Well its been about a week....wow how time flies.

Last week (minus being sick) was a good week. It was Joys birthday on wednesday so we celebrated Tuesday and Thursday....because whoever really celebrates on their birthday??...well that will be our excuse. Anyway as I said in the last blog we did a bakery hop on Tuesday.....went to a couple bakeries and then went to get some sorbet icecream. It was super nice out so walking around was enjoyable. Then since Wednesday was full of lots of homework and studying for tests for everyone we stayed in...but had a happy green day anyway. Then Thursday Javi, Sarah, Joy, Robert, and I went to a Mexican resturant for supper to again celebrate the big 20 for Joy. It is so funny how all of us kids are in so much need of spicey food...but being born to a mother where ground pepper is a food group and being born in a town where mexican food is a food group....(Joy and I just want some dang jalepenos) we needed some spice. So at the mexican place we ordered enchiladas and pina coladas....it was no Taqueria, but it had spice and thats all we really cared about. After that we went by the river and sat on a bench and all talked until about 2 in the morning. It was soooo nice out and we could ever see some stars.

The rest of the weekend we kind of layed low....I wanted to get rid of my sickness before heading to Egypt on Friday (which it is almost gone :) ). Friday night Joy, Javi, and I watched Pride and Prejudice....Joys FAVORITE....good flick. Then Saturday night Joy, Javi and I went for a walk by the river to walk through this carnival that was going on...they had a live band and rides...we just walked around and such...was another really nice night. Then after that we found a little cafe and ordered some hot tea for all of us and sat and talked.

Sunday was the hair dying day. Two boxes of hair dye + two unexperienced hair dying American girls + two pairs of instructions in Spanish + one veryyy small bathroom = a success story. Joy did mine and then while mine sat I did hers. It wasnt as hard as we thought...and both of our heads look good....just had to get rid of those roots.

My last blog I had two comment requests...which is good because it gives me more to talk about. The first was from my lovely friend Sarah White asking me to explain what I do during the week, since I tend to just write about my weekends. So here we go...A normal day consists of getting up at 8:30am....making my bed...showering...getting ready....eating breakfast (fruit, yogurt, muffin, orange juice)...walking to school with Joy (except on Wednesday because she has class at 9 instead of 10)....Monday through Thursday I have Spanish Language, conversation, and writing class....on Monday and Wednesday its just from 10-12 and then on Tuesday and Thursday its from 10- 1...then also on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Spanish Culture class from 1:10- 2:25. Then after those classes I walk home....have lunch with Mil (my nickname for Amelia)...then I sometimes take a nap...then I go to the Library and work on homework/check facebook and email/ chat with my momma and amigos. Then I walk home and eat supper (which by the way I want to know how many people use the word supper...because Joy and I have been teased a lot here from our American friends for using that word...appearently nobody uses that word anymore...they say it stopped being used in the pioneer days....i beg to differ) Then after that I go wash my face, brush my teeth, read or watch a podcast, and go to bed. Now thats a general day...some days consist of more so dont think I dont have a life...but really life here has become the normal everyday school life. But smelling the fresh mountain air everyday also really adds to it.

Ok second request is from my spanish teacher Guillermo. He thought I should talk about our salsa dancing lessons...which i dont know how i forgot this in the first place. Two thursdays ago after our test, Guillermo said that he would teach us how to Salsa. As most of you know...Melinda likes to dance....but her skills lack. Guillermo was my partner so at least I was with someone who knew what they were doing... it was a lot of fun. I did a lot of looking at my feet making sure they were doing what they were supposed to...so next time my goal is to look at someones face haha. So I will try to improve my skills while I am here and whoever wants to learn when I get back I will be booking lessons...first come first serve...haha :).

Well at this moment I am killing time by talking to all of you...(thats not to say you guys arent important to me...) I just needed to do something while waiting for Joy to get out of class. When she gets done we are going to go get last minute necessities from Egypt seeing as we leave FRIDAY!!! We are very excited but a tad nervous maybe..idk maybe nervous isnt the word....its just this came so quickly....so we need to pack and make sure we have everything!

Well I think that is about it. I dont know if I will be able to write before I leave for Egypt so if not there may be a little break in my writing. I dont know what kind of internet access I will have in the hostels....but I am going to write everything down that we do each day so I can write about it when I return.

Prayers for healing for my grandmas back!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter..I hope you can spend it with friends and family and rejoice in the fact that He has risen!

Also Happy birthday to my two favorite brothers on March 31st!!! 24 and 22....wow...love/miss you guys!!!

Hugs and Kisses

-Mel

Well this week/weekend had its up and had its downs...

My test on thursday was ok....ok meaning not stupendous...but not awful. Thursday night made up for it though. We started our ¨pre-party¨ at the apartment dorms...than after being there for a couple hours we went to a bar that was having an Erassmus Party...they have those parties every thursday night. A lot of dancing...a lot of fun...but a late night, 430am. Friday was a sleep in until 11...get up eat breakfast....work on homework....eat lunch...and then went to the library to make final plans on our Egypt trip. We found all of our hostels that we are staying in (and acutally booked them today) and made a plan of what all we are going to do in each city. We are getting pretty excited...only 11 more days. Friday night I went out with friends to this dance club called Fever...its a couple metro stops away...big club...again lots of dancing...but a late night...6am. When i woke up Saturday morning I felt like I was hit by a truck....I honestly wondered how my body hurt so bad haha.

Saturday I layed low the whole day...caught up on some sleep. Then that night me and the two couples (Joy and Javie and Michaela and Ish....yes I am now the 5th wheel)...went to Crazy Horse, a really chill bar close to our house...we ordered drinks...(well i had a coke)...and sat and talked for a couple hours.

Sunday is where things turned...I woke up worse than i had felt on Saturday night....Saturday I started to get a sore throat and cough...but thought it was just a little thing....well I was wrong...Sunday was filled with a 101 temp, coughing yellow stuff up that nobody should ever cough up...and ive gone through about a trees worth of Kleenix. Today is better...but still coughing up crap like nobodies business...I know, probably too much information...sorry.

But we have sun today and that makes everything better! Its supposed to be pretty nice and warm all week! Tomorrow night my friends and I have planned a Bakery Hop for Joy´s birthday which is on Wednesday....instead of bar hopping and getting drinks, we are going to Bakery hop and get pastries. Sounds like a good idea to me :) haha....Then I think we will maybe go out Wednesday night for supper for Joy´s actual birthday and St. patricks day :)

ALSOOOOOOOOOO I want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to my momma for the awesome package I recieved Friday! From the deoderant to the First season of GLEE on DVD, I loved it all!

Prayers for my grandma who is having back surgery today and for my Aunt who had eye surgery last week! Pray for quick recoveries!

Other than that...not to much more. I know everyone is wondering if summer will ever come...I really think it will, and the sun that we have today gives me hope!

Abrazos y Besos.

-Mel

Well grab a coffee or a coke, take a seat, and enjoy what will probably be a looong blog about my weekend.

This weekend we had our last excersion to Madrid and Segovia. It was A LOT of fun. We left at 8 oclock in the morn on Friday to head to Madrid. From Bilbao it is about 5 hours by bus. Half consisted of ipod in the ears and looking at the back of my eyelids...the other half consisted of Ish, Michaela, Joy and I playing would you rather/ 20 questions....its very entertaining. For example, Would you rather go swimming in a pool full of snakes or break your leg, or if you had to only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? You get to learn a lot about a person this way....haha. Once we arrived to Madrid we checked into our hotel and settled down. Michaela Joy and I shared a room....we have awesome luck. We were the only ones on 8th floor out of the whole group and we had a laaaarge room. The first part had a sitting area with a tv and bunks beds...then that was seperated by a half wall and the other part of the room had a big king size bed with tv and such...and then a bathroom of course. Did we use the bunkbeds? of course not!!!!! we all fit so swell in that giant bed:). After getting settled we headed down to lunch. We ate most meals in the hotel...they had a nice buffet.

After lunch we went on our walking tour of Madrid...and of course it poured the whooooole time and of course I didnt wear the proper boots. Lets just say there was so much water in my boots, fish could have survived. But it was a fun time so I tried not to care. First we went to the Palace. So much history, loved it. After the Palace we went to the church that is right next to the Palace, so beautiful. Then after the church we continued our outside tour around Madrid...we went through the older part and it was really pretty...very wet...but pretty. Then the last thing we saw was the marking of the 0 Km. of Spain that is in Madrid. After that we had free time, so Robert, Joy, Michaela, Javier, and I went to go get churros at the place where Joy has gotten her first churros the last time she was in Spain. Appearntly its the place to be, because it was packed. After that, since it was still pouring rain and my feet were close to prunes, we headed to the metro to go back to the hotel...had supper there and then went back to the room and hung out.

Saturday: Early morning...up at 730....in the bus at 9 headed to Segovia. Segovia is only about an hour away from Madrid, so it was not a far ride...although we were all tired so it was shut eye time. One time during the ride i opened my eyes and I am not even kidding I could have been in Nebraska during a winter snow storm...it was white EVERYWHERE and still snowing....and of course just like the boots, I didnt bring my winter coat on this trip...just a sweat shirt and a jacket so at this point I realized it may be a VERY cold day. So I closed my eyes, said a little prayer for warmth, and fell back asleep...When we arrived and I woke up it was sunny and there was no snow to be found! We got off the bus to walk to the Roman Aqua-ducts and it was not that cold at all. It ended up being a very nice day. After taking pictures of the aqua-ducts we walked through the town awhile...bought some postcards...and then went on a tour of a castle that is in Segovia...it was really pretty. We went throughout the rooms and then when we were done with the tour, we could go up in the tower to see the view of Segovia if we wanted. So my friends and I headed up there...the way up was quite interesting...it was a very tight, stone, circular staircase with high steps.....it was quite the workout for us...and it seemed never ending. Also it was a 2 way path that should have clearly only been one way...so half way through we had to squish against the sides to let a family pass by. Once to the top it was totally worth it. It was so gorgeous. We took more pictures, caught some fresh air, and then headed back down. Going down was a mixture of being claustrophobic and wanting to vomit but we made it....Michaela led the way...and once we saw light we were very happy. Exiting Michaela, being a whole 5 feet tall, did not need to duck at any point of this...well forgetting that we needed to duck on the way in and not seeing her duck on the way out because she obviously didnt need to, I nailed the stone arch exit with my head pretty dang hard...basically the 5 or 6 people behind me all heard it weather they saw it or not. Lets just say it didnt feel very good. After telling my dad this he asked if it knocked some sense in to me.....my guess is no haha. After that we headed to a little cafe for lunch. It was the normal lunch....bread, some sort of soup/stew...mystery meat, and then dessert.

I would now like to take a little break and talk about some food that I have consumed in the last week or so....lets just say this should make my momma proud. So first last week, Amelia called me in for supper....she began laughing as soon as I got in there because of what was on my plate. It was allll black and inky looking. She started laughing I suppose because she wasnt sure what I was going to say. Turns out I was having octopus in its own Ink (they use the ink as the sauce) for dinner. It wasnt horrible, but the fact that Amelia was telling me how she takes the little sac out of the octopus and pops it to get the ink while we were eating made it a little hard to swallow. But what doesnt kill you makes you stronger.

The second thing was on accident..while on our Segovia day trip, our first corse at the cafe was some sort of soup. We couldnt really tell what was in it besides giant beans...so after discussing what might be in it, most of us decided to try everything...one thing was really chewy, but not thinking much of it we moved onto the next corse....a little while after that, one of our friends from another table came over and said oh hey guys did you try the pig ears in the soup. Yep pig ears...dont worry, it did stay down even though I was thinking it should come right back up. Then someone else at the table said well at least it wasnt blood sausage...and I said ohh whats that? and someone said its this round sausage looking thing that is really just packed with rice and blood....I may have dropped my spoon i dont know...but I realized that Amelia serves that to me quite often....I wasnt to fond of it, but it was awful...I guess next time its on my plate I will just have to chew faster haha. Im usually not that picky, but I would have to say Spain has def made me step out of my comfort food box....first mushrooms, fish, and green olives..and now pig ears, octopus, and blood sausage.....I beginning to think that my mom should meet me at the door with grilled cheese and tomato soup :).

After eating, we all got back on the bus and headed back to Madrid. The plan was to drop us off downtown so we could have some free time to do what we wanted before we had to be back at the hotel for supper. Javier, Joy, Ish, Michaela, Robert and I decided to go to the Archiology Museum first...it was very interesting and neat to see. It is currently being re-done so the selection they had displayed wasnt huge, but neat non the less. After that we went to the Sophia museum where Picasso´s painting of Gernika/Guernica is displayed. It is soooo large. We couldnt take pictures, so we litereally just stood there for 15 minutes and stared at it. It was really neat especially since we had been to Gernika and knew the history behind it. OHHH I forgot! On the way to the Sophia Museum we stopped by Starbucks to get our very first American coffee....it was glorious. Felt so normal to walk around down town with a coffee in our hands. After the Museum we headed to the metro to head back to the hotel for dinner.


After dinner we went to go get prettied up because tonight was our going out night. A lot of us decided to go to the famous dance club there called Kapital. It is a 7 floor dance club and each floor is a different style. I almost cant even put this into words...I have never experienced such a thing (although my Uncle John said there is one opening up in Omaha but it closes at 10 pm....bahahahahha...dont take that seriously). We left the hotel around 12:45am and headed that way...it is open until 7am or so...so we were right on time lol. We got there around 1:45am and I have never seen so many people in a club...I mean I know its huge, but still....there where people from all over the world...a lot of Americans which for some reason surprised me ....but def people from allll over. Aftering getting a drink some girls and I went to the first floor. It was pretty sweet...it was the ¨main dance floor with a stage in front...sometimes performers would come out on the stage and do different kind of dances...mostly breakdancing....but the floor was shoulder to shoulder with people. We danced down there for a couple hours....ohhhh and the coolest thing about it was about every 3 to 5 minutes a huge burst of dry ice and something else could come out of the ceiling so much that you couldnt see who was right next to you and it was a large cooling device...would cool you right off...so awesome. After being down there for awhile we decided to go back up stairs and find other people. We finally were able to find Joy, Michaela and Ish on the top floor because we had been split up earlier....for Joy and I it was basically a running hug haha....stayed a little bit longer and then decided to get a cab and leave at 530 am. Got back to the hotel, washed my face, brushed my teeth and hit the pillow with the intentions of getting up in 2 hours.

The next day all we had planned was the Prado museum and then home. As you would probably guess most of us were pretty wiped from the night before, but the museum was good to see...lots of paintings with lots of history...pretty neat. Then after a couple hours there we loaded the bus up again and headed back to good ol´Bilbao. Its weird how coming back to a home away from home feels sooo nice.

Well it is now Wednesday...and it was been cold allll week....sleated/snowed on Monday and its supposed to snow again tonight or tomorrow. I am not sure what happened to our 65 degrees, but Im thinkin it should return....reallllly sooon. I have another test tomorrow so I need to continue to prepare for that...classes have been good...I had a midterm last Thursday and I think I did really well on it. Other than that, not much new there.

This weekend will consist of some going out, some Egypt planning, and some homework. Sounds like a winner.

My friend Chris leaves for the Czech Republic on Sunday....so it´s exciting that we will be in the same continent even though we are a couple countries apart....Hope travels and arrival go a little bit better for him than they did for me haha.

Well other than that not much more....

Hope God is in your heart in the preperation for Easter.
Live, laugh, love and enjoy life

Peace out

-Mel

WELLLLL the sun has been shining for a couple days straight, I just cant believe it!!! it just perks everyone up!

So I suppose the weekend should be first.....Well Friday was a shop day. Joy, Michaela, and I went out for a couple of hours to try to find some good sales. Our intentions were to look for clothes for Egypt. While in egypt we need to be dressed conservatively...so not showing anything above knees and usually keep shoulders covered. We were all successful in finding things. That night a group of 7 of us went to Crazy Horse which is an American pub...it was a lot of fun. We each ordered a drink and all crammed in a both and sat there for a couple of hours and talked...there was also a live band...made me miss the Stewart John Band...but none the less reminded me of them...they sang some spanish songs, but also some american covers in english..those are my kind of nights :)!

When we returned from the bar on Friday, there was a paper posted to the front door of our apartment. Joy and I read it and it said that there were going to be awful winds starting the next afternoon and lasting until sunday. They said not to leave unless necessary and that they were supposed to reach 90 mph. Well Joy and I were supposed to go to Michaela´s Saturday night because we all had skype dates planned with the parents :).

Well the wind ended up being nice to us....we arrived to Michaela´s safely, but while we were there it sounded like a tornado was outside our door. Felt like home...haha. Saturday night was good. I was able to skype with my parents...mom and Lexi for the second time, Dad for the first. I was also able to skype with Chris for a bit. Good night :), technology is so amazing. Love it so so much :). After skyping and chatting, the three of us girls made some hot cola cao (like hot chocolate made with milk....soy milk in our case...so yummy) and watched a movie. Joy and I did not want to enter out into the crazy wind to go home, but we decided since it was 3 am, we should get a move on it. Well when we opened the door is was like Jesus calmed the sea...I mean the wind...cause it was not windy at all. Made it to the metro station, waited for 15 minutes, joined the crazy drunks on the metro...got off the metro, joined the crazy drunks on the street, waited for the bus for 30 minutes, got home, took my lovely zyrtec, and hit the pillow.

Sunday was a homework and catch up on sleep day....like usual I suppose...oh and of course attend church on my computer, Mosaic church in LA, Cali...Erwin McManus...great stuff.

And now its Monday and back to classes....my parents requested that I talk about classes so people know why I am actually here haha...
Classes are going really well...I am in my language class...which is 10 credits...because it is really made up of three classes...grammar, conversation, and writing. My teacher is amazing...the best spanish teacher I´ve had...he is 25 so young but so so smart, and fun which helps a lot.

My second class is Spanish Culture. I love this class as well. My teacher is actually an American teacher from Green Bay but was raised in Spain. She is very nice, and teaches very well. Teaches both in spanish and english so she knows that we are really learning the material, but at the same time growing in understanding spanish. The Spainish history is really interesting to me...and how it affects how Spain is today.

I cant believe that it is already March!! I thought it would never come. While all of you are thinking that you may not reach summer or even spring until the 4th of July, my spring is finally coming, and I could not be more thankful :)...how time flies....91 days and I will be back in the good ol Cornhusker state.

This weekend we are going on our last excursion to Madrid and Segovia....hopefully it doesnt rain, although I think it is supposed to. I am excited to leave for the weekend, shall be tons of fun!!



Thats all for now...more later!!

Prayers for Haiti and Chili
Abrazos y Besos...hugs and kisses

-Mel