Fiestas, Siestas, and Getting Lost.

I was so surprised...there are strange Tetris statues around Salamanca.

Well, let's see what's happened since our last post. There's been a lot of going to classes--shocking--and randomness. This past week, there's been an art festival going on, so there have been random things in the Plaza almost every night. Just a couple nights ago, there were some crazy French dudes dancing a kind of mix between modern dance, African dances, hip hop, and crazy acrobatic and strength things. It was so awesome. The Plaza was packed, and sometimes I couldn't even see anything, but there was a lot of flipping around and climbing on top of each other, so I was fine for most of it. So amazing. Made me miss dancing, or at least watching dancing, a lot. 

That night, we also got to talk to a group of pretty cute rugby guys from England. Ahh, their accents! They were pretty entertaining, but we weren't going out that night, so we only talked to them for a little bit, sadly. 

The night before that, Caroline and Giana went out. We'd been walking around all day, so I was stuck inside with back pains exhaustion. But they had a ton of fun. In fact, they're dictating this next part to me: Giana says, "It was the best night ever because it was 5 euros for all you can drink sangria and beer the whole night. As we were getting our second glass of sangria, some Holland guy that liked Caroline (C--"He liked you too!" G--"No he didn't.") bought us this blue shot and then we had to run away." Caroline says, "we had to find Becca and Sam. Took a few pictures with them. Then, as we were talking, a strange man stumbled down the stairs. We never did hear his voice, because he said nothing, but offered to do a cheers with us. So we did, and he stumbled away." Giana--"It's true. The rest of the night was dancing, sitting in front of the Casa de las Conchas, and spying on people from the balcony. Like the skater guy that couldn't dance." Caroline--"Wait, on the way from the Casa de las Conchas, some guy grabbed my hand and kissed it, and tried to take me away, but Giana grabbed me back and pulled me away. She saved me." Giana--"Then me, Caroline, and PG (the German kid who lives with our host family now, who's name sounds a lot like Piggy. I don't know how to spell it, and Giana calls him PG) went to the playground. We swung on the swings and I cut open my toe. Somehow. I'm assuming that's how it happened. But it's okay, cause Caroline forgot her purse, and PG ran back for it." Caroline--"But then I wrote our names in the sand, and PG was happy about it because it meant we were friends." 

Giana says, "We need to redo that night tonight," and Caroline is agreeing, so we'll see how tonight goes. haha But basically, they had a great night--much better than when we all went out on Thursday. There was no one anywhere, even though it's supposedly the night for foreigners. I was trying to catch and entice that German kid from my classes, all to no avail. Caroline says she thinks he might be gay, Giana is waiting til she talks to him to make a judgment, and some random Irish chick I asked said she thinks he's just vain. Not looking too promising for me, so hopefully I just find a Spanish dude tonight. haha My official type: gay guys.

A picture of us looking fly on Thursday. Yeah, I was laughing.

Anyway, we hung around last night, talking and watching (or falling asleep to, in my case) Monsters, Inc. Then we slept in forever today--apparently we were tired--and seriously pissed off Yolanda (our host "mother") since we missed breakfast and lunch...Oops. But really, just knock on our door and ask if we want food! We were all passed out for hours. So we should be up for a typical Spanish fiesta night tonight. 

Oh! And, Caroline and I got extremely lost on Thursday, as well. We were supposed to meet Dr. Schairer, our professor from NAU, to read Don Quixote, but we had no idea where to go. We checked the map, and got a pretty good idea of where the building was, checked the map frequently, and still passed it somehow. We missed streets left and right, ended up on streets that weren't even on the map (which I didn't know was possible), and at one point, found ourselves across the river. How in the world we ended up across the river, or why, I have no clue. We were so confused. We trudged across the bridge, stopping to take pictures with strange Tetris figures (I'm serious). We walked by every building in the south part of the university campus, and still have no idea where that building is supposed to be. 

Even Spaniards like Tetris.

By the time we finally got back to central-ish Salamanca, it was starting to rain. We stopped at one point to treat ourselves to a little chocolatey, donut-ish thing, bought a mini Spanish-English dictionary, and finally dripped into our apartment building. We were lost for two hours looking for that stupid building, and have no clue where it is, still. At least it was a funny experience, and we like rain. Seriously, I have no idea how we ended up across the river--still blows my mind. 

Well, we've got nothing else to report. Ooh, except that we talked about what we like about Spain, and what we miss about home at lunch today. We had pizza at a nice little place, thank goodness. So good. Here are our thoughts, reconstructed from my memory (not exact quotes, haha): Giana--"I really like how much we walk around here. I've lost weight already. I wish I could do that so much at home, but there's really no way. What I miss most about home is that there is so much more to do. Like in the afternoons. I'm already bored." Brandi--"I really like the history and the old feel of all the buildings here. Walking through the city is so much more of an experience than in baby America. What I miss the most about home is American food. Spanish food is alright, and sometimes really good, but I frickin miss cheeseburgers and french fries!" (Giana says, "But you eat so unhealthy at home!" Brandi responds, "Yeah, and I don't want to just eat this healthy Spanish stuff") Caroline--"What I like most about Spain is all their parks. (Brandi--"Really? Parks are what you like about Spain?") Fine. That is pretty sad. What I like then is the crazy, completely different schedule here. There are some bad parts about it, but it's just so different. What I miss about home is being lazy. (Giana--"You are lazy here.") No, not really. We just always have to be doing something here." 

So there you go. Our thoughts on Spain and home. Of course, we miss all of our friends and family, but that is just too cheesy and too simple an answer. :] Bull fight tomorrow evening, and fiestas tonight. Have a great afternoon, you weirdos. It's 8:30 pm here!

**I'm adding pictures to this in just a little bit.