I think I am getting anxious about being here. Pretty much all this week I have had a stomach ache and I don´t know what it is from. My host mom bought bananas for the first time since I´ve been living there and I´ve eaten quite a few of them... she thinks that might be the cause of my aching stomach. I, however, think it might be from all of the stress and anxiety about finishing out the semester and leaving. Right now, I sort of feel like I am just waiting things out until the 9th of May when I leave. I haven´t seen a whole lot of my host parents this week because they have been spending so much time at the hospital with David. I pretty much see them in the morning before I leave for class, and then at night when we eat dinner. I´ve been trying to motivate myself to finish the papers (or actually start them) that are due by the time I leave, but somehow I haven´t found that motivation yet. As a quick update on David.. he dislocated his pelvic bone and broke it in 3 spots. He has two surgeries scheduled for Monday to try and set it back in place and to assess any other damage done. All-in-all he is pretty lucky, though he does have many months of recovery with limited or no movement at all. He seems to be keeping his spirits up, according to my host parents, though he gets frustrated at times of being so still all the time because it is just uncomfortable. One really nice thing is that he told my host mom the other day to tell me he was sorry that he wouldn´t be able to see me and say goodbye before I left. That made me sad, but also happy to know that I am a part of this family.
In other news, Wednesday was a Catalan holiday and I didn´t have my class, so I went to the beach. I sort of forgot to put sunscreen on because the sun didn´t feel all that strong... that night we had our last BCA dinner together at a restaurant called "El Cangrejo Loco" and my face fit the theme of that very well. I looked very much like a crazy lobster. Oh well, it has faded into a sort of tan now, and I hope I find some more time to take advantage of the beach and beautiful weather before I leave. I can´t believe that I will be on a plane halfway between Indiana and Barcelona at this time in two weeks. Here is to praying that I get to finish all I need to before leaving...
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
This weekend...
It has been a long time since I´ve posted, and a lot of things have happened.
After the initial shock and disappointment of not getting to go to Ireland, I recovered and was actually happy to be able to spend the weekend in Barcelona with my host parents. On Sunday, my host dad´s brother and sister-in-law came over for lunch, stayed most of the afternoon, and then were joined by my host dad´s other brother and sister-in-law. Then, David (my host parents´ son) came over with his two daughters to drop Ana off with us for the week. My apartment was full of fun festivities and lots of delicious food (including a homemade flan) in honor of all of the guests.
Last week went pretty well, and I just realized that I have very little time to finish all that I need to finish in relation to my classes. Ana was with us all week, and I got to play with her quite a bit, so that was exciting. She turns 1 on May 1st, so I´m pretty excited... I´ve been here for over half of her life, weird, huh?!?
Here is the scary/sad/bad news. On Friday evening my host parents drove to David and Marta´s apartment to drop Ana off. Only Marta was home because David was still at work. On their way back to our apartment for dinner, they got a phone call on their cell phone from Marta telling them that David had fallen at work and was on his way to the hospital. The whole time, I was watching Pasapalabra (my favorite Spanish game show) at our apartment... when all of a sudden my host parents came running in the house and yelled my name. I went to go see what was wrong and they handed me a baguette and then quickly explained that they were going to the hospital. This was around 8:30, and they didn´t get back until after 1 in the morning. The next morning I was getting ready to leave because I had a friend from Austrailia who is studying in the UK this semester who I met in Brussels (confusing, I know) visiting. I went to ask how David was, and my host mom started crying, saying that he wasn´t well. I´m not sure exactly how far he fell, but quite a ways, enough to break his pelvic bone and do some internal damage to some organs. At that point he was still in critical condition and my host parents hadn´t been allowed to see him yet. They went back on Saturday and spent over 9 hours at the hospital. When they called to update me around 9 pm, my host mom seemed a lot calmer, which was good. As of right now things seem to be okay. David ate for the first time yesterday and the doctors say that his intestines and stomach seem to be functioning alright. They are going to see the status of the broken pelvis today to see whether or not they can go in for surgery on some of the other damaged organs. He got moved to a different part of the hospital since he is stable now, but he will have a long recovery period in front of him. In any case, it has been a stressful, sad weekend, but my host parents seem to be doing just fine, and I was happy to be able to just sit and watch a movie with my host mom lastnight. She seemed so happy just to have someone to sit with her... So, please, just pray for David and Marta and for the rest of the family as they deal with this whole recovery period and the surgeries that may take place in the near future. Alright, that turned out a lot longer than I thought it would... I have to go to class. I´ll write more later.
After the initial shock and disappointment of not getting to go to Ireland, I recovered and was actually happy to be able to spend the weekend in Barcelona with my host parents. On Sunday, my host dad´s brother and sister-in-law came over for lunch, stayed most of the afternoon, and then were joined by my host dad´s other brother and sister-in-law. Then, David (my host parents´ son) came over with his two daughters to drop Ana off with us for the week. My apartment was full of fun festivities and lots of delicious food (including a homemade flan) in honor of all of the guests.
Last week went pretty well, and I just realized that I have very little time to finish all that I need to finish in relation to my classes. Ana was with us all week, and I got to play with her quite a bit, so that was exciting. She turns 1 on May 1st, so I´m pretty excited... I´ve been here for over half of her life, weird, huh?!?
Here is the scary/sad/bad news. On Friday evening my host parents drove to David and Marta´s apartment to drop Ana off. Only Marta was home because David was still at work. On their way back to our apartment for dinner, they got a phone call on their cell phone from Marta telling them that David had fallen at work and was on his way to the hospital. The whole time, I was watching Pasapalabra (my favorite Spanish game show) at our apartment... when all of a sudden my host parents came running in the house and yelled my name. I went to go see what was wrong and they handed me a baguette and then quickly explained that they were going to the hospital. This was around 8:30, and they didn´t get back until after 1 in the morning. The next morning I was getting ready to leave because I had a friend from Austrailia who is studying in the UK this semester who I met in Brussels (confusing, I know) visiting. I went to ask how David was, and my host mom started crying, saying that he wasn´t well. I´m not sure exactly how far he fell, but quite a ways, enough to break his pelvic bone and do some internal damage to some organs. At that point he was still in critical condition and my host parents hadn´t been allowed to see him yet. They went back on Saturday and spent over 9 hours at the hospital. When they called to update me around 9 pm, my host mom seemed a lot calmer, which was good. As of right now things seem to be okay. David ate for the first time yesterday and the doctors say that his intestines and stomach seem to be functioning alright. They are going to see the status of the broken pelvis today to see whether or not they can go in for surgery on some of the other damaged organs. He got moved to a different part of the hospital since he is stable now, but he will have a long recovery period in front of him. In any case, it has been a stressful, sad weekend, but my host parents seem to be doing just fine, and I was happy to be able to just sit and watch a movie with my host mom lastnight. She seemed so happy just to have someone to sit with her... So, please, just pray for David and Marta and for the rest of the family as they deal with this whole recovery period and the surgeries that may take place in the near future. Alright, that turned out a lot longer than I thought it would... I have to go to class. I´ll write more later.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
"That girl"
Well, I am officially "that girl," you know, the one that always leaves the party early and drinks about 1/100 the amount of what everyone else drinks? There, of course, is a story that goes along with this...
I should be in Dublin, Ireland right now. Instead, I am in my apartment, using my friend's computer, which she left here earlier, while she and another one of my friends are still out going to some bar or disco somewhere in the city of Barcelona. Here is why I'm not in Dublin... See, we were supposed to fly out lastnight, but a lot of things happened to keep us from getting on the plane... We got to the airport a little late, but in plenty of time to check in. However, there was no counter for aer lingus.. so we went to information and asked which it was. They told us two different numbers, and we went to both those check in counters and talked to the woman working the counter and she said it wasn't the right one. So we went back to information and they told us two different numbers. when we got to those counters, there was absolutely noone there. so, we went back to the information counter to ask where the aer lingus office was so we could talk to them and check in. We already had all of our printed documents and just needed our boarding passes. They told us that the airline didnt have an office in the barcelona airport, and after about 10 minutes of arguing with them to call the gate or something they gave us 3 numbers to call the airline, one of which ended up being a fax number. We tried about 5 or 6 times to call each of the other 2 numbers but nobody answered. At this point we were getting really frustrated, but realized the flight was delayed by 30 minutes, so we thought it would all still work out. Finally, after not being able to reach anyone at the numbers, we went to another information desk since the 2 girls at the first desk were being very unhelpful. The woman at the other information desk was very helpful and called the gate to see why there was noone at the checkin counter. They told us that the door was already closed and that it was too late for us to get on the flight. The woman got off the phone and told us that it didn't make sense because the boards and her records on the computer said that they hadn't even begun boarding yet, but she was only the information woman and couldnt do anything else. so she looked up some more flights for us, but the next one didn't leave until today sometime. We tried calling all the numbers again to reach aer lingus, but still nobody answered at any of the lines. Needless to say we were/are all really pissed off because we payed for the flights and there was noone there to check us in... plus, i was just excited to go to ireland.. i mean, this was supposed to be my one big trip this semester after all my travel in january. So we stayed at the airport to document all the times from the board about boarding/last call/and others so that we could write a complaint.
Then, this morning, first thing, we went to a wifi cafe to skype the numbers and try to reach someone... still there is nobody answering any number that we found for any of the offices throughout the world. We wrote an official complaint email asking them to do something about it because it is just ridiculous, the whole thing, especially since we were at the airport a whole 2 hours before the last call for the flight. Now we are just waiting to see what might happen.
Which brings me to now... Since we obviously aren't in Ireland, we decided to go out tonight with one of Melania's friend and some of his friends. We hung out at his apartment for a while, had a few drinks (by had a few I mean I had a total of one and the other finished almost 2 entire bottles of vodka), and then decided to head out to a bar or a club. I have no problem going to clubs and bars, but after the stress of lastnight, my 30 minute conversation at 3:45 in the morning with my host mom about what had happened, and my altogether lack of sleep in the last week, I just didn't feel like going to the club with them. So, I am "that girl." You know, the one that leaves early... I don't like having to be that person, but when I am ready to go, I want to go, and the more you try to tell me that I'm not leaving, the more determined I am to go. So here I am, writing this before I go to sleep so that I can get it all out and actually get some rest before the awkward lunch with my host dad's 80 year old brother and sister-in-law tomorrow.
Yes, I am really upset and disappointed that I didn't get my trip to Ireland. And yes, I am sad that I disappointed my friends by leaving early tonight. But, maybe there was a reason that I wasn't supposed to go to Ireland this weekend and God just kept me from going. And sometimes you've got to do what you know is best for yourself, even if that requires skipping out early and going home to bed. Which is exactly where I'm going right now. Goodnight.
I should be in Dublin, Ireland right now. Instead, I am in my apartment, using my friend's computer, which she left here earlier, while she and another one of my friends are still out going to some bar or disco somewhere in the city of Barcelona. Here is why I'm not in Dublin... See, we were supposed to fly out lastnight, but a lot of things happened to keep us from getting on the plane... We got to the airport a little late, but in plenty of time to check in. However, there was no counter for aer lingus.. so we went to information and asked which it was. They told us two different numbers, and we went to both those check in counters and talked to the woman working the counter and she said it wasn't the right one. So we went back to information and they told us two different numbers. when we got to those counters, there was absolutely noone there. so, we went back to the information counter to ask where the aer lingus office was so we could talk to them and check in. We already had all of our printed documents and just needed our boarding passes. They told us that the airline didnt have an office in the barcelona airport, and after about 10 minutes of arguing with them to call the gate or something they gave us 3 numbers to call the airline, one of which ended up being a fax number. We tried about 5 or 6 times to call each of the other 2 numbers but nobody answered. At this point we were getting really frustrated, but realized the flight was delayed by 30 minutes, so we thought it would all still work out. Finally, after not being able to reach anyone at the numbers, we went to another information desk since the 2 girls at the first desk were being very unhelpful. The woman at the other information desk was very helpful and called the gate to see why there was noone at the checkin counter. They told us that the door was already closed and that it was too late for us to get on the flight. The woman got off the phone and told us that it didn't make sense because the boards and her records on the computer said that they hadn't even begun boarding yet, but she was only the information woman and couldnt do anything else. so she looked up some more flights for us, but the next one didn't leave until today sometime. We tried calling all the numbers again to reach aer lingus, but still nobody answered at any of the lines. Needless to say we were/are all really pissed off because we payed for the flights and there was noone there to check us in... plus, i was just excited to go to ireland.. i mean, this was supposed to be my one big trip this semester after all my travel in january. So we stayed at the airport to document all the times from the board about boarding/last call/and others so that we could write a complaint.
Then, this morning, first thing, we went to a wifi cafe to skype the numbers and try to reach someone... still there is nobody answering any number that we found for any of the offices throughout the world. We wrote an official complaint email asking them to do something about it because it is just ridiculous, the whole thing, especially since we were at the airport a whole 2 hours before the last call for the flight. Now we are just waiting to see what might happen.
Which brings me to now... Since we obviously aren't in Ireland, we decided to go out tonight with one of Melania's friend and some of his friends. We hung out at his apartment for a while, had a few drinks (by had a few I mean I had a total of one and the other finished almost 2 entire bottles of vodka), and then decided to head out to a bar or a club. I have no problem going to clubs and bars, but after the stress of lastnight, my 30 minute conversation at 3:45 in the morning with my host mom about what had happened, and my altogether lack of sleep in the last week, I just didn't feel like going to the club with them. So, I am "that girl." You know, the one that leaves early... I don't like having to be that person, but when I am ready to go, I want to go, and the more you try to tell me that I'm not leaving, the more determined I am to go. So here I am, writing this before I go to sleep so that I can get it all out and actually get some rest before the awkward lunch with my host dad's 80 year old brother and sister-in-law tomorrow.
Yes, I am really upset and disappointed that I didn't get my trip to Ireland. And yes, I am sad that I disappointed my friends by leaving early tonight. But, maybe there was a reason that I wasn't supposed to go to Ireland this weekend and God just kept me from going. And sometimes you've got to do what you know is best for yourself, even if that requires skipping out early and going home to bed. Which is exactly where I'm going right now. Goodnight.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Almost down to 4 weeks!!
Well, things are going pretty well here in Barcelona at the moment. The weather is turning out to be lovely and I am very much enjoying that. I also had a visitor this week, Colleen, who is studying in France this year. She got here Sunday and left yesterday, which left the two of us with some very great visiting time. It was really nice to talk to someone who has also been gone as long as I have from Manchester and to hear about one another's experiences. I really enjoyed the visit, and was sad to see her go. Besides Colleen's visit, though, this week has just been busy with classes and stuff. Today is one of my friend's birthdays, so we are going out to celebrate this evening, but I am also leaving for Ireland tomorrow night and spending the weekend in Dublin. This means that I have very little sleep ahead of me for the next 3 or 4 days, which I'm not too excited about. I am still very excited about the trip, though!! Other than the nice weather and my trip, I don't have much going on. I have two papers to write by the end of the semester, and I started reading one of the books for one of the papers. I finally purchased the other book for the other paper and feel better about that one. It will be strange next year to go back to actually having a lot of work throughout the semester since we don't even have textbooks here for any of my classes! I sent in my list of classes for next year that I want to register for, and Lila sent me an email saying that all of them looked fine. That is soooo exciting, if you knew all that I'd been through with classes this year, to actually have an email saying everything looks good was wonderful! Another random/fun thing is that my little sister sent me an email the other day with a countdown in it until I come home. I thought it was really cute that she actually wants me to come home that badly!!! I still have no idea about the job situation this summer, but if any of you hear anything, let me know. I'm looking, and I'm not worried about not finding a job, so that is good. Anyway, that is about all for now... I'll post again after my trip to Ireland!!!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
School, RAness, Ireland, and life
Wow, I can´t believe it is already the 5th of April!! I have less than 5 weeks left until I go home... I am getting soooo excited. But then again, I am also getting sad as my time here starts to come to an end. Meanwhile, I still have a ton of stuff to do in the next 5 weeks before it is time to go! I still have two papers to write before the end of the semester as well as a pretty big project for my photography class. I´m not really too concerned because I know I´ll find a time to force myself to sit down and do all of it.
The rest of my life is pretty exciting at the moment. I got an email this week saying that I was rehired as an RA for this coming school year. The weird thing is that I was placed in Schwalm Hall... which wasn´t on my list of choices at all. The reason it is so strange is because last year I was an RA in East, which is the all women´s residence hall, and Schwalm is 4 floors of males and only 2 of females... so yeah... strange. Oh well, I´m not really sure who all is on my staff yet, but I think it will be a challenge nonetheless, and I am excited about the experience of a co-ed staff.
Next weekend I am going to Ireland with a few of my girlfriends that are here for the year with me. It should be a really fun trip. Unfortunately, my funds have pretty much been depleted, so I think this is my last trip of the semester. I was hoping to be able to make it to Madrid, but I just don´t think it is going to happen. I have already started a list of places I want to go next time I get to come back to Europe, so Madrid is just another addition. I´m not really disappointed because I have been able to travel so many places since I have been here on a pretty tight budget. We´re just going to hope that maybe next time I come to Europe, I have a little more money and can hit the other places I want to see.
Let´s see... RA, Ireland, school... I think that is about it. Life in the apartment with the host parents is back to normal. We had Ana (the youngest granddaughter) with us again this week until Wednesday and it was fun. My host parents are at a wedding this weekend in a pueblo just outside of Barcelona, so I again have the apartment to myself. I am enjoying it, but also kind of sad that my host parents are gone this weekend and I´ll be gone next weekend... then I only have a few more weekends left with them before I go home! They have already started talking to me about when I am coming back to visit and all that, so I know I´ll always be welcomed back, but it is still sad to talk about leaving. Hmmm... growing up is just hard. Growing and changing is not one of my favorite things, but I am definitely much better at dealing with it now than I ever was before. Maybe that means I´m maturing a little...?! Who knows... well, that´s all for now.
The rest of my life is pretty exciting at the moment. I got an email this week saying that I was rehired as an RA for this coming school year. The weird thing is that I was placed in Schwalm Hall... which wasn´t on my list of choices at all. The reason it is so strange is because last year I was an RA in East, which is the all women´s residence hall, and Schwalm is 4 floors of males and only 2 of females... so yeah... strange. Oh well, I´m not really sure who all is on my staff yet, but I think it will be a challenge nonetheless, and I am excited about the experience of a co-ed staff.
Next weekend I am going to Ireland with a few of my girlfriends that are here for the year with me. It should be a really fun trip. Unfortunately, my funds have pretty much been depleted, so I think this is my last trip of the semester. I was hoping to be able to make it to Madrid, but I just don´t think it is going to happen. I have already started a list of places I want to go next time I get to come back to Europe, so Madrid is just another addition. I´m not really disappointed because I have been able to travel so many places since I have been here on a pretty tight budget. We´re just going to hope that maybe next time I come to Europe, I have a little more money and can hit the other places I want to see.
Let´s see... RA, Ireland, school... I think that is about it. Life in the apartment with the host parents is back to normal. We had Ana (the youngest granddaughter) with us again this week until Wednesday and it was fun. My host parents are at a wedding this weekend in a pueblo just outside of Barcelona, so I again have the apartment to myself. I am enjoying it, but also kind of sad that my host parents are gone this weekend and I´ll be gone next weekend... then I only have a few more weekends left with them before I go home! They have already started talking to me about when I am coming back to visit and all that, so I know I´ll always be welcomed back, but it is still sad to talk about leaving. Hmmm... growing up is just hard. Growing and changing is not one of my favorite things, but I am definitely much better at dealing with it now than I ever was before. Maybe that means I´m maturing a little...?! Who knows... well, that´s all for now.
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