My host mom thinks we don't eat.

 Okay..they give us SO much food. Dessert after every meal and plates and plates of food. We told our host mom we are going to try and cut bake on desserts and she was shocked. She said we eat less than any American she has ever hosted. She has been doing this for 10 years! These other people must have all been insane because we are always stuffed! She said she always worries we aren't eating enough but we do...anyway enough with that...

My week:

Monday:
Not a very exciting day but I will tell you about it. I went to class, came home, rested and did homework, then left for religion class. We had class then met with our FHE groups to decide on some activities we can do while we are here.

Tuesday:
Another chill day. We went to class and then came home and rested and did homework.

Wednesday:
This day we went to class, came home, did homework, and then at night we played soccer at the church. A bunch of us girls from the group went and some Spaniards. It was super fun!

Thursday:
We went to class and right after that went into Madrid for a Madrid walk. We went with a group of girls and it was really fun. We saw a lot of neat places. We also went to and some girls got gelado and I went and got some chocolate con churros and some girls got some as well.

Friday:
We woke up bright and early to meet our group at the train station to go on our weekend trip. On Friday we first went to Avila! It was beautiful. They have a big old wall that was built to protect the city and I went to the top of it. The only downfall of it was it was snowing and FREEZING. After our tour and time there we went to Salamanca! Salamanca was pretty. We got to go to a lot of places there as well on a tour. At night we got to go out on our own. Veronica, Marynn, Ali, Hilary and I went to a bunch of stores. I got some cute shoes and a jacket. We were lame and ate and Burger King because we were super hungry and it sounded great. After that we got some tasty gelado. We got to our hotel a little before 10. Veronica and I stayed up talking for a long time.

Avila

Cathedral in Salamanca

Saturday:

Toro

Tordesillas

We met with our group at 10 and headed out for the day. We headed to the beautiful city of Toro first. We went into a neat Cathedral and the view from there was gorgeous. We then got to go to Tordesillas. It was beautiful there too. After a small tour we got to go off on our own again. We headed to the Plaza Mayor here and there was a band playing and cute people dancing. We joined them and it was the funnest thing ever! Then we went off and tried to find somewhere to eat. All the places were either expensive or closed for their siesta. We ended up eating at a gas station. After that we headed back to Alcala.

Dancing with the band

Sunday: Today I went to church. It was a great Sunday. We came home and did homework. It was Encarna's nephew's birthday so she went out with the fam and then they came back with her niece, her nephew, and her nephew's girlfriend. Her nephew's girlfriend is named Sandra. She is 18. She practiced her english with us and is super nice! She said she'll take us out and show us around whenever we want and we can go to mass with her some time. I think it would be cool to experience that. Later that evening we went over to the Larsen's with our group and had some chocolate chip cookies and chatted.

My week was great. Still loving it here:)

They park where they want, whenever they want.

I love seeing how people park here. I'm not quite sure why I get such a kick out of it, but I do. I decided to make a folder on my desktop of parking pictures. I am not sure what I want to do with it yet, but definitely something. Any ideas? And no, there are not people in the cars of these pictures. They are seriously parked.

Okay, ready to hear about my weekend? Good.

Friday:

Bus!

On Friday I got to go to TOLEDO!!! and yes, the saying "Holy Toledo" comes from this. We took a super classy bus. The seats were oober comfy and there were tables in there. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Well anyway, Toledo is seriously the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I was in shock. As one of my friends in the bus said, "Guys...it's so beautiful I want to like...cry." haha. It was seriously amazing. Our tour guide, Angél. gave us a tour around the city for about 3 hours. We got to go to the Toledo Cathedral. It is the second biggest Cathedral in Spain. We will get to see the biggest one later on in our trip. It was amazing. We looked at other amazing places around the city. It was so beautiful.

HOLY TOLEDO!

After the tour we got to go off on our own. I got some mazapan, which is a famous treat Toledo is known for. I was told I may not like it, but that we have to try it since it is so famous there. They were right, I wasn't a fan. It tasted somewhat like cookie dough, just not very good. haha. 

Then Vern and I went and looked at stores for a few hours. We have been really good about not spending money. I decided to get keychains from every city we visit though to have as a memory, so I got one in Toledo. I also got a gofre! Gofres are so good! My mom here makes the best ones though. They are like waffles with something tasty in them and then you put whipped cream and chocolate on top. nom nom nom:)

Gofre!

After looking around for awhile we met back up with the group and headed home after and incredible day.

When Vern and I got home we did homework and booked our flights to ROME!! ahhh! I'm going to Rome, Italy during our travel week in March. I am so stoked. I am seriously so lucky. I feel so blessed being able to have this awesome experience. I am appreciating every bit of it.

Saturday:

El Palacio de Comunicaciones

Saturday we gladly slept in:) We laid around and then had lunch. Around 2:30 we went to a sports center near here. It is amazing! and free! We ran around the track a bit and watched some kids play soccer. It was a beautiful day in Alcala!
We came home and headed into Madrid around 5. For our Madrid Walks class we have to follow some papers that tell as where to go. We did one this night that took us a bit. Madrid at night was beautiful though. It was fun. We ended up getting back home a little after 9. It was a great day!:)

I Planked in the train. nbd.

Sunday:
We woke up on time for church this week! wooohooo! Church was good. Relief society is first. The ladies got fiesty in there. Some got into arguing with one another. Weird. Sunday school was nice and normal. I really enjoyed Sacrament meeting. Something that really stood out to me that one speaker said was, "What are you thinking when you have nothing to think about?" That defines a lot of who you are. It was really neat. It got me thinking a lot.

I had a dream last night that I was going on a mission. It was the night before I was leaving but I was unprepared. It all seemed sudden, and I didn't have good missionary clothes and it was a mess. It really got me thinking, though. I have somewhat considered a mission for awhile, but have been unsure. Today I really felt like I wanted to. I still am unsure, but I decided today that I will start to prepare just in case. It somewhat shocked me to think that I would be going in less than a year if I do. I am really going to work on preparing now. I will be consistent with my scriptures and prayers. I'm excited to watch my own testimony grow.

Cookies we made!

I went on a walk by myself today. It was so beautiful out. I went to the Plaza Cervantes and sat and watched people. I loved it.
Tonight we made cookies with Encarna. It was fun. She's cute and laughs at everything.

I had a wonderful weekend. I am loving it here. I am truly blessed.

Cookies for breakfast and yogurt for desert.

Monday:

I woke up around 7:15 and got ready for the day! My mom and I are still trying to figure out when the best time to skype is. We tried at 8am there and 11pm there...but she was tired. So we are still trying to figure it out. Hopefully we get it eventually haha. 

We walked to school which started at nine. We had our first spanish class. Our teacher's name is Visi. I am a little worried about this class because I am better at speaking than writing and this class is more about the writing. Our second class is conversational though. That teacher's name is Teresa. She is 27 and super nice! I think I will really like her class. Then we had art again.

Vern and I started to walk home but it was raining and the "6" bus happened to be right by us so we decided to hop on it to get home. We knew that bus 6 and 8 take us home...but then realized after awhile that we were on the wrong bus and going somewhere we did not recognize at all. We finally got off after about 20 minutes and got onto a different bus "6" and hoped it would take us back. As we were going 2 girls from our group got on, Janeen and Whitney. They had already gone to the market and were heading home, all while we had been trying to get home this whole time. Thank goodness
they got on because they helped us and let us know we were now on the right bus haha.

We finished up our spanish homework due the next day, relaxed, then headed to our last class at 5 for the day, religion. I'm really excited for this class. Elder Fausito Lopez is our teacher, he is a quorum of the 70! He seems awesome. FHE will start next. I am a leader of one of those groups:)
Oh and we took the wrong bus home again...wrong bus 2 times in one day. awesome.


Tuesday:
Today I went to my two spanish classes. That's all we had. Then I went home and did homework and relaxed. Vern and I met up with Ali and Marynn and we took the train into Madrid. We went to El Museo del Prado for our assignment. It was so amazing to look at paintings in real life. It is so much more beautiful. You can see the work that people put into it and their different ways of painting. We got home and relaxed some more and had dinner.

Wednesday:

Today was a weird day haha. I woke up not feeling my best. We went to class. We had our two spanish classes and art. After class we started planning for our trip to Rome in March:) Then I came home and worked on some homework. Vern and I signed up to tutor some 15-16 year old kids at a school. We were asked to help them learn english. We arrived to the school and it was nothing of what we expected. We ended up teaching adults. I actually really enjoyed it though. We will be doing it every wednesday. I am pretty excited. All day I have felt a little off. My body aches a bit and I feel tired. Hoping tomorrow will be better.

Thursday:
I feel a whole lot better today. We had just our two spanish classes today. After class Veronica and I came home and rested and watched shows for hours. It was nice relaxing time. We then walked to a mall and looked around. They had SOOO many cute clothes. I settled with two shirts and tights. It's hard to pick things considering just about everything is on sale here right now. Tomorrow I am going to Toledo. I am SO excited.

Well that's a wrap! not too much exciting stuff this weekend. This weekend should have lots more to talk about:)

P.S. My goal is to find this while I am here. YUM.

Fun fun fun fun.

AHH!!! I LOVE SPAIN:)

It is amazing here. That is about all I can say. So here is what's up. You ready?! OKAY!

SATURDAY:

On Saturday Vern left for the day with one of her friends who is in Madrid right now. Therefore, I went out with Ali and Marynn. We took the train into Madrid and walked to El Parque del Retiro! I was so excited. It is a place I had been looking forward to going to. We actually ran into missionaries there too! It was cool! They were elders still in the MTC but they were out to talk to people. One was from Utah and the other one..well we didn't quite understand what he said when he told us where he was from. I think somewhere in Africa?

El Parque del Retiro

Anyway, Retiro park was so beautiful! We went a little early and it was a bit cold out so there weren't many little row boats on the lake. I think I will make a few visits there though and go on a little boat myself. It would be SO much fun! 

Anyway, we looked around this huge and beautiful park. It was great. We then walked back to the train station and headed back. I went to my apartment and relaxed a little and then later we went out to look at some shops here in Alcala.

Latter in the night a lot of Encarna's family came over and I had a fun time with them. There was her brother, his wife, Candela (their 3-year old little girl), their baby, and one of Encarna's other nephews, Rafael. I had a great time spending time with them. Candela is SO cute, she kept saying "donde esta mi amiga, Kristie?" Translation: "Where is my friend, Kristie?" She followed me all around and loved being with me. It was so cute:) I could tell a lot more about her, but I'm keeping it short:) 

Candela and Roberto

Rafael is 18 and he and I talked for a bit about all the differences of Spain and the US. It was fun. He seemed to know a lot about the US and Mexico. I was asking if kids here use Facebook much and he said they sort of do and that he is related to a guy who helped create Facebook. He kinda laughed at it though and then explained. He said that his mother's boyfriend's son's girlfriend is the sister of Sean Parker (Who Justin Timberlake played in The Social Network). Confusing, I know. AND I had to understand it in spanish! Haha. He jokes about it a lot.

SUNDAY:

I had been looking forward to church for a long time! Church is at 10:30 with sunday school first. Unfortunately mine and Vern's alarm clock did not go off. She woke me up at 10:45 and we got ready and showed up for sacrament meeting. I loved hearing the sacrament blessed in spanish again. It was so much fun. Sacrament meeting was short though. They passed the sacrament and then had a prayer and left. I guess they said the heater wasn't working and the building was too cold so they let everyone go early. I had never experienced that, it was kinda funny. I can't wait until I get to know more people in the ward.

For lunch we had some sort of rice with shrimp in it. I'm not a fan of seafood but i tried it and actually enjoyed it! And we had a DELICIOUS desert. It was some tasty type of waffle with whipped cream and chocolate...mmmm!

This evening we went over to the Larsen's home. (Our instructors of the program) It was so much fun! All us girls in the program were there and we enjoyed American chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Man, I miss those treats. We all chatted and had a great time. The girls in our group are just awesome.

I get to skype my mom tonight!:) I haven't really had the opportunity to talk to her since I have been here. It will be 12 at night here and 3pm there. haha. It's the only time that worked for us both. How awesome is that, though? That I can be all the way here in Spain, and her in California and we will get too see each other and talk?? I am so stoked. I miss that cutie.

Welp, all my classes are tomorrow! I'm pretty stoked!:) Hope you all had a good weekend.

Ew, School.

Just kidding!! I'm really excited for school! haha. Today was my first day!
We only had one class though, art. I am super excited for this class. I don't know a whole lot about art, and can't wait to learn. Listen to how awesome this is....

The pictures and art we study, we get to go see in real life! We have weekly assignments where we have to go to museums and look at the paintings. How awesome is THAT?! I am super stoked:) I'm going into Madrid to El Museo del Prado this coming week, probably for a sunday activity, because it is free from 5-8pm. We have to find certain paintings and answer questions on a sheet. The title of the assignment is "Museo del Prado Treasure Hunt"...Fun? I think yes. I can't wait!

More classes start on monday. I will be taking two spanish classes, my art class, a class called "Madrid walks", and a religion class. I am pretty excited for all of them.

After class today Vern and I walked around Alcala and got to know some of the shops better. We were pleased to see some tasty places. There was a Mexican food place, a McDonalds, a Burger King, and tasty treats. We decided to maybe go eat out at least once a week so we don't feel a bit homesick with all this food we are not familiar with.

We came home and Maria made us food. We had this bean soup with potatoes in it and some sausage thing in it. The bean soup was okay...but the sausage I was too afraid to try. It didn't look normal and I know this sounds gross..but blood was leaking out of it into my soup. yuck.

Vern and I were pleased to find out we can watch some of our shows on a website. I know that sounds lame, but it really let us have some time to just feel a bit at home. It can be hard to be away from our normal world sometimes.

Gelado!

This evening Vern, Ali, Marynn, and I went and got gelado. It was the first time I ever tried it! It was pretty tasty! We ended up staying there and talking for about 2 hours. It was fun!

I think Encarna understands how we are feeling about the food. She bought us cookies to eat:) and we had hamburgers tonight! I cant tell you enough how kind Encarna is. I tried something new on my burger. It was an over-easy egg! It was actually really tasty!  We tried this carmel thing they put on bread tonight. I actually really liked it!

Tomorrow I am pretty sure I am going into Madrid and hopefully going to El Parque de Retiro. I have really been looking forward to that. It seems like so much fun.

Hasta Luego.

I LOVE MADRID!

La Puerta del Sol

So last night I did not sleep so well. I can't really tell how many hours of sleep I got because I continuously found myself awake. Vern couldn't sleep either so we both got up around 6:45am when some child outside of our apartment screamed at the top of his lungs as if he was dying and we decided there was no more hope for sleep. We lounged around before we started getting ready for the day around 8:30. At 9:30 we left the apartment to meet up with our group at the train station. At 10 we left Alcala and headed for Madrid!

When we got to Madrid a man named Antonio gave a tour of many places in Madrid. We got to go into some beautiful churches and were shown the outside of more museums I plan to go inside while I am here.

At La Plaza Mayor

Madrid is so incredibly beautiful! It had the same feel as San Francisco, with busy streets and crowds, but my oh my it is MUCH more beautiful. The buildings everywhere are gorgeous. There were so many amazing things to see. I hope to go into Madrid a lot and see and the other amazing parts of it.

Inside La Catedral de la Almudena

After our tour we go to just walk around Madrid and do whatever we want until whenever we want. Some girls and I wanted to try and find a place with some cheap chocolate caliente y churros, but it was a bit pricey in Madrid. I am especially trying to be careful because I am still figuring out the whole euros thing.

At La Puerta del Sol

We were not successful at finding a cheap place but we continued to look around Madrid at different little stores. Then many of the girls from out group decided to head back to Alcala but Vern and I decided to stay behind. We looked at little stores, sat around and people watched, and looked inside the TWO H&M's that they had. Seeing H&M sure made me happy:)

So, let me just say...a lot of the food is interesting and Encarna insists that we eat a lot. She fills our plates and gives us more and more and more and more....and more. Encarna packed us a lunch to take into Madrid, it was some egg/potato sandwhich which was alright but I definitely could not eat it all. Vern and I decided to give it to a homeless man we saw searching in garbage for food. It was a bit awkward. I'm not sure if he just wasn't used to people handing him food, or if he didn't understand because he had trouble taking it. We finally just left it there for him. I hope he liked it!

We headed back to Alcala. Vern and I were proud because we spent NO money at all today.
 We had to figure out the metro and train by ourself. It was a struggle for a bit, but we got it!

We came back home and took a little nap until we had dinner at 8:30pm. Tonight we had PIZZA! It was tasty!
Then I played Wii for a little bit with Roberto.
Then Vern and I decided we would try and walk and see what Alcala was like at night. After walking for about five minutes we got scared and turned around to come home. haha. It was a lot quieter than we expected it to be.

Today was great, classes start tomorrow!

Ba da ba ba baaa...

"Ba da ba ba baaaa...I'm lovin' it."
Yes, meaning I am loving Spain! So what if I have only been here for 2 days? It has been SO amazing so far.
Want to know what has been going on? I'd assume so because you are reading this so here we goooo:)... As told in my previous post, I love our host family. They are so kind and generous.
I got a solid 13 hours of sleep last night. It was beautiful. No more jet lag for Kristie!! Woot Woot!
This is what I did today:

After sleeping in late...until about 11am...I got up and took my precious time getting ready.
At about one Vern and I decided to go look for a store with shampoo and conditioner/walk around a bit. It was fun walking around and seeing all the people. There are so many cute old people out and about all the time:)

La Plaza de Cervantes

At 2 We came back to our apartment and Maria made us lunch. It was..different. haha. I think I will be trying a lot of new things while I am here. I better get used to it
We met with our group at 3:30 at La Universidad de Alcala, the school I will be attending for the next 3 months. Then a lady named Rocio, who is basically like our tour guide, gave us a little tour around Alcala. We got to see many museums from the outside that I plan to go into while I live here!
We were shown where the train station was, because tomorrow we will be taking it into Madrid. I am SO excited!

We then got to scatter and just walk around Alcala. Vern and I went to this little place where we tried out first chocolate caliente con churros (hot chocolate with churros). OH MY GOSH it was delicious! Tasty tasty.

We then came home and Encarna fed us some tasty pasta and yogurt with fruit. It was a delicious dinner. I enjoyed it very much.
After dinner we talked for quite awhile with Encarna and Roberto. I enjoy talking to them because they just love having conversations. Encarna loves hearing about what we do during the day and wants to know about everything!
Today she found out I had lived in Mexico and then she said she could tell that's why I had that accent. She said my accent is very different from theirs. It was interesting! I still have that Mexican accent, which is sort of fun:)

Well I have to wake up earlier tomorrow, so I should rest. Madrid in the morning!:)

Goodnight!

And here I sit in my cute little room in Spain...

I’m in Spain, wait…what?!

After waking up at 4am in California, flying from San Francisco to Philadelphia for 5 hours, a lay-over for an hour and a half, flying over the Atlantic Ocean for 7 hours, with a total of 24 hours of traveling, I have made it to Madrid safe and sound. I’m living in a cute little apartment in a city named Alcala, which is right outside of Madrid.

My travels were...interesting. I think you might find it fun to read...

I met with my roommate, Vern, at the San Francisco airport. All seemed smooth until a lady working for US Airlines insisted that Vern's carry on was too large. She made her test it in one of those luggage tester thingys and sure enough it didn't fit. So, what did Vern do? She literally began ripping clothes out of her bag, putting more layers on, and jumping on her bag to make it fit. But after all that hard work, getting the bag stuck in the testing thing and having my mom, Vern, and I have to all 3 work together to get it out, she sadly had to check it for $70...boo. We finally were able to walk through and the poor handle of my carry-on broke...all throughout the rest of my travels it began to break more and more...It has no handle at all now.

The 5 hour flight from there went smoothly and we landed in Philadelphia. We had a lay-over there for an hour and a half. It was fun walking through the airport and recognizing all the people from Europe. I had my first chance to speak spanish there when two Spaniard ladies behind me were unable to communicate with a guy working a food station and I was able to translate. It was awesome!!:)

We then boarded our flight to SPAIN!!! Vern and I got a middle isle of 4 seats all to ourselves. It was really nice! Although it was a 7-hour flight, there was a lot of entertainment. There were movies, games, etc. 

Then we landed:)

We got our luggage, got some food, and headed to the place we were to meet the rest of our group. Slowly girls from our group began to show up. It was so fun meeting them.

NOW FOR A SCARY/FUNNY STORY...

Have you seen the movie Taken? Well, if you have it felt like we were in the movie.

There was me and about 8 other girls just sitting and talking in the airport when some random man walks up to us awkwardly. It suddenly got quiet. He began with, "Merry Christmas." Weird. He than began asking us where we were from and such. (He was from Russia). He then said, "Do you girls want to come to a party tonight?" UMMMM...if you have indeed seen Taken, sound familiar? Of course we denied, but he continued to ask us many questions. He asked one girl for her number and she said no. Finally our instructor then showed up and the scary man immediately felt nervous, he could not look anywhere but down and became silent and left. Yep, scary.. but what an experience. We have now been told to not smile or laugh at any scary men. Be rude, give them a mug shot, and they leave. Bam.

We then took a bus to La Plaza. A beautiful place here in Alcala and got picked up! The lady that picked us up is named Maria. She a very sweet lady. She took us to the little apartment we will be living in for the next 3 months. We live with Maria's daughter, Encarna, and Encarna's 13 year old son, Roberto. I love them already. Honestly, some of the nicest people I have ever met. Maria lives in the building next to us but says she comes here very often. They are so kind! 

Encarna and Roberto gave us a little tour of how to walk to La Plaza and our school. I loved walking around Alcala. There were so many people out walking around. It is so beautiful here. I have also already had the chance to try some foods here! 

Encarna is so sweet. She only has a couple rules for us. She said she doesn't care how late we are out, but if we go into Madrid, to always let her know. She said no boys in the house. She said only speak spanish so we can become great at it. She said we are not allowed to clean our dishes or anything because all she wants us to do is study. She said she does our laundry. Lastly, she said we have to at least try her foods so we can experience food from Spain, but if we don't like it just tell her and she doesn't care. I like her a lot already.

So here I am, in my little room in Spain about to have the time of my life. 

Here are my thoughts so far: I'm loving it. Man, am I blessed to have this experience. 

Well, its 10:30pm here, so I should probably get some sleep.
Goodnight:)

                                                                                                                      

I'm freaking outtt!!

I leave...TOMORROW. OH MY GOSH!! I don't even know how to explain all the emotions I am experiencing at the moment. I had no idea I would be freaking out this much! All of a sudden I am nervous and scared. What do you expect, I'll be living in a new country for three months! Tomorrow I board my plane at 8:25am and head to Spain. Is this real life?!

Yes, I am scared and nervous like I said, but out of all these emotions I mostly excited. I know it will be an adventure I will remember forever. I am excited to meet the people of Spain, to have an awesome roommate, to travel, and experience things that not everyone gets to. I will cherish this very much. I was lucky to have my birthday a few days ago and get books from several people about Spain, an awesome passport holder, and a travel journal. This travel journal is AWESOME. I can't wait to use it:) (Thanks A-Wood)

I thought I should just give a few heads up on things before I leave:

First off, I have no idea if my host family will have internet or not. So, I may not be able to blog or go on Facebook or Skype to talk to people as much as I would like to. I will just have to find out when I get there, and I will let you all know ASAP.

Second, I will not have a cellphone that you will be able to contact me with, so if you call/text me, I am not ignoring you. I promise.

Third, feel free to follow me on this blog for the next few months and get a taste of what I am experiencing. I will try and post as much as possible. I will be taking millions of pictures, I already know.

Lastly, adios. See you in 3 months:)