The Summer that I Gave Myself Skin Cancer

Hola chicos!

So it is our second week in Spain and I am still loving it although I do get home sick every now and then. School is going great and I feel like I am understanding more everyday. Some days I just wish I could hear only English for a solid six hours though haha. It gets very overwhelming at times. Tomorrow school starts for everyone (the past few days has been only for us ISA kids).

This weekend a few of us may got to Nerja Beach which is one of the pretty beaches around here. They also have caves and such to explore. However, my dear brother, Aaron, JUST decided to tell me yesterday that this is his last week in Spain so I am going to see if he wants to come down here, or I will just go to Nerja some other time and ride down to Rota to see him.

Other than that, there isn't much going on besides going to school and the beach everyday (sounds horrible right?) We have an intercambio tomorrow night with native students. So basically we will get together with them and they will help teach us Spanish while we help teach them English. So I am really hoping that this helps me a lot!

Well I miss you all and I appreciate you guys reading! It lets me know that you still remember me :)

Amber

P.S. I am really trying to put pics up but it just wont work for me!

Finally Got Internet!

Sorry it has been so long! We (My roomie Hanna (who is awesome) and I) just found out we have internet at our house which is fairly uncommon so we are stoked! We started school on Wednesday. Luckily we are only about 10 minutes from the school so we can walk. A lot of people have to take the bus which gets expensive. I didn't test into the class that I wanted to but it is probably for the better. Class is really awesome though. We go to class for 5 hours a day but it flies because it is so fun. The teachers are really friendly but they don't speak much English which has to be hard for the kids who are here and have literally never taken any Spanish at all.

We are also really close to the beach so I have been hanging out there a lot. I am already pretty sunburned! Our senora, Elena, is super awesome. Everyday I get better at understanding her and now I feel pretty comfortable listening to her. Our host dad, Jose, is funny but not around too much. He had to cook dinner the other night when our senora went out so we got hotdogs lol... typical. But Elena make the BEST food. Everything is made from scratch and is delicious! I have finally gotten use to the eating schedule too! We also have two girls from Austria staying with us and they are super nice (and know english thank God).

Anyways, we went out to El Centro last night which is the "downtown" area where all the discotecas are. It was super crazy because there was a soccer game between Barcelona and Manchester last night and Barcelona won so there was just a bunch of drunk people EVERYWHERE light a Manchester jersey on fire and blowing it up with fireworks.... Just in the middle of town no biggie... It was awesome I am putting a video on facbook so check it out! Also, people get REALLY dressed up to go out... like if we wore the same things to the bars in lincoln people would laugh at us. But everyone here is constantly dressed up (and they are all so damn skinny)! Also, everyone stays out really late. The bars don't open til 11 PM and close around 7 AM. Even older people are out until about 12:30 AM. It's awesome.

But besides everything being so expensive, I am loving it here! The weather, the beach, the school, everything. And my spanish is getting a lot better. Sometimes is just gets so overwhelming to constantly be hearing it. But I am working hard and hopefully I will come back pretty fluent. Anyways, thanks for reading this, I know it is probably just all over the place!

Amber

First few days in Espana!

Well I have now been in Spain for 3 days! The hardest thing has been the time change.... 7 hours ahead of home! So for example, in NE it is 5:41 PM.... Here it is 12:41 AM. Rough. The next hardest thing has been the language barrier. The locals get so frustrated with you when you can't communicate and I just feel so helpless. Thank goodness I start class Thursday. Five hours a day, M-F of Spanish! I better become fluent...

Anyways... We stayed our first few nights in Madrid which is a city of about 3 million people. It was amazing the architecture is just amazing! Like everything is medieval looking even the apartments. It is just amazing. I am in Toledo now which is much different, about the size of Cheyenne, and it has the most amazing cathedrals I have ever seen. (You are going to have to look at my facebook for pictures because it takes way too long to try to upload on here). But tomorrow we head for Malaga which is where we are actually going to school. And guess what??? I live 10 minutes from one of the best beaches in Spain! Now I just need a beach body which won't be hard since the eating patterns are so strange here (and we walk everywhere). A VERY light breakfast at 8ish, a large lunch at 2:30ish and a small dinner at 9ish. It is very hard to get used to!

I just love it so much. I could live here and teach English if Dean would go for it. It is so different and unique and unlike anything I have ever seen. Anyways... I hope you guys like reading this... it's kinda weird for me but I guess it is a great way to stay in touch! Love you and miss you all!