obidos which is a small, beautiful "city" surrounded by a wall that appeared like the Great Wall of China. Kelsey and I took it all the way around the perimeter. That was my favorite part of Portugal and it was so enlivening. I felt like a little kid conquering the castle. When I was walking around, I spotted a cat and named in Lemon because I found a lemon tree a couple seconds prior. After that exploration, we went to the beautiful Monastery of Batalha and saw the tomb of unknown soldiers. We were fortunate enough to be able to watch the changing of the guards during our visit. The architecture was so beautiful, even though some of the building were unfinished and will remain as such. My favorite part about that monastery was the intoxicating stained-glass windows, whose lights glistened on the marble floor.
Once we ate lunch and ate some bomb ice cream, we had to get on the bus to start to make our way back home. On the ride back, the AC stopped working and I was not happy! NO BUENO. Luckily it got fixed and all was well. Needless to say, Portugal has been one of my favorite parts about the adventure and I am so glad I was able to experience it.

Obidos

Lemon

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

Monastery of Batalha