Hostel Havoc.

Hola from another day in Spain! 

This weekend was a very interesting one. What I was told I would be doing by my host mother, was completely different from what I already did this weekend. 

First of all, we have 4 trips this year for AFS students in our area. (Mainly orientations). This weekend we were to go to the mountains and hike. The funny thing is, is that my host mother told me all I needed was a backpack and some sports clothes. Well, I was completely un-prepared for the activities we would be participating in. First of all, where I am placed in Spain (Don Benito), it is very very warm and so pants and sweatshirts are rarely needed till December. But where we are now in the mountains, it is FREEZING cold. I however, wasn't aware of that and neither was my host mother. So, I had to borrow pants and sweaters from another family for the trip and leave everything else at another home in Madrid. 

I thought to myself, well great, I'm going to be freezing cold, and I don't have enough clothing, and my shoes are going to get ruined. And everything happend except my shoes, and you know what, it was great. 

The moment we got on the bus to come to the mountains, I was extatic. My friend Nadia from Finland was there as well and her two other friends Ella and Kaisu that I became pretty close with this weekend. They speak Finnish and English and are a blast to be around. Not only are they hilarious, but they're laid back and loving. It was a very fun time with them. Even by the end of the day, they were calling me a Finnish girl.

These are pictures of our hike in 

(Left to right: Kaisu, Me, Ella, Nadia)

2 baby cows! :) 

Torro (bull) tearing down and eating a tree. 

Artsy Nadia. 

Having great friends here almost makes the fact that we're staying in a nasty hostel with stains on the walls of our bedroom, no running water for the shower, no heat, gross sheets, yellow water in the sinks, inedible food, and boring but hilarious activities, disappear and not seem as bad as it really is. 

Our nasty but fun hostel ( it's true) Our volunteer said it was a negative 1 star. 

Mine and Nadia's bunk. (LOL she decided to sleep the opposite way because there was a gross stain near her head.)

Kaisu and Ella's bunk. 

This trip has made me realize that I can make do with what I have and not to dwell on what I don't. I just need to live in the here and now and stop worrying about what the future will bring me. It's made me think of how small my problems are compared to others. Why complain when there's nothing to complain about? It's stupid. 

(Sorry about my complaining mom) 

Day 2: Sunday Funday 

Today we woke up earlier than usual, but it was a bearable time...8:50. Although, I did have to wear some clothes I did the day before, no one even cared. 

We started off with breakfast, which if you were wondering, it was pretty decent. We FINALLY got coffe and that was mine and Nadia's highlight of the morning. 

After breakfast, we needed to quickly return to our rooms and strip the sheets/pack our bags ect. We knew that we had some activities planned and most of the group was not looking forward to it, especially us Finnish girls. (Ha ha) 

We played a few games and had to make up a skit with a situation that we were given by the volunteers. Even though it wasn't as funny as before, we still managed a few laughs, especially in the skit where the girls had to act drunk. 

We made our way outside of the hostel and were asked questions and rules by the volunteers and had to answer yes, no, or it depends on the situation. If we had our own questions to ask, we got them answered and it was quite helpful. 

Near the end, everyone was a bit tired and super hungry, so my close friends and family all know I can get a little loopy. 

Let's just say, some answers I gave were funny and extreme; they laughed so it's fine. 

After lunch and another activity, we were supposed to walk and explore a monastary, but the tour would have been too long. Instead, we all took a little walk to this Chocolate Cafe. I'm not going to lie, I bought 15€ worth if chocolate. And just in case you didn't know, that's a cheap price so I got a pretty good amount of chocolate. YUMMMM.

After math of the Chocolate Cafe: 

 

We had some time to kill until the bus arrived, so we sat around and talked.  Later on, we decided that we had enough time to get cafe con leche. 

Let me give you the run down. 

The waitress set the coffee on the table, I put sugar in and took 2 sips of it's deliciousness...

"NADIA, GRACE, GIRLS LETS GO!" 

-me "Are you serious."

-Nadia "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay here. We're going to have to wait for like 10 minutes."

-Me "Come on let's go"

-Nadia "Fine"

We literally had to try to chug the coffee, leave money on the table and run. 

When we grabbed our bags and walked to the bus, we weren't boarding for another 10 minutes, Nadia's prediction was correct. 

We took the opportunity and ran back to finish our coffee's that were luckily still untouched on the table. YAY. We finished and made our way back slowly, we ended up waiting another half an hour. 

Pissed off Nadia after we left our unfinished coffee stranded at the table:

Whatever. 

Finally we boarded the bus for Madrid and that's where I currently am finishing this story. 

Overall, this had been a trip of little changes for me. Thanks AFS, I never realized these things until now. 

Til next time. 

Hasta Luego...

Grace 

Adventuring in Cáceres!

IM SO SORRY I HAVENT POSTED IN FOREVER! ( I have school) 

So first of all, I'm slightly pissed off because I already wrote this and then Blogger deleted it. (Thanks for nothing)

And as you all well know, that means I need to re-type it and I don't really remember what I said. (But believe me it was good.) I'll try and make it as similar as possible so here it goes...Take #2

Today started off as a regular day for the whole family. I got up, had breakfast, hygiened it up, (I know it's not a word) got dressed blah blah blah. 

Later on after lunch (3:00pm) my host mother and father told Marina and I that we were going to visit the one and only Cáceres.

On our way, we needed to stop for food. So we decided on this restaurant that served traditional Spanish food. Being an American and all, I had no idea what the menu said. My host mother was a doll and told me she ordered fish, and I love fish. 

I was happy to have something that I would like. But once the fish arrived, I was baffled as to what type of fish it was. So, I asked my host mother and she replied...'The baby of whales'. And so I let that sink in. IM CONSUMING BABY WHALE?! Then I looked at my host father  completely confused and he replied to my reaction with...'No. No whale. Shark. Baby shark.' 

Although this made me feel a bit better about it, this was still my first time consuming shark. I didn't want to like it, but man it was delicious. And when I say delicious, I mean it doesn't even do it justice. It was amazing, so I'm sorry (but I'm really not) sharky, I had to eat you. You were just too dang good to not eat. Thanks for the meal.

After we finished up our food, we needed to by a Spanish SIM card for my iPhone. Convienently, there was a mall only a few minutes outside of Cáceres. We all walked inside from the parking garage and I about had a conniption. In our malls, we have escalators that you stand on and it turns into stairs. Well, just imagine a 'people mover' in an airport, but on an incline. That's what we had to balance on to get from floor to floor. And it was really really really hard. Eventually, we bought a SIM card and everything was fine and dandy. 

 Finally, we arrived in Cáceres, Spain. Cáceres has some of the oldest ruins and roads in all of Spain. We visited so many cool places in the city. It doesn't seem that big from the outside, but it is huuuuuuge. We walked around and even got to go into a museum. (You don't even have to pay for it here!) The things they had recovered from Spain long long ago were amazing. What was really extraordinary to me though, was that they had this room underneath the museum ruins that held 1-2ft of water. That water was historical water because it was found like that. That water is thousands of years old. It was a really cool thing to see, because never have I ever experienced that in the US. When you spend time in Cáceres, you don't just explore the ancient things, you feel them. What I mean by feel, is that you get the vibe of how old the city actually is. It's a unique feeling that I myself cannot describe. All in all, if you are ever over in Europe (preferably Spain), take some time out and pay a visit, I know you won't regret one minute. 

That glass star up there, when the sun is at the right angle, makes a beautiful shadow! 

Free museum! 

The ancient Spanish water 

This one is for my mom. Because she loves red doors and vines. 

Pictures of Marina (host sister), Emi (host mom) and I

You touch the holy feet of the saint. That's why it is gold!

Lastly we finished off with a chocolate croissant!