Lessons learned

There are a few key things I have learned this past month:
1. Never assume that your friend/coworker will enjoy your hokey song about a trailer for sale or rent as much as you do.
2. The song "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam, the one that goes "o where o where can my baby be, the lord took her away from me" was originally a Buddy Holly song.  Talk about nutty!  On that note the song "O Boy!" from She & Him (Zooey Deschanel's band) was also a Buddy Holly song.
3.  Bobby Darin is awesome.  So is Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros.
4. Never  in any circumstance ever tell a man he reminds you of a lady.  His ego will be mortally wounded and he will not only never let you forget, but he will take it upon himself to let the whole ward know how mean you are.
5.  Having the Olympics every two years is quite enough.  Anymore than that and my head might explode from awesomeness.

O Boy!

Trailer for sale or rent

enjoy :)

Holy Toledo!

Yesterday we went to Toledo, the holy city. Toledo is famous for its religious tolerance, marzapan, swords and cathedrals. The city is so old, and there's evidence everywhere of how cultures in the past have been able to work together.

Mazapan is surprisingly tasty by the way. Its nothing like the marzipan that they have in the states, I don't think so anyway. The spanish omelet the "tortilla" is also very good. The cold rice and incredibly runny egg we ate yesterday, not so much.

The picture with the giant glare is a replica of the cathedral made from mazapan. The middle is a shot of the cathedral. My camera really doesn't do justice to the beautiful stain glass art on the windows. The third is just me. Hola.

Madrid! The happy version

As promised, this one should be much less complain-full :)

Yesterday Miranda and I decided to go into a part of Madrid that we haven't been to before. We were going to go to the Prado museum at 6 so we left at 1ish and decided that we would go to the gardens and other things around that area. Well we got off of our train and started walking around. We went in a few stores, I got two of the same dress in different colors so that my seester and I can finally have something matching to wear :). Anyways we walked quite a while and it occured to us that we were going the wrong way so we

went back to the metro, took the tram one stop over, got out and low and behold-the Reina Sophia! We weren't expecting to go at all that day but we figured "what the hey". There was

actually a pretty long line so I asked a lady how much it cost and she said

that at that time it was free! What a coincidence! The Reina Sophia has more contempora

art, and I think it's arguable to say that it's most famous painting is Guernica by Pablo Picasso. Pictured right. It's a huge mural and lovely to see. I wish I understood art better.ry

We only went through two floors of the museum

because it is so dang huge, but we still have three months to come back.

Then we walked around, ate our lunch, got lost again and saw another building with art exhibitions. This one was having it's grand opening and it was only going to be free for one more day. Is that great or what?! This one had contemporary art but it also featured the works of Delacroix. An odd combination no?

Then of course we walked some more, found a group of girls from our program at a souvenir stand and all went to the Prado together. Those in the art class had a treasure hunt of sorts to do so me and another girl Jenna walked around. All of the art is so beautiful and it's all stu

ff you've seen before in pictures. It's kind of surreal to be honest.

Then on the way back a lovely man with a greasy ponytail and his nose in a book told us to be quiet because we were bothering him and that this is not our country. Very charming indeed.

Well that was my day, wish me luck that I get to try some chocolate y churros this week!

Above picture:

1. First train ride to Madrid

2. Santa Maria Cathedral in Madrid

3. Reina Sophia

4. A lovely garden area in the middle of the Reina Sophia

a few updates

So I've now been in Spain a few days and I must say it's been quite an adjustment.

My roommate Miranda and I live in a small apartment with a lady named Blanca Flores. Blanca is very nice lady but it seems as if we are more like boarders than part of a family. There is another girl here too from Taiwan which is really quite funny because some way or another I always have an Asian roommate. Only when I lived in Florida did I not have an asian roommate, but I worked with Asians for about 10 hours a day so I think that counts too :)

The culture here kind of reminds me of divergent evolution. Dumb analogy They're pretty similar to our own, but with little quirks that throw you off sometimes. Everyone here wears some kind of neutral color. Whenever I see someone who isn't wearing something other than black, beige, brown or blue I almost always do a double take because I'm so surprised. On the train to Madrid today I saw a lady dressed in complete beige. It's such a beautiful country with so much history but the way the people dress is kind of depressing. They also all smoke, so I don't know if it's just me but they all seem to have an unhealthy yellow tint to them.

We had our first class yesterday and I sat through the whole thing thinking "why on earth did I do this to myself". I decided to take the literature class rather than the architecture class because in a moment of weakness I decided I should do something challenging for me. It's kind of unnerving to sit through a class where your teacher keeps saying as he goes through the syllabus "o by the way Haley, you'll probably hate this too". Great. And there's only 5 people in the class, so no fluffing this one.

So far this seems like a really depressing blog post. I'm really sorry. My next post will be much happier, promise! Madrid is wonderful, really it is!

The land of the Spanish omelet

Hola todos! Big news in Haley town. In just three days I will be on a plane to Spain where I will dwell for 3 months! It's kind of hard to believe and I'm super nervous but excited of course.

As mentioned in the title of this here blog post it has been known to me that the Spanish omelet is one of the most popular foods in Spain. Those who know me best would realize this is a cause for much anxiety on my part. I dislike eggs very much. My aunt once used a very fitting term to describe them which I have hitherto implemented in my own life: butt fruit.

This is the part where my mom would say "If that is your biggest problem then I want your life"

Quite right. I have no room to complain. Very few people have the opportunity to experience new cultures and to travel. Even if I have to eat a few eggs I think it will all be worth it in the end.

To prevent this post from becoming any lamer I'm going to end right here.

Adios!

My new obsession

I saw the new Muppet Movie a few days ago. I really know squat about the muppets, but this movie was so great! It makes me want to watch all of the movies and shows I've missed the last thirty years.

Anyways, I love all things Muppet now. I've bought Muppet nail polish, I've been listening to the soundtrack all weekend. I also have a desire to play the banjo just so that I can play "Rainbow connection" if you haven't heard it you should! It's so beautiful.

I also want to learn how to whistle like this:

whoever that is whistling has mad skills.

Things I've been loving on lately

1. The Next Iron Chef: Super Chef Edition. This show is so intense. All of these chefs are the best of the best, so the competition is intense and the stakes are so high. I want every one of them to win because they all deserve it!
2. Bears. I finally got a spot in Dr. Tom Smith's research laboratory involving bears. Dream. Come. True!
3. The Awful Waffle. Emily has been telling me every day for a month how good it is and we finally went. Changed my life. For reals. I don't know what they put in my waffle, but it must have been some kind of drug because now it's all I think about. So goooooooooood.
4. Chicken Amore by Hungry Girl. So delicious and so easy to make. Really low cal too. Win win with that one.