Tuesday
-one of my students heard me speaking Spanish to my friend Lourdes and he was hilariously surprised. I think I successfully lied for this whole year. At least to the grand majority.
-another one of my students who WAS one of my favorite 5 year olds pointed to me and said “you’re going to have a baby!” whatever kid. Whatever.
Wednesday
-my last day of school! it was weird.
-also my last day with Estefania. That family was so sweet when we said goodbye. They even gave me a little gift. It was super cute. Almost made me want to cry a bit.
-conversation with Alejandra was hilarious. I don’t know why but we talked about some of the most random stuff.
Thursday
-I had to write some “final memory” thing for the program. Not a big deal, but for some reason I made it into one as if it was some paper for college. Brought back some good EU memories… but I eventually got it done.
- In the evening I went for a run with my “best friend” Sergio. We’d talked about going running together for a while but it finally worked out this week. It was my first time in at least 3 weeks. And it was good for me cuz he set a good pace and made me run a little further than I probably would have if it was alone. And he taught me a new route. It was funny cuz he kept checking up on me to make sure I was ok. He’s always watching out for me :)
-after showering and whatnot I met up with some other friends for drinks and to just hang out.
-I love the futbol banter that Santi and I always get into. And I love how I called the one futbol player something not very nice and he scolded me and was like “I can’t believe that just came out of your mouth!” and he also gives advice on who not to hang out with in the town (the first being his son. Haha.) I like that he’s become quite fatherly with me. By far the best neighbor/bartender around.
Friday
-went and spend the day in Madrid shopping :) it was quite a successful day too.
-my intercambio of 2 days Jose was on the bus on his way to Paris so it was nice to have someone to sit and talk with on the ride.
-did lunch with Libby. I love that girl.
-got to see a glimpse of the protests going on in Plaza de Sol that have been going on for like 15 days.
Saturday
-I baked cookies again. There was suppose to be some church picnic thing. I went to go meet with the one woman who said she could give me a ride but I waited like half an hour and she never came (either she was just really late or she thought I was going with someone else) but I got tired of waiting cuz it’s something I kinda hate.
-I went to sit in one of my favorite places, outside of the one church to do some reading. It was really hot so I didn’t last too long.
-in the evening me, Eddie, his dad and grandfather (who have been around off and on since Monday) went to Cuevas to watch the big Champions League final. My 2 least favorite teams: Barca and Man U. No matter who won I was going to be sad.
-Barca won and there were mini parades in the street. And people (including Santi) throwing fireworks into the streets… hilariously entertaining.
-the dad of one of my students came over and tried to drape a Barca scarf around my neck- I ducked out of it as his wife and friends started yelling “nooo! Don’t do it! She’s a Madrid fan!” then he walked away disgusted with me.
-later Eddie and I went out with the boys for the normal Saturday night escapades. Some “famous” guy from Spain’s version of Big Brother was around. He’s from the next town over. Got to meet him. It was funny because he totally thought he was someone important with his limo and all but I’m like “dude, you’re on reality tv… and trash reality tv yet at that… not that impressive” but whatever.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Pasta, pizza, gelato, y vino
Wednesday/Thursday
-after my class with Estefania I caught a bus to Madrid, grabbed some food, then took the metro to the airport. Then I got to spend like 5 hours “sleeping” on the airport floor waiting to check in for my flight. I slept a little, waking up about every 20 minutes. One of those times I woke up to a fight between 2 men about 25 feet in front of me. Always a great way to wake up.
-actually that was just one of the ways that my trip to Rome started off not so great… other ways included:
-realizing I forgot my camera at home
-getting my brand new 13 euro bottle of sun block and face wash confiscated from security.
-not being able to find the hostel because there were absolutely NO signs marking it.
- While looking for it I got yelled at by some Italian woman.
-when I got to the hostel I found that it was quite unorganized and not the most clean looking place. I couldn’t check in a little early because nothing was ready so I went to walk around the town a bit. All I wanted was to sleep and shower.
-however, Rome is a beautiful city and exploring made me less in a bad mood. The city’s really cool and unique because you’ll be walking down a street that is all modern with shops and stuff all over the place and then you look across the streets and there’s these crazy ruins. I loved it. I was really bummed I didn’t have my camera. Looks like I’ll just have to go back :)
- I found an amazing pizza place to stop for lunch. That definitely made everything all better.
-I hit a point where I could no longer walk any more so I went back to the hostel and napped and then showered and then went to explore a bit more- finding the necessary coffee.
-I went back to the hostel to meet up with my friend Steph. We went to high school together. Well, technically only 9th grade, but we were great friends that year, and stayed somewhat in contact since. But she’s currently studying in a town like an hour from Rome. I decided to wait for her outside since it was impossible to find and I walked outside just as she was approaching the hostel. The timing couldn’t have been more movie perfect.
-soon we were off exploring the city together, talking non-stop. We eventually found a restaurant for a pasta dinner accompanied by a nice glass of wine.
Friday
-we headed out to explore some more. Checking things out with Steph was quite interesting since she’s an art student she had a different view on many things. I loved it.
-I also loved that if people spoke to me slowly and enunciated well in Italian I could understand them.
-we discovered many cool things- a turtle fountain, an elephant statue, some cool churches, a bunch of ruins…
-honestly, I really didn't care what we saw or didn't see. I was just really happy to be with Steph. She's probably one of my favorite people. She's just super sweet and encouraging. We had so many well needed conversations.
-it was another day that involved eating pizza for lunch, pasta for dinner (with another glass of wine) and gelato randomly during the day. Real Italian food is soooo good.
-besides walking the entire city, we even did some boutique shopping- both of us walking away with some unexpected items :)
-by the end of the day we were exhausted from soooo much walking and exploring. But we had such a fun time wearing ourselves out.
Saturday
-later in the morning we went to the train station and met up with 5 of Steph’s friends that she’s studying abroad with and off the 7 of us girls went to the beach. All we had to do was take the metro and then take a train thing. It took like 45 minutes total and only cost us 1 euro… not too bad.
-the weather was beach perfect. Really hot but with a nice breeze and not so humid. The water was a little on the cold side though.
-Ostia beach in Italy was just like being in South Jersey. I swear most of the people there thought people were scouting for new Jersey Shore cast members…
-it was a fun, calm day. I really enjoyed it. And Steph’s friends were fantastically nice.
-back in Rome, after saying goodbye to the other 5 girls Steph and I went around on a wild chase for a special souvenir for myself. We eventually did find one that was good enough.
-we were both quite exhausted from being out in the sun all day and having walked the whole town the day before that we decided to just go to the hostel and make our own pasta dinner. So another day that involved pizza, pasta, and ice cream just that the wine was substituted for a beer.
Sunday
-I was up super early, we said our goodbyes and off I went on a bus to the airport.
-in the airport I met a super nice couple from Chile. Chile might be one of my next destinations in the future. I met another nice Chilean couple in our hostel and I figure if the people are so nice, I definitely want to go.
-the flight went well. I got a window seat. Because it was a short flight we didn’t go that high and I could see a lot of Italy and Spain. I loved it. It was gorgeous.
-I made it back just in time to catch the 1:00 bus and therefore made it home in plenty of time to go church which made me really happy.
-my friend Fran was actually there too. He’s starting exams so he didn’t have classes for Monday so he had no rush to go back to college. It's always good to catch up with a friend.
Monday
-my last Monday of work. I’m gonna miss some of my classes. 2 of them were complete disasters today. Those are definitely 2 classes I’m not going to miss very much…
-the parent-teacher group gave me my last week of afternoon classes off as well. That was a nice surprise. However, I'm not sure if it's a "punishment" for having canceled my classes last Thursday to go to Rome... if so, it's the best punishment ever. haha. Now I’m going to have tons of free time!
-one of my favorite futbol players (Pepe Reina) was on one of my favorite shows (El Hormiguero). It was fabulous.
-after my class with Estefania I caught a bus to Madrid, grabbed some food, then took the metro to the airport. Then I got to spend like 5 hours “sleeping” on the airport floor waiting to check in for my flight. I slept a little, waking up about every 20 minutes. One of those times I woke up to a fight between 2 men about 25 feet in front of me. Always a great way to wake up.
-actually that was just one of the ways that my trip to Rome started off not so great… other ways included:
-realizing I forgot my camera at home
-getting my brand new 13 euro bottle of sun block and face wash confiscated from security.
-not being able to find the hostel because there were absolutely NO signs marking it.
- While looking for it I got yelled at by some Italian woman.
-when I got to the hostel I found that it was quite unorganized and not the most clean looking place. I couldn’t check in a little early because nothing was ready so I went to walk around the town a bit. All I wanted was to sleep and shower.
-however, Rome is a beautiful city and exploring made me less in a bad mood. The city’s really cool and unique because you’ll be walking down a street that is all modern with shops and stuff all over the place and then you look across the streets and there’s these crazy ruins. I loved it. I was really bummed I didn’t have my camera. Looks like I’ll just have to go back :)
- I found an amazing pizza place to stop for lunch. That definitely made everything all better.
-I hit a point where I could no longer walk any more so I went back to the hostel and napped and then showered and then went to explore a bit more- finding the necessary coffee.
-I went back to the hostel to meet up with my friend Steph. We went to high school together. Well, technically only 9th grade, but we were great friends that year, and stayed somewhat in contact since. But she’s currently studying in a town like an hour from Rome. I decided to wait for her outside since it was impossible to find and I walked outside just as she was approaching the hostel. The timing couldn’t have been more movie perfect.
-soon we were off exploring the city together, talking non-stop. We eventually found a restaurant for a pasta dinner accompanied by a nice glass of wine.
Friday
-we headed out to explore some more. Checking things out with Steph was quite interesting since she’s an art student she had a different view on many things. I loved it.
-I also loved that if people spoke to me slowly and enunciated well in Italian I could understand them.
-we discovered many cool things- a turtle fountain, an elephant statue, some cool churches, a bunch of ruins…
-honestly, I really didn't care what we saw or didn't see. I was just really happy to be with Steph. She's probably one of my favorite people. She's just super sweet and encouraging. We had so many well needed conversations.
-it was another day that involved eating pizza for lunch, pasta for dinner (with another glass of wine) and gelato randomly during the day. Real Italian food is soooo good.
-besides walking the entire city, we even did some boutique shopping- both of us walking away with some unexpected items :)
-by the end of the day we were exhausted from soooo much walking and exploring. But we had such a fun time wearing ourselves out.
Saturday
-later in the morning we went to the train station and met up with 5 of Steph’s friends that she’s studying abroad with and off the 7 of us girls went to the beach. All we had to do was take the metro and then take a train thing. It took like 45 minutes total and only cost us 1 euro… not too bad.
-the weather was beach perfect. Really hot but with a nice breeze and not so humid. The water was a little on the cold side though.
-Ostia beach in Italy was just like being in South Jersey. I swear most of the people there thought people were scouting for new Jersey Shore cast members…
-it was a fun, calm day. I really enjoyed it. And Steph’s friends were fantastically nice.
-back in Rome, after saying goodbye to the other 5 girls Steph and I went around on a wild chase for a special souvenir for myself. We eventually did find one that was good enough.
-we were both quite exhausted from being out in the sun all day and having walked the whole town the day before that we decided to just go to the hostel and make our own pasta dinner. So another day that involved pizza, pasta, and ice cream just that the wine was substituted for a beer.
Sunday
-I was up super early, we said our goodbyes and off I went on a bus to the airport.
-in the airport I met a super nice couple from Chile. Chile might be one of my next destinations in the future. I met another nice Chilean couple in our hostel and I figure if the people are so nice, I definitely want to go.
-the flight went well. I got a window seat. Because it was a short flight we didn’t go that high and I could see a lot of Italy and Spain. I loved it. It was gorgeous.
-I made it back just in time to catch the 1:00 bus and therefore made it home in plenty of time to go church which made me really happy.
-my friend Fran was actually there too. He’s starting exams so he didn’t have classes for Monday so he had no rush to go back to college. It's always good to catch up with a friend.
Monday
-my last Monday of work. I’m gonna miss some of my classes. 2 of them were complete disasters today. Those are definitely 2 classes I’m not going to miss very much…
-the parent-teacher group gave me my last week of afternoon classes off as well. That was a nice surprise. However, I'm not sure if it's a "punishment" for having canceled my classes last Thursday to go to Rome... if so, it's the best punishment ever. haha. Now I’m going to have tons of free time!
-one of my favorite futbol players (Pepe Reina) was on one of my favorite shows (El Hormiguero). It was fabulous.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
fiesta fiesta fiestaaaaa
Saturday the 7th
-weather was awful practically all day. I woke up to a huge thunderstorm. It was pretty cool to watch cuz it like never storms like that in Spain. We lost electricity for maybe 20 minutes.
-because of the rainy weather, it was a stay-inside-and-do-nothing- day. I skyped with the family for like 2 hours.
-afterwards, ended up at Cuevas to watch the Madrid game with Eddie. We ran into some of our students’ families and they invited us to sit with them and we had fun chatting it up with them.
-then we met up with the guys and hung out for the rest of the night. 2 of the girlfriends and one of their friends came along so finally I wasn’t just one of the guys :)
Sunday
-I went to my church for the first time in like 2 months. Definitely good to be back.
Monday
-back to school. My first Monday is a really long time.
-I love when I’m told I don’t have to go to one of my afternoon classes. Gives me time for a nap :)
Tuesday
-was in a weird mood all day. Just had a lot on my mind. Wasn’t even really in the mood to watch futbol (you know there’s something wrong) but I went to watch the Madrid game anyways. Santi continued to make fun of me for liking Ramos. So I pretended to be mad at him and used Eddie to deliver messages to him. Santi later felt bad and apologized profusely. Add this to the reasons he’s my favorite neighbor/bartender. His wife loves me too. She was trying to convince me to stay in Quintanar next year.
Wednesday
-I didn’t have my high school class ‘cuz no one showed up which was really an answer to a pray to give me time to relax a bit.
-I went over to Manuel and Ana’s for dinner which is always good.
-there was an earthquake in a town about 3 hours from here. I believe it was like a 5.3 or something so nothing was felt here. However a few people were killed and the town is a disaster. It’s kinda crazy that it happened so close to here.
Friday
-Libby came to visit again. It was also Angel’s going away party. He’s moving to Mallorca. The party was a lot of fun. We’re all gonna miss that crazy guy though.
Saturday
-Libby left around 2. On our way back from walking her to the bus station, Eddie and I ran into some of the guys and hung out with them for a bit.
-in the evening there was a parade for the festival of San Isidro, a very important and cherished holiday in this town. Some of the girls I’m friends with were in it so that was cool. There were a lot of tractors pulling the floats and a lot of people dressed in flannel and straw hats. Parts of it weren’t really much different from what you’d find in Berks County…
-After the parade Eddie and I hung out with our friends Pedro and Ali in a restaurant and later in our piso. They’re fun people.
-later Eddie and I went to meet up with the boys for a little gathering for our other friend Angel (Bombilla)’s birthday. That was fun because 2 of the guys Pablo and Alfonso were there and we hadn’t seen them since the first weekend we started hanging out with these guys ‘cuz they live in London so it was good catching up with them.
Sunday
-the big day of San Isidro. Pedro and Ali picked us up around noon and off we went to a field in the country with practically all the rest of the town. We witnessed the only traffic jam ever in Quintanar (cuz we were all heading to the exact same place). Haha.
-so for this holiday everyone goes and sets up camp of some sort in this field. Everyone just hangs out, does a cook out of their choosing with their friends, play loud music and dance, and of course drink (I mean, this is Spain). There’s also an auction, tug of war competitions and a competition where they hang a leg of ham on top of a pole and whoever can climb to the top and get it down wins it. Hilarious.
-for our cookout we did a calererta. My favorite. Our friend Isidro made it and he’s actually won prizes for his caleretas so it was really good.
-we hung out there until like 8.30ish. it was a ton of fun. I’m totally coming back to Quintanar next year for San Isidro. No matter where I am living the rest of the year. Haha.
-weather was awful practically all day. I woke up to a huge thunderstorm. It was pretty cool to watch cuz it like never storms like that in Spain. We lost electricity for maybe 20 minutes.
-because of the rainy weather, it was a stay-inside-and-do-nothing- day. I skyped with the family for like 2 hours.
-afterwards, ended up at Cuevas to watch the Madrid game with Eddie. We ran into some of our students’ families and they invited us to sit with them and we had fun chatting it up with them.
-then we met up with the guys and hung out for the rest of the night. 2 of the girlfriends and one of their friends came along so finally I wasn’t just one of the guys :)
Sunday
-I went to my church for the first time in like 2 months. Definitely good to be back.
Monday
-back to school. My first Monday is a really long time.
-I love when I’m told I don’t have to go to one of my afternoon classes. Gives me time for a nap :)
Tuesday
-was in a weird mood all day. Just had a lot on my mind. Wasn’t even really in the mood to watch futbol (you know there’s something wrong) but I went to watch the Madrid game anyways. Santi continued to make fun of me for liking Ramos. So I pretended to be mad at him and used Eddie to deliver messages to him. Santi later felt bad and apologized profusely. Add this to the reasons he’s my favorite neighbor/bartender. His wife loves me too. She was trying to convince me to stay in Quintanar next year.
Wednesday
-I didn’t have my high school class ‘cuz no one showed up which was really an answer to a pray to give me time to relax a bit.
-I went over to Manuel and Ana’s for dinner which is always good.
-there was an earthquake in a town about 3 hours from here. I believe it was like a 5.3 or something so nothing was felt here. However a few people were killed and the town is a disaster. It’s kinda crazy that it happened so close to here.
Friday
-Libby came to visit again. It was also Angel’s going away party. He’s moving to Mallorca. The party was a lot of fun. We’re all gonna miss that crazy guy though.
Saturday
-Libby left around 2. On our way back from walking her to the bus station, Eddie and I ran into some of the guys and hung out with them for a bit.
-in the evening there was a parade for the festival of San Isidro, a very important and cherished holiday in this town. Some of the girls I’m friends with were in it so that was cool. There were a lot of tractors pulling the floats and a lot of people dressed in flannel and straw hats. Parts of it weren’t really much different from what you’d find in Berks County…
-After the parade Eddie and I hung out with our friends Pedro and Ali in a restaurant and later in our piso. They’re fun people.
-later Eddie and I went to meet up with the boys for a little gathering for our other friend Angel (Bombilla)’s birthday. That was fun because 2 of the guys Pablo and Alfonso were there and we hadn’t seen them since the first weekend we started hanging out with these guys ‘cuz they live in London so it was good catching up with them.
Sunday
-the big day of San Isidro. Pedro and Ali picked us up around noon and off we went to a field in the country with practically all the rest of the town. We witnessed the only traffic jam ever in Quintanar (cuz we were all heading to the exact same place). Haha.
-so for this holiday everyone goes and sets up camp of some sort in this field. Everyone just hangs out, does a cook out of their choosing with their friends, play loud music and dance, and of course drink (I mean, this is Spain). There’s also an auction, tug of war competitions and a competition where they hang a leg of ham on top of a pole and whoever can climb to the top and get it down wins it. Hilarious.
-for our cookout we did a calererta. My favorite. Our friend Isidro made it and he’s actually won prizes for his caleretas so it was really good.
-we hung out there until like 8.30ish. it was a ton of fun. I’m totally coming back to Quintanar next year for San Isidro. No matter where I am living the rest of the year. Haha.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Back to where I came from
Last week
- I worked Tuesday and Wednesday like normal. Nothing special there. The same old. But not as bad since I was coming back well rested and energized.
Thursday
-I was up early and on another 5 am bus to Madrid and catching the metro to the airport. This time not to meet someone but to fly myself to Zurich Switzerland! Flight took off around 9:30 and arrived 2 hours later.
-I was sitting next to 2 older American women from St. Louis. They thought I was Spanish and were a little surprised when I said I was American too. We talked the entire 2 hours. They were really nice and really curious about different things in Spain since they had only spent one day there.
-From the airport I took a tram to the place where I was couchsurfing. There was a misunderstanding between me and the dude so I sat and waited, reading my book for a while until he came to meet me.
-Ilir was this super cool Swiss guy who spoke perfect English. Like he would come up with words and phrases that were super slangish. And he was just super chill and laid back and really easy to get along with.
-later I gave myself a little tour of the town. It was quite pretty but I felt intimidated. Like all the people in the tourist part of the city are all dressed super well and expensively and all the shops are super pricey. I just really felt like I didn’t fit in.
-later Ilir and I went to meet his best friend at the train station and they took me to a bar in the university area for some good Swiss beer and bratwurst. They taught me enough German to order my beer. Haha. The university part of the city is a lot better, a lot more relaxed and I felt like I fit in a little bit more.
Friday
-After getting ready I went to the train station and bought myself a ticket to Baretswil. I had to take a short train ride to one town and then take a bus to the actual town of Baretswil. By sheer luck I got off at the right stop, the one closest to where I was staying. I surprisingly found couchsurfers in this small town of like 4500 and they had offered me to stay there even when they thought they weren’t going to be there. However the one roommate ended up staying. No one was there when I arrived but they had told me to just help myself to the unlocked apartment.
-after ditching my stuff and writing a note I went out to explore the adorable little town. I ended up having a little picnic lunch in the woods- some macaroni salad and a cheese sandwich.
-I briefly met the one roommate Fede before he returned to work and then later I met Sarah. She was a super sweet girl. Later in the evening she took me to see her family’s farm. It was a typical little Swiss farm on top of the hill. Their house was amazing. And from the 1700s! and her family was super nice. I enjoyed chatting with her dad. (ps. Pretty much everyone in Switzerland speaks perfect English. Even the small town farmers).
-they loved that I went to Baretswil because it’s where my ancestors are from and they told me that Hess is more Swiss last name than theirs. Haha.
Saturday
-I set out for a little hike. It was suppose to take me about half an hour but I got a little lost and it ended up taking me 2 hours. I also learned that when you ask a Swiss person for directions and they tell you that you have to go up a little hill, what they mean by a “little hill” is what we call mountains in PA.
-although I was super exhausted and frustrated, the long hike was well worth it. I made it to Tauferhole, or the Anabaptist Cave. The Anabaptist/Mennonites were persecuted in Switzerland for their differences in beliefs about baptism so they used to go to this cave to have church and whatnot. This cave was one of the main reasons I came to Baretswil. It was super gorgeous. I absolutely loved it. Quite possibly one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. I can’t even begin to explain just how cool it was to be there.
-on my way out, I ran into an older couple and the husband went to explain to me how the cave was a place where people went for safety and I said “yes, I know. those were my ancestors.” He and his wife were super impressed and very happy that I made the journey all the way from the US to find this cave in the small Swiss town.
-I left Baretswil around 3, cheating the bus and train system and riding for free back to Zurich where I caught a different train to Bern, the capital. (Sarah’s family loved that I’m from a town called Bernville).
-In Bern I couchsurfed with a young couple originally from Germany. They had another guest, a friend of theirs who just moved to Bern and was waiting for the new month to start to move into his apartment. All 3 of them were fabulous. Super outgoing, easy to talk to and just really friendly people.
-that night we hit the town and went… swing dancing! There was little crash course before a live band and other people who knew what they were doing came in. and it was a ton of fun. I laughed a lot and met a lot of people. Who would have ever thought I’d find myself swing dancing in Bern, Switzerland? Reasons why couchsurfing is such a great thing…
-on the way home they walked me through the “alternative” part of the city. It was pretty cool. Definitely different. And I would not have felt comfortable being there if I wasn’t with people who actually knew about it.
Sunday
- I did my own little walking tour of the old town. It’s beautiful. I loved it. Although I got a little lost on my way there and ended up in the ritzy part of town where all the ambassadors and whatnot live.
-everything in Switzerland is really expensive. The Franc is less than the Euro but prices on everything are ridiculous. Therefore, I didn’t buy much at all. Plus it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed.
-there was a demonstration thing for May 1st/Labor day. It was pretty cool to see. I met a Canadian kid there. And we walked around for maybe half an hour and bought some good expensive chocolate together.
-in the evening my 3 couchsurfing friends and I did a little barbecue in a lovely park by the river. It was fantastic. The people next to us were Jamaican and they played some sweet music.
Monday
-I left in the morning. Took a train back to Zurich and then flew back to Madrid. Our flight left more than a half an hour late for no reason. It was perfect weather in both places.
-I sat next to no one exciting. However there was an annoying small child in the row catawampus to me. He talked most of the trip and then when we were trying to land he refused to sit and be seat belted in and therefore screamed and cried the entire time. Like more than a half hour or so.
-I made it back in time to head straight to my classes.
Tuesday & Wednesday
-both days of non-stop. I had to make up for my Thursday classes that I ditched to go to Switzerland.
-Wednesday after conversation, I skipped out on dinner with Manuel and Ana to do dinner at Felipe’s. He and his girlfriend are visiting Quintanar for a week or so. I ran into Felipe’s mom earlier in the day and she took me to their house to pop in and say hi since I had been away during their first few days back. So I finally got to meet Felipe’s girlfriend. She’s quite possibly one of the nicest, sweetest people I ever met. I felt like we’ve known each other for a long time (probably cuz we’ve heard a lot about each other). They invited me over for dinner with them and some of their friends, most of who I had met before. So that was a lot of fun
Thursday
-went to Toledo again for another meeting thing for my program. Got to see Natalia and Casey. I was actually originally suppose to speak at this thing, like talk about my experience, but I backed out. Natalia ended up doing one though, so I went to hers and one other. Eddie, Piedad and I skipped out on the last one cuz we had to catch a bus so I could make it back in time for my 4 class.
-I ran into Celia on the street and ended up having a mini girls night with her, Pilar and Maria. We walked Pilar’s new puppy, went to Cuevas and then to another little restaurant and sat on the terrace and talked for hours. It was good catching up with them.
Friday
-today was quite the productive day. I got up and ran (only 3 miles because the wind was awful), I ran some errands, made an actual lunch of lentejas for me and Eddie, sent out a long overdue message to a friend, baked some cookies (I’m totally a great roommate) and RESTED! I traveled every single weekend in April and actually spent more days away from Quintanar than in it (I was only here for about 11 days out of the entire month!) so it’s been a much needed thing to finally stop and settle down a bit. That’s the plan for the rest of the weekend too :)
- I worked Tuesday and Wednesday like normal. Nothing special there. The same old. But not as bad since I was coming back well rested and energized.
Thursday
-I was up early and on another 5 am bus to Madrid and catching the metro to the airport. This time not to meet someone but to fly myself to Zurich Switzerland! Flight took off around 9:30 and arrived 2 hours later.
-I was sitting next to 2 older American women from St. Louis. They thought I was Spanish and were a little surprised when I said I was American too. We talked the entire 2 hours. They were really nice and really curious about different things in Spain since they had only spent one day there.
-From the airport I took a tram to the place where I was couchsurfing. There was a misunderstanding between me and the dude so I sat and waited, reading my book for a while until he came to meet me.
-Ilir was this super cool Swiss guy who spoke perfect English. Like he would come up with words and phrases that were super slangish. And he was just super chill and laid back and really easy to get along with.
-later I gave myself a little tour of the town. It was quite pretty but I felt intimidated. Like all the people in the tourist part of the city are all dressed super well and expensively and all the shops are super pricey. I just really felt like I didn’t fit in.
-later Ilir and I went to meet his best friend at the train station and they took me to a bar in the university area for some good Swiss beer and bratwurst. They taught me enough German to order my beer. Haha. The university part of the city is a lot better, a lot more relaxed and I felt like I fit in a little bit more.
Friday
-After getting ready I went to the train station and bought myself a ticket to Baretswil. I had to take a short train ride to one town and then take a bus to the actual town of Baretswil. By sheer luck I got off at the right stop, the one closest to where I was staying. I surprisingly found couchsurfers in this small town of like 4500 and they had offered me to stay there even when they thought they weren’t going to be there. However the one roommate ended up staying. No one was there when I arrived but they had told me to just help myself to the unlocked apartment.
-after ditching my stuff and writing a note I went out to explore the adorable little town. I ended up having a little picnic lunch in the woods- some macaroni salad and a cheese sandwich.
-I briefly met the one roommate Fede before he returned to work and then later I met Sarah. She was a super sweet girl. Later in the evening she took me to see her family’s farm. It was a typical little Swiss farm on top of the hill. Their house was amazing. And from the 1700s! and her family was super nice. I enjoyed chatting with her dad. (ps. Pretty much everyone in Switzerland speaks perfect English. Even the small town farmers).
-they loved that I went to Baretswil because it’s where my ancestors are from and they told me that Hess is more Swiss last name than theirs. Haha.
Saturday
-I set out for a little hike. It was suppose to take me about half an hour but I got a little lost and it ended up taking me 2 hours. I also learned that when you ask a Swiss person for directions and they tell you that you have to go up a little hill, what they mean by a “little hill” is what we call mountains in PA.
-although I was super exhausted and frustrated, the long hike was well worth it. I made it to Tauferhole, or the Anabaptist Cave. The Anabaptist/Mennonites were persecuted in Switzerland for their differences in beliefs about baptism so they used to go to this cave to have church and whatnot. This cave was one of the main reasons I came to Baretswil. It was super gorgeous. I absolutely loved it. Quite possibly one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. I can’t even begin to explain just how cool it was to be there.
-on my way out, I ran into an older couple and the husband went to explain to me how the cave was a place where people went for safety and I said “yes, I know. those were my ancestors.” He and his wife were super impressed and very happy that I made the journey all the way from the US to find this cave in the small Swiss town.
-I left Baretswil around 3, cheating the bus and train system and riding for free back to Zurich where I caught a different train to Bern, the capital. (Sarah’s family loved that I’m from a town called Bernville).
-In Bern I couchsurfed with a young couple originally from Germany. They had another guest, a friend of theirs who just moved to Bern and was waiting for the new month to start to move into his apartment. All 3 of them were fabulous. Super outgoing, easy to talk to and just really friendly people.
-that night we hit the town and went… swing dancing! There was little crash course before a live band and other people who knew what they were doing came in. and it was a ton of fun. I laughed a lot and met a lot of people. Who would have ever thought I’d find myself swing dancing in Bern, Switzerland? Reasons why couchsurfing is such a great thing…
-on the way home they walked me through the “alternative” part of the city. It was pretty cool. Definitely different. And I would not have felt comfortable being there if I wasn’t with people who actually knew about it.
Sunday
- I did my own little walking tour of the old town. It’s beautiful. I loved it. Although I got a little lost on my way there and ended up in the ritzy part of town where all the ambassadors and whatnot live.
-everything in Switzerland is really expensive. The Franc is less than the Euro but prices on everything are ridiculous. Therefore, I didn’t buy much at all. Plus it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed.
-there was a demonstration thing for May 1st/Labor day. It was pretty cool to see. I met a Canadian kid there. And we walked around for maybe half an hour and bought some good expensive chocolate together.
-in the evening my 3 couchsurfing friends and I did a little barbecue in a lovely park by the river. It was fantastic. The people next to us were Jamaican and they played some sweet music.
Monday
-I left in the morning. Took a train back to Zurich and then flew back to Madrid. Our flight left more than a half an hour late for no reason. It was perfect weather in both places.
-I sat next to no one exciting. However there was an annoying small child in the row catawampus to me. He talked most of the trip and then when we were trying to land he refused to sit and be seat belted in and therefore screamed and cried the entire time. Like more than a half hour or so.
-I made it back in time to head straight to my classes.
Tuesday & Wednesday
-both days of non-stop. I had to make up for my Thursday classes that I ditched to go to Switzerland.
-Wednesday after conversation, I skipped out on dinner with Manuel and Ana to do dinner at Felipe’s. He and his girlfriend are visiting Quintanar for a week or so. I ran into Felipe’s mom earlier in the day and she took me to their house to pop in and say hi since I had been away during their first few days back. So I finally got to meet Felipe’s girlfriend. She’s quite possibly one of the nicest, sweetest people I ever met. I felt like we’ve known each other for a long time (probably cuz we’ve heard a lot about each other). They invited me over for dinner with them and some of their friends, most of who I had met before. So that was a lot of fun
Thursday
-went to Toledo again for another meeting thing for my program. Got to see Natalia and Casey. I was actually originally suppose to speak at this thing, like talk about my experience, but I backed out. Natalia ended up doing one though, so I went to hers and one other. Eddie, Piedad and I skipped out on the last one cuz we had to catch a bus so I could make it back in time for my 4 class.
-I ran into Celia on the street and ended up having a mini girls night with her, Pilar and Maria. We walked Pilar’s new puppy, went to Cuevas and then to another little restaurant and sat on the terrace and talked for hours. It was good catching up with them.
Friday
-today was quite the productive day. I got up and ran (only 3 miles because the wind was awful), I ran some errands, made an actual lunch of lentejas for me and Eddie, sent out a long overdue message to a friend, baked some cookies (I’m totally a great roommate) and RESTED! I traveled every single weekend in April and actually spent more days away from Quintanar than in it (I was only here for about 11 days out of the entire month!) so it’s been a much needed thing to finally stop and settle down a bit. That’s the plan for the rest of the weekend too :)
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