3 weeks!

It has now been exactly 3 weeks since I left the U.S.! I would say it definitely seems like longer than 3 weeks. Not so much because time has been moving slowly or I haven't been having a good time, but rather because I feel like I have done more than three weeks worth of stuff.

Nothing too incredibly exciting has happened since I last blogged, though I am slowly adjusting to the Spanish ways (and the Spanish are slowly adjusting to my ways ;) ). The presentation that I was so worried about actually went quite well, and after having to research and talk about important monuments in Cataluña, there are now quite a few of them that I want to go see! So I think making a Barcelona trip (and staying with Emma!) will definitely be happening. One of my teachers today also leaked a rumor that we might not have a final exam if both of our teachers think we have all reached and accomplished the level they want us to reach (so this is a good thing, but I also don't want to be the one that brings the class down....)

Another exciting thing that happened this week is that I discovered a coffee machine in CLM that is only 70 euro cents a cup, and is actually pretty good! This I suppose could be seen as both a positive and negative because I'm finding it's the little purchases that add up until eventually one little straw (or stirring spoon, one might say) could break the camels back. Speaking of spoons, Liz (my housemate) and I discovered this AMAZING gelato place. We asked a group of locals what the best place in town was, and they all had a different answer (which must mean they are all actually just really good), but one particularly convincing fellow pointed us in a wonderful direction. I had nutella mousse and strawberry. The nutella mousse was actually just like nutella (which is already awesome) in gelato form, making it even more awesome. And the strawberry, which may seem like a boring flavor that you can get in a mcdonalds milkshake, was like if a strawberry went to heaven and asked the ice cream gods to make it into ice cream. I also met a german girl wearing lederhosen for the germany austria soccer match that evening. So basically it was an all around great experience.

My Señora Gloria (that's how one refers to a host mother here) knows someone who has a ranch in the Sierra Nevada mountains so she invited Liz and I to go with her and stay in the cabin this weekend, so we will probably do that which is exciting. If I understood correctly, there will be lots of wild animals also which is always a plus!

I am also adjusting very well to the food, Gloria is a very good and creative vegetarian cook and she has come up with some delicious meals for us. As I mentioned in a different post, the dinners here are really small (one night they actually just made about 5 pieces of asparagus for each of us... my theory is that because they both smoke so much they don't have much of an appetite come dinner). There was also one night when they were going out so they told Liz and I we could make ourselves frozen quiches when we were ready for dinner, so we made ourselves one each (they really aren't very big) and our host parents witnessed this and were shocked and asked if we were seriously going to each eat that much. Ever since that night, they have been feeding us slightly more normal sized dinners and we, in turn, have started occasionally having smaller appetites at dinner (probably due to snacking more during the day on our offbrand nutella splurges).

Anyway, I will give a quick "Luna/Tortuga" update and then call it a post. So today I walked over to find Tortuga and he/she (I'm pretty sure the turtle is a girl but I can't help but think of him as a boy) sleeps in the funniest position sprawled with a few limbs out of the shell and head tucked in. If I didn't know better I would think him dead. Luna is also becoming quite the greedy little beggar. Every time any sort of food is being eaten, she comes over and puts her little paws on my lap and puts on her cutest face with her largest pupils. Today she was also walking around on the stove, and I was like "Luna, what if the stove were on..." then I remembered she doesn't speak english, so repeated myself in Spanish and she gave me the typical luna slit eye look and jumped off. And who said animals don't understand humans?