Vincci Frontaura Hotel & Spa Valladolid

... value than it does in the United States, and is also placed on top of other less important things such as work.

The best example of this has been the Spanish siesta…the time between 3pm and 5(ish)pm when all businesses close, and people have time to return home to eat lunch with their family. When I first came to Spain, I thought that siesta was only a time for lying around or sleeping, and I was often frustrated with the lack of things ...

... doesn't seem to have plans to develop here yet. Now the building and its huge garden functions as a community home, social center, bike workshop, meeting point for change and creating alternatives to live more (self)sustainable for example for the BAH food co-operation: "Bajo el Asfalto está la Huerta" (under the asphalt is the field/garden). According to their website: a co-op covering the production ...

I was going to start this entry off by complaining about how things are starting to pick up again in preparation for final exams, and then I remembered that I'm about to start a 6 day weekend in Germany, visiting Rabea. So I guess I'll hold off on that one.......

In any case, worthy of mention....things HAVE picked up here. I've got three presentations, three papers, and two tests to get ready for over the next ...

... I’m talking about big pea sized frozen balls of ice pouring down upon everything! We tried to wait but we figured it would only get worse and ran into the van. Luckily Chris knows how to handle driving in these conditions but we noticed 3 cars had spun off the highway because I am sure none of them had winter tires. The funny thing is that after driving about 1 km there wasn’t ...

Today I came home from school to quite the dramatic scene in the kitchen. My host mom was standing in the kitchen, with two girls who had just came in from Holland to study here for two weeks. The two girls looked like deer trapped in the headlights of a car, and my host mom was talking to them as loudly as she possibly could in hopes that a volume adjustment would improve their lack of Spanish understanding.

The whole thing ...

... Last night we made Spanish friends. A bunch of the students from our university went over to the apartment of another student (she used to be with a host family, her mom talked to aliens and didn't feed her...long story short, she has her own place now) and made spaghetti and salad and this really good bread. Two girls our age and one guy that goes to the university also came over. It was really fun to actually hang out with more people that are also ...

Había pasado una noche tranquila.

Después de una semana de locos descubriendo que me iba a China en 6 días, gestionando el visado chino, yendo y viniendo de madrid 4 veces en 3 días y habiendome pegado con los prepotentes chinos de la embajada española en Madrid para conseguir un visado de negocios de 6 meses y múltiples entradas, gracias a la carta de la empresa china de un viejo conocido, despues de haber saqueado el mercadona y el eroski y todas sus respectivas secciones de ...

... Thursday night was a little quieter..as people prepared for everything. There are hundreds of food kiosks set up all over town. They are small stands that each represent a bar or restaurant in town (think Madison's "Taste of Madison"). They all sell drinks (wine, beer, soda, water, juice), as well as tapas and food specials. We walked around and watched things being set up...and went to two bars. One was an "Irish pub"...which apparently ...

... few students were paying attention, they were overwhelmed. The families all seemed to be great. It´s all uphill from here! Just imagine what your kids are experiencing right now. They have moved up from the tourist class. They are with families. I will write more soon. I would like to get an actual full night´s sleep. Just the idea makes me yawn...I´ll try to get pictures on this soon.

Hola todas personas, España es muy magnificant. I am having such a wonderful time. I miss everyone and I hope everything is going okay. Internet cafe´s cost a little more than I expected and the Universities computers stink so I will do my best to keep everyone updated, but I don´t know how often I will be able to submit entries. Sorry about not having any pictures yet, I can´t find a computer with a USB port and until I do I won´t be able ...