Hey Guys,


I wanted to let everyone know that I am in Philadelphia! My plane to Chicago leaves at 6:00!! It feels really different to be in America!!!


See you soon :)

Hey Guys!


Today is officially my last full day in Toledo.....I am feeling a range of emotions!! I am happy and excited to go home to see my family and my friends, but I am a little sad that I am leaving everything here! Tomorrow will definitely be an awkward day leaving my family for the last time.....


I brought all my luggage to school today (with the help of Jake and Taylor). I will definitely be the first one to say that I packed way tooooooooo many things to come here :) All of my luggage was a little unnecessary!!! I leave for Lisbon tomorrow afternoon. I will be heading to Madrid around noon for my 4 o'clock flight. We will be spending 4 days in Lisbon. On Wednesday I will begin to make the dreaded return back to Toledo to get my luggage and then to Madrid to spend the night.....I am still trying to figure out how I will be able to get ALL OF MY LUGGAGE from the bus station in Madrid to my hotel.....Any ideas?!?! I want to stay away from the Metro....I have enough horror stories from that already!!! I'm definitely thinking a taxi and the money will be WELL SPENT :)


I got back from my Semana Santa Adventure this past Tuesday. After Cadíz we went to Granada. I loved Granada (even thought it rained every day)! Brittany and I spent all of Saturday with our intercambio, Estrella and her family. We walked around the city, get lunch, had some tea, and some drinks. They are so amazing!! I am REALLY going to miss them!!!


After Granada we spent a day and a half in Malaga....It stopped raining long enough that I got in a few hours at the beach...THANK GOODNESS!!!! We took the train back from Malaga to Madrid. When I got home, I had my last English lesson with Gabriel. He was sad that I was leaving so that made it hard!!! After my English class I had my graduation ceremony....I passed all of my classes :) 


On Wednesday, Brittany and I went to school with Nerea (Estrella's daughter). We went to Nerea's English class and another English class....I think this solidified my reasonings for not wanting to be a teacher!!! I forgot how chatty third graders are :) After school, we went to have lunch at their house for the last time...It was really sad saying goodbye to them :( Hopefully we can all stay in contact!!!


Yesterday was spent packing all of my luggage up....My room looks empty and sad now!!! I basically threw everything in my suitcases because I will have to re-pack when I get to the hotel on Wednesday night....It was difficult packing for Lisbon and to come home!! I definitely only have the necessities going to Lisbon with me!!!


Today I watched the Royal Wedding!! It just wasn't the same with Spanish translations talking over everything else!!!!


I am on my way to Enebros for on last night of Tapas!! It just won't be the same drinking in Green Bay!!!


I miss everyone tons and I will see everyone soooooo soon!!! I will try to update and let everyone know how Lisbon is going :)


Besos y Abrazos!!!
B

¡Hola!


I just wanted to say I made it home safely from my Semana Santa vacation. I got back yesterday afternoon, taught my last English class, and went to my graduation ceremony. I passed all my classes :)


I will update you guys on the whole adventure tomorrow when I am not as tired!!


Have a great night!!!
Besos y Abrazos :)
B

Hey everyone!

I am on my iPod so I'm not sure how this is going to work! I wanted to let everyone know everything is going well. I am in Puerto de Santa Maria. I am about 25 minutes from the city of Cadiz, in the south of Spain. We have already been to Cordoba and Sevilla. I leave for Granada on Thursday. It is really nice being in a city longer than 24 hours!!!

There have been a few "setbacks" along the way like spending 4 hours in a Spanish hospital ER because Brittany fell down the stairs of the hostel in Cordoba. Or being caught in 47983316906 people in a Semana Santa (Holy Week) prosessional in Sevilla!

The weather is supposed to be cold and rainy the rest of our vacation... Of course that means I didn't pack any long pants or warm clothes!!!

I will try to update in the next few days! Have a great rest of the week!!

Muchos besos y abrazos!!
B

P.S. I heard Green Bay is expecting more snow... YUCK!!!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Hello Everyone,


This will be my last update for a while :( I leave for my Semana Santa adventure early tomorrow morning. I am completely exhausted from school this week and packing!! 


Everything is going much better now that school is done!! I took my last final today. I won't find out the results until April 26th. I feel like I did well on all of the exams so that is a good thing!!! My exam today went much better than I expected! Looking back on last night, I shouldn't have stressed as much as I did!!!


I have all 11 days packed in my backpack :) Who would have thought that I would ever be able to get 11 days in my backpack?!?! I never did!!!!


I just wanted to let everyone know that things are much better now that I am done with classes!! My trip may be kind of stressful because we are going to so many cities (5 cities) in so little of time, but I know it will ALL WORK OUT IN THE END!!!


All forms of technology are charged and ready to go! I will be sure to take lots of pictures for everyone :) I will have internet capabilities throughout the whole trip so if anyone needs something, I will be checking my email when I can!!!


Please have a great and safe next few days!!! I miss everyone tons and I will be home soon (three weeks from today!)


I will talk to everyone soon!
Happy Easter :)
Besos y Abrazos
B

Hello everyone,


I just wanted to update quickly and let everyone know that I am making it through finals week. I took a final on Monday (my birthday) in my womens' history class. That test was VERY easy and I was the first one done. So either that means I knew everything VERY well or I didn't know as much as everyone else! 


Yesterday (Tuesday) I had my last day a my internship. Everyone was really nice and sad to see me leave, so that made it a little hard! I really enjoyed working there with everyone (minus the smoking issue)! I will really miss working there, but I won't miss getting up early every Tuesday!!!


Today I had my grammar final....I should have studied for this one because it was pretty difficult! The way I see it, even if I failed, I would still get at least a C in the class, so I am still golden :) Boy did that sentence sound EXACTLY like something Brock would say!! I spent most of the afternoon with my intercambio and her family. We were talking about where we are staying on our Spring Break Adventure (they will be in Granada the same time we are) and they told us that our hostel in "Granada" is actually about an hour outside of the city.....SOOOOOO Estrella called 23907519823 different hotels and hostels to see what we can do.....We are still looking because everything is sooooo expensive because it is "spring break". I will let you guys know what happens with at!


Tomorrow I have my last final. It is in my art class. This was the class I disliked the most. It will also be the toughest final....I am extremely stressed and feel like I still have so much to get done with spring break, my trip to Lisbon, and coming home. I haven't even started packing for the spring break adventure yet and I leave early Friday morning....Nothing like waiting for the last minute! 


Along with all the packing and traveling stress, my classes for SNC aren't falling into place as I hoped they would!! So that is to be continued as well.....


I hope everyone is having a WONDERFUL Wednesday and I will try to update again before I leave on Friday!


Talk soon,
B


P.S. I didn't re-read this blog....sorry for any mistakes!

I finally updated!!!

Hello everyone!!!

I just noticed that I haven't fully updated since March 20th!!! Boy how time flies!!! I do apologize that I haven´t let anyone know what has been going on!!! I have been busy traveling and attempting to do some homework :)

Let´s see.....I will try to make this as short and sweet as possible!!! I can´t remember anything exciting happening with school in the past 2 weeks. I have finals next week and just finished my last official class!!! It feels really nice to be DONE! I can´t believe how easy my classes were this semester. That is probably a good thing considering how difficult my next whole year is going to be with school at SNC. I will still be graduating in May of next year and will graduate with a double major in Psychology and Spanish (unless something goes drastically wrong next year!). 

Two weekends ago I was in Madrid with my friend from Green Bay, Ali. She was on the Ashwaubenon Dance Team with me when I was a sophomore and a junior...Her mom was also my dance coach!!!! Ali was working in Amsterdam and decided to come to Madrid for the weekend before she went back to work. We just spent the weekend walking about Retiro Park, doing some shopping, and having tapas! It sure was nice to talk to/see someone from home!

My internship is going well. My last day is April 12th. I have been spending the past few weeks with psychologists. I really did like working with patients who have addictions. It was nice to see their progress over the 10 weeks that I have been there with them. Although, I still would rather work with children than people with addictions. I have been starting to look for internships in Green Bay for this summer. It will be nice to get my foot in the door for the future when I graduate. It is just a little bit difficult looking and applying to places when I am 4000 miles away from everyone and everything!!! I have also started looking for graduate schools in school psychology (to be a school guidance counselor). 

The past few weeks I have been spending a lot of time with my intercambio and her family. She works for the police so Brittany and I got a tour of the police station here in Toledo. Yesterday she showed us the holding cells where they keep some of the inmates while they are being booked....I felt like my dad when I walked in and knew one of the inmates from the clinic!!! What are the odds of that?!?! Looks like he won't be able to make his next appointment!!! My intercambio's son, Aarón, fell and broke his arm two days ago!! The poor thing is going to be in a cast for the next 6 weeks!

I just want to give a mini shout-out to Morgan, my roommate, who broke her leg this past weekend!! She was in a head on collision with a.......BIKE!! Not a motorcycle....a bicycle!!! I hope you get better soon and I probably receive the worst roommate of the year award for laughing so hard, but let's me real.....who gets hit by a bicylce and break a leg!!!! HA HA HA!!!! 

This past weekend was my favorite trip since I  have been here!!! Brittany, Jake, Katie, and I flew to Barcelona on Thursday night. Our hostel was super nice and really clean. It was on one of the main shopping streets in Barcelona and pretty much in the middle of everything!!! The first day there we walked Las Ramblas. It is a long street with stores on both sides and mini kiosks down the center selling all sorts of different things. There was also a HUGE market on Las Ramblas. I'm sure many of you saw the pictures from the market!!! I have got quite a few comments about them!!! HA HA HA I am glad you all finally understand the struggles I am having here! I stopped asking what I am eating for fear of it being something I took a picture of!!! I just hope my family doesn't send me an email when I get home and tell me all of the disgusting things they have been feeding me this whole time!!! On Friday, I also had Starbucks for the first time since I have been in Spain and let me tell you...IT WAS AMAZING!!!! That could be one of the main reasons why I loved the trip so much!

One of the more exciting things in Barcelona was bartering with the sales associates to get lower prices on their merchandise. If you walk in and see a shirt that is priced for 45 and say that you will offer 20 for it.....9 time out of 10, you will get it for that price!!! It was great!!!

I would also like everyone to know that I purchased my first soccer jersey while in Barcelona. Who would have thought I WOULD EVER BUY SOMETHING ASSOCIATED WITH SOCCER!!! Sure enough, I did!!! The FC Barcelona soccer team is officially my favorite team (due to the fact that they won the World Cup, have the best player in the world, and their players are GORGEOUS!!).  My favorite player is Gerard Piqué. Too bad he is dating Shakira though :( 

We spent a lot of time at the beach in Barcelona as well!! I was nice to get away from all of the people and just relax a bit...I also got a really nice tan!!

On Saturday we went to the Sagrada Familia (a really big church). It is still being constructed and won´t be finished until 2026. Maybe I will have to return to see the final project!!! We also went to see the Olympic facilities. There were a bunch of parks that were really nice to just sit and watch the watch falls and fellow people walking around!

I have a busy few weeks coming up in the near future!!! Of course, my brithday is this Monday!!! I wish I could be at home celebrating with everyone in Green Bay, but the festivities will continue when I return! Then I leave for my two weeks of traveling on Friday the 15th. I will be spending a fews days in each of the following cities: Cordoba, Sevilla, Cadiz, Granada, and Malaga before returning back to Toledo on Tuesday the 26th. Did I mention that I will be living out of my backpack for those two weeks that I will be traveling?!?!?! WISH ME LUCK!!!! We shall see how that ends up!!! Tuesday the 26th is the final day of the program. We receive our diplomas (if we pass!). I will be in Toledo from Tuesday the 26th to Friday the 30th. That's when I leave for my final trip to Lisbon, Portugal. 

I land in Madrid on the 4th of May and Jake, Taylor, Brittany, and I will be spending one more night in Madrid before we make our way back to America! I can't believe how time has flown by over here!!! 

The weather has been AMAZING!! Today and the rest of the week will be in the low to mid 80s!!! Hopefully it will be that warm when I come back home :) Ok I know that is a little unrealistic, but I at least hope their won't be any snow!!!!

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and  a wonderful weekend!!! I will update frequently next week and let everyone know how my finals are going!! I will not have my laptop with my while I travel so I apologize for the lack of communication while I am traveling! I still get internet on my iPod so I will reply to emails as soon as I can!!!

I miss eveyone lots and I will be home VERY soon!!!!

Besos y Abrazos,

B

Barcelona Pictures Are Posted!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I just posted my Barcelona pictures. CAUTION: If you haven't looked at them, I suggest that you look at them after your dinner settles. If you have already looked at them, I apologize if you tossed your cookies or became a vegetarian! Those pictures are a little glimpse of what kinds of things I have been "eating" over here.....Does anyone blame me for not liking the food now?!?!?! 


I will do a full update tomorrow sometime throughout the day! Sorry it has taken me so long!!!


Besos y abrazos
B

Hey guys!


I just wanted to update quick to let everyone know that everything is going great! I have been so busy this past week with school, work, and traveling. I am sorry that I haven't had much time to update!! I leave for Barcelona tomorrow and I won't be back until Sunday. I promise a full update and pictures when I get home :) 


I hope everyone is having a great week! I miss all of you lots and I will be sure to update soon!!!


Besos 
B


P.S. Tomorrow it will be in the 70's here....So I will be sure to send some of the warm weather home!!!

Hey everyone! I hope your weekend was as nice as mine was!! I just got back to school after my Madrid extravaganza. I told my family I wouldn't be home for lunch (which is right now) and it is culturally rude to just show up, so I had to come to school to kill a little time....Boy do I miss just popping into my parents house to see what’s for lunch/dinner!!! They would NEVER tell me I can't eat if I didn't let them know I was coming :)

This weekend was a whirlwind! I got to Madrid at about 11:00 yesterday morning. My bus to take me to the bus station was LATE so I had to sprint from the bus stop, with my backpack and my purse, to buy my ticket and catch the 10:00 bus to Madrid. Can you picture that?!? All I kept thinking was, BOY DO I HOPE NO ONE I KNOW SEES ME RIGHT NOW!!! I was the last person to get on the bus!! LUCKY ME!!! The bus ride was REALLY boring alone!! The guy sitting in the across the aisle from me was rolling his cigarettes so that was pretty interesting to see....And I am just assuming they were cigarettes!!! Once I got to Madrid I had a 45 minute metro ride to the hostel...We all know how much I love the metro systems! I didn't get lost so that was exciting!

The hostel was pretty nice. When I got there, I called Maureen to see what everyone was up to. They (Maureen, Shannon, Natalie, and Christine) had gone out the night before and didn't get back home until 6:00am so they were all VERY tired!! Once everyone got up and going we headed to the Museum of Natural Sciences. It was filled with a lot of "stuffed" animals, rocks, minerals, bones, etc. It was the typical science museum. The most interesting part of it was when I was trying to buy my ticket the lady wouldn't give me my student discount. When we come here, the school gives us a "carnet joven" or student card to get discounts all over Spain. You can use this card until you are 25. Apparently at this particular museum you need your actual school student ID card to VERIFY you are actually a student....Of course I didn't bring my card to Spain with me because I never though it was going to be needed!! The 4 other girls all had their student passes and they were like hey she is with us...she is a student...and the NOT VERY NICE SPANISH LADY was a bit CRABBY and didn't let me....so I ended up paying a few dollars more to get the regular fee ticket...The funny part of the story is that NO ONE EVEN LOOKED TO SEE IF WE HAD TICKETS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE MUSEUM!!! This is one example of how dysfunctional Spain is!

After the museum we went to eat at Museo de Jamon (Ham Museum). They had a really good lunch special…it was called the Piknik (picnic). You got a sandwich, apple, and water for 2 Euros!! WHAT A STEAL!! Then we found some shade to sit in while we ate because it was SOOOOOO hot in Madrid this weekend!! 

After lunch we went home to change into shorts and t-shirts, but of course the only pants I brought were black jeggings...So here I am walking around Madrid in my black jeggins, black boots, and a white tee....HA HA HA!!! Everyone, but Christine, went to the Reina Sofia Museum. This is a museum of modern art. It was free for students and this time I got in without a doubt :) We were only here for a little while, before we had to head home to change for dinner and the concert!!

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It was nice to have an American meal again!! I pulled a Brock and got chicken tenders. I only say this because Brock ONLY orders chicken tenders when we go out somewhere...We used to tell him he was going to turn into a chicken!! Dinner was AMAZING!!! There was only one slight issue during dinner. All of the girls were talking about their ticket and I noticed their ticket looked a lot different than mine. I just had a printed out piece of paper and they got ACTUAL tickets! So I read my ticket (of course it is in Spanish) and it says something to the effect of....YOU NEED TO PICK YOUR TICKET UP FROM PARTICIPATING KIOSKS UP TO 72 HOURS BEFORE THE SHOW...Well of course I didn't see that before I got to Madrid...so here I sat all dinner thinking I wasn't going to get into the concert. 

Then we walked 20 minutes to get to the Palacio de Deportes (Sports Palace) where the concert was being held...Luckily my ticket problem all worked out and it was waiting there for me at Will Call!!! When we walked in, we had no idea who the opening band was!! The stadium seats were half empty and the floor was sparse!! We had tickets to stand on the floor in front of the stage.

The crowd was EXTREMELY DIVERSE! We were all wondering who would attend a Taylor Swift concert in Madrid....Well in case you were wondering the same thing....There were little girls about 8-12 years old, parents, adult men in business suits and business attire, teenagers, a kid in a slipknot t-shirt.....just a bunch of random people!!! I also forgot to mention that Maureen bought these RIDICULOUS metallic cowboy hats for the concert....I will hopefully put a picture up online (pending on how I look in it!!). I think out of the couple thousand people there, we only saw about 3 other people wearing cowboy hats! We definitely weren't in the States anymore!!

While we were standing in the back of the stadium, I noticed a mini stage set up with stairs to go up to it. So I proceed to tell the girls that HEY I THINK TAYLOR IS GOING TO BE PLAYING A SONG UP THERE...WE SHOULD STAND OVER THERE TO WAIT...Of course that didn't go over too well...So I was thinking...okay if she really is going to play over there I am going to be VERY upset!! Then I saw them testing the lights on the stage...so I KNEW she was going to play over there....

The concert started right on time at 9:30. She was AMAZING!! I have heard from a bunch of people that she isn't any good live, but I thought she was AWESOME (and I am a tough critic!!!) She sang songs from her latest album and her previous album. Then all of a sudden she went off stage and the lights got darker, but the band kept playing and I go OK WE ARE MOVING TO THAT STAGE RIGHT NOW SHE IS GOING TO COME WHEN EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT THE MAIN STAGE AND THEY WILL GET HER THROUGH THE CROWD THEN...So they decided to follow me and wait by the mini stage. Taylor reappeared on the big stage to sing Speak Now and then she proceeded into the crowd with a bunch of body guards surrounding her....So being the tiny person I am...I PUSH AND SHOVE MY WAY TO THE FRONT OF THE MINI STAGE!! You guys would be so proud of me :) She was literally ten feet away from us!!! Natalie goes, “Brooke I’m not sure if you realize, but there isn’t anyone standing between you and Taylor right now.” It was really cool!! She sang four songs up on the mini stage before she headed back to the main one...I thought I was going to die when she left the mini stage because everyone and their brothers were pushing me from behind, but there were ropes and security guards in front of me so I had no place to go...I did get some awesome pictures of her up on that stage though!!! I feel kind of bad because a girl standing next to me was jumping and being really annoying so I "accidently" gave her an elbow to the stomach :) MY BAD!!!

I loved the concert!!! It was one of the best things I have been to on this trip!! If anyone is wondering if she sang in Spanish or English, like you Carli, she sang in English, but she did manage to get a few sentences of Spanish out to the crowd!! I will definitely be posting pictures up online when I get home!! They should be up by your bedtime tonight!!! After the concert we went back to the hostel and everyone crashed!!

I only slept for about 2 hours because it was SOOOOOOOO noisy outside....It sounded like a circus was going on 3 feet from my room!!! Then my lovely roommate from South Korea decided to get up, bang around, take a shower, and turn on the lights.....I'm not sure if that is acceptable in Korea, but I thought it was RUDE! So I got up 2 hours before I was supposed to, showered, ate breakfast, and played on my iPod for a bit...Thank goodness I had my iPod to keep me entertained!!! When the 4 other girls got up they decided they wanted to go to mass.....Let's get one thing clear, I am not exactly the person who attends church every Sunday....to say the least...

So here I am, not knowing ANYTHING about the things to do and things not to do of church... I get confused with church in America, much less church in a different language. If I offend anyone with any of the following comments I apologize!! I can definitely say I got my work out today. I was up and down and kneeling and up and down about  2395791230 times during mass....Then you do this lunge things in and out of the pews so that took care of my lunges for the day too :) I only messed up one time...I sat when I was supposed to kneel, but no major issue!! I thought the priest was going to cough up his lung during his "speech". All he kept doing was coughing and hacking!!! HA HA HA!! I thought his purple "robe" was pretty sweet though :) 

That about sums up the happenings of the Madrid weekend! Now I am just wasting time at school before it is safe to go back home when my family is finished eating!! I plan on uploading the pictures from this weekend right away!! So stay tuned for those :)

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!! I hope the weather is as nice there as it is here :)

¡Muchos besos y abrazos de España!

B

Hey everyone!


Sorry it has taken me a week to update!!! I thought about updating about 239751 times, but I never got around to it!!! 


Last weekend I just stayed in Toledo. I only left the house for about an hour on Saturday to go for a walk! It was nice to just relax and stay inside a bit though. Traveling takes it out of a person!!!  I didn't have school yesterday so that was nice!!! Today I have gone for two, hour long walks and watched a movie! Pretty productive I would say :)


School was plain, old school this week. Nothing too fancy happened....I only have 11 more school days before finals week :) Can you believe that??? I sure can't :) Finals week just happened to fall on the week of my birthday....I actually have one the day of my birthday :( Happy birthday to me! My spring break is actually after finals week (weird right?!?!). I have actually been telling people that this whole trip has been like a Spring Break. School has been so easy it is kind of a joke sometimes!!! As of right now, I am staying in Spain and I will be traveling in Andalucia ( the "state" in the south of Spain). Spain actually doesn't have states. They are called autonomous communities. Brittany and I plan to make it to Cadiz, Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, and Malaga all before making it back home. We have about 12 days to travel so that shouldn't be a problem!!


My internship went great this week! I was with one of the doctors. She was great! I asked her if she spoke English and she told me no, but then she started speaking PERFECT English! I couldn't believe it! So we spoke in English most of the day, which was a nice break! She could speak English better than Brock can!!! 


I gave my final presentation for my internship class on Tuesday. So I am basically done with that class! All I have to do is show up until we are finished!!! I actually can't believe how easy school is here!!! I will have a rude awakening when I get home and have my toughest year ahead of me :( I am finding it really difficult to plan my classes from over here....Good thing my teachers at SNC are really good about reading their emails and getting back to me quickly!! Hopefully everything will work out...Like my dad would say, it always does work out!


Tomorrow I am going to Madrid for the Taylor Swift concert! I find it funny that I come to Spain and see a Taylor Swift concert!!! HA HA HA!! I am only staying the night and will be back to Toledo on Sunday afternoon. Next weekend my friend, Ali, is coming to Madrid for the weekend. She will be working in Amsterdam and decided to fly home through Madrid to come and visit me!! Once again, I have to come to Spain to see my American friends :) Next Sunday, the 27th I will be going to a bullfight! I enjoyed the first one I saw two years ago, so I am excited to see this one...I am not sure how my friend will react to seeing it....but we shall see!!!


I met Arturo's girlfriend tonight....Let's just say I am glad it wasn't Brock's girlfriend!!! She didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed or the brightest crayon in the box (by saying that, does it make me a bad person?!?!?)....I was asking her simple questions (and I don't think my Spanish speaking skills are THAT bad) and she didn't understand what I was saying. I asked her how are you, do you want something to eat, and do you speak English.....All three questions she was like ahhhhhhh what....Arturo even commented by saying, "Well apparently she can't even speak Spanish much less English!!!" Classic Arturo comment!!!


I just got off the phone with my mom. They are coming home from Arkansas tomorrow! She also told me that Brock got his birthday present I sent OVER A MONTH AGO!!! I thought it was a lost cause, but now I am soooooo happy it finally got home!! That teaches me not to give up hope in our mail system!!! All I have to say is, Brock you better like your birthday present for all the stress it put me though!!!!


I think that is about it for my exciting Toledo adventure thus far! I will post pictures from the concert when I get home on Sunday (just for you Carli)!!! I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break weeks and if your have spring break is this coming up week, please enjoy and be safe!!!


Have a great weekend!!! I miss everyone tons :) I will be home very soon!!!! Is anyone keeping a count down the days yet?!?!? Mom and Morgan your countdowns don't count because you guys have been counting down since BEFORE I even left!!! Mom is just sad that I can't talk to her 5 times a day and Morgan misses my cooking and cleaning :) 


Besos y abrazos de España!!!
B

I just thought I would update quick...because I am really bored!!! It is storming here so there really isn't too much to do. I have been sitting in my room all day!!! I watched two movies, completed a powerpoint presentation, and half of a paper!


I talked to my parents and Brock this morning. They were packing for their spring break trip to Arkansas. They started their trip LATE AS USUAL!!! I can officially say that whenever the Sanborn family is late, it isn't my fault :) It is really different having them go on a trip without me! They weren't even out of Green Bay yet and Brock was sending me messages about how bored he was. Then my mom was texting me about how bored she was!! It is nice to know that I lighten and brighten up our family trips!!! 


Nothing too exciting has happened around here in the past couple days...I do have one interesting story that might make some of you laugh though....Arturo had off of school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this past week. On Wednesday morning he was walking around with his track jacket fully zipped up...I was thinking this is quite out of the ordinary because he is usually walking around in t-shirts and shorts. So I decided in investigate a little closer and sure enough.....I could see a "love bite" on his neck!! I couldn't help but laugh to myself when I saw it!! He kept going in and out of the bathroom Wednesday afternoon and night to check to see if anyone could see it!! Then last night at the dinner table I sit down and the first thing my dad says was, "So does Brock come home with battle wounds?" I didn't quite understand what he was trying to get at so he pointed to Arturo and asked him to turn his head.....OH MY GOSH.....It looked like a HUGE burn on the side of his neck....So of course I asked what happened....Arturo goes, "It was from rugby." Funny thing is that rugby ended 2 weeks ago!!! His dad yelled....NO IT'S NOT IT'S FROM YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!! So of course we (my dad and I) were picking on Arturo and asking a million questions about it and then my mom tells us to shut up and to stop talking about it.....As this trip goes on I am liking her less and less.....My dad asked what her problem was and she goes, "Stop asking him about it. If he wants to he will tell me the truth." GRRRR I just want to tell her to cheer up buttercup!!! No need to be cranky!!!


That is about it thus far from Toledo, Spain! I also want to apologize AGAIN for my lack of grammar and spell check in these blog entries. My english is more worse than usual being over here so please forgive me!!!


I hope everyone has a great weekend and safe travels to those who are traveling :)
bababababababa
B

Wonderful Wednesday

¡Hola a todos!


Not too much has happened since Sunday, when I last updated. I did receive my grades for all of my midterms...I can't complain too much about them. I got an A in my women's history, an A on my grammar exam, and a B+ on my art exam and a B+ on my paper I wrote for that class too. Considering that I didn't study for a single one of the exams, I did pretty well :) I can't believe that I am over half way done with my semester here already!! Wow time flies....


My study abroad advisor, Rosemary, is in Madrid for this semester working on her doctoral thesis. She came to visit us in Toledo on Sunday through Tuesday. Sunday we walked around Toledo for a while and checked out some nice ceramic shops...I wanted to buy everything until I wondered how it would make it home in one piece!!! On Monday she came to our grammar class with some of us. It was nice to have another familiar face in there!!! Monday night we went out for dinner in Toledo. It was a little difficult finding a restaurant because most places are closed on Monday nights. We wondered around until we found one that had a decent looking menu!! The meal was GREAT!! I had rigatoni noodles with red pesto sauce....Definitely one of my favorite meals since I have been here!!! 


I also noticed that I have talked about food in EVERY ONE OF MY POSTS!!! I think this is ok because every time I skype with someone, no matter what time it is, who I am talking too, or where they are....FOOD ALWAYS COMES UP!! Brooke we are eating spaghetti, Brooke we are having brats and hamburgers, Brooke we are going to Buffalo Wild Wings, Brooke we are having Sloppy Joes, etc. etc. etc.!!! So it is about time I am having some good meals because I don't think you guys are having any trouble in that department!!!


Tuesday I had my internship again. I was with the same psychologist that I was observing last week, Carmen. She is so nice!! We only saw 5 patients, so it was a really short day...I even left a little early :) One of the patients was there for is last visit. He has been sober for over 2 years now....It was nice to see patients like that every now and then! He was soooooo happy and couldn't stop smiling! GOOD FOR HIM :)


I also taught English to Gabriel on Tuesday. We talked and read stories about the video game Dragon Quest for about an hour.....So if anyone has any questions about that game, I am sure I can help you out (in both English and Spanish!!!).


I was expecting a package from my parents this week. It didn't come on Monday, so I was eager to check when I got to class on Tuesday night. It wasn't there either :( I thought I would check the mailbox one more time before I went home and sure enough....THERE IT WAS!!!! I was soooo happy!!! I couldn't wait to open it up!!! It was FILLED with all of my favorite snacks! I think my mom finally got the hint when I kept complaining about the food and when I told her I started stashing food in the drawers of my room!!! I got Skittles, Starbursts, M & Ms, carmel corn, Seroogy's chocolate covered carmels, Jalapeño Pringle stix, Ritz cheese and crackers, Nutri-gran bars, Rice Krispy treats, and Pop tarts....I know really healthy things right :) It was so nice to have a taste of America!!!! 


So of course I had the box of goodies sitting on my desk in my room and Arturo walks in....He goes, "Oh what's this?!!?" So I showed him everything in the box and I reluctantly asked if he wanted anything! He tried the Skittles and Rice Krispy treats...HE LOVED THEM! So I told him I would send him some for his birthday when I get back home. I can't believe Spaniards don't have treats like this!! That's probably why obesity is almost non-existent over here though :)


Right now I am just working on a powerpoint presentation I have to give in art class tomorrow. It is almost done so no worries :)


I would also like to reassure everyone that I will not be traveling alone throughout the duration of my trip. I received some text messages and emails concerning the student from San Diego who went missing in Madrid. For those who didn't follow the story, a 22 year-old boy was studying abroad in Madrid this semester. He went to a party with some friends and then decided to go to a club. He was denied entry from the club because he was so intoxicated. After that, he was really upset and left his friends to head home...That was the last time anyone saw or heard from him. The search went on for ten days before they found his body in the river about 300 meters from the nightclub. He had is wallet and 2 cell phones (one from the US and one from Spain) on him. No one things foul-play was involved. What a terrible feeling for the parents. I can't even begin to imagine. So I don't want anyone to worry about me being over here!!!! That was the first thing I thought of when I heard he went missing....OH GREAT, NOW EVERYONE IS GOING TO WORRY EVEN MORE!!! I will never be alone and never that intoxicated!!! 


On that note, I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! Anyone who is traveling for spring break next week have fun, please be safe, and don't do anything I wouldn't do :) 


Have a great night and I will update soon :)
B's and A's 
B

Adventures in Palma!

Once again, I am very impressed with my eagerness to upload my photos and update my blog!! I just got back home, from Palma de Mallorca, about four hours ago. Palma is on the island of Mallorca. Mallorca is one of two Spanish islands in the Mediterranean Sea. I left on Thursday night with Brittany, her mom ,Roxanne, and her mom's friend, Kami. Thursday night we stayed at a hostel in Madrid so we didn't have to leave Toledo so early Friday morning.


We made our famous spaghetti dinner at the hostel Thursday and went to bed. Friday morning we navigated our way through the ridiculously packed metro...It was insane how many people were packed on there at once....Nothing was stolen so all was well :)


The plane was about a half hour late taking off from Madrid....always a great way to start off the trip :) I got a window seat on the way over and loved seeing the beaches from the air!!! It looked like a postcard :) Palma reminded me a lot of Hawaii! There were beaches, mountains, and lots of designer stores! Our hostel was located perfectly! It was super close to the Cathedral, the main shopping street, and lots of restaurants. Saturday night there was a HUGE festival called Carnaval right by our hostel. There were thousands of people dressed up in costumes! It was like an American Halloween!


On Friday we walked around the city. We looked at the Cathedral, was some Arab Baths, walked by the water, and had a dinner consisting of pizza and lasagna!! It was perfect! Friday night Brittany and I found ourselves up until 1:30 in the morning talking with her mom and Kami. It was nice to have a little "girl" time, because we don't get any of that in Toledo!


Saturday morning we work up and went to the grocery store for sandwiches, chips, and oranges. We ate on the roof of our hostel. The view was AMAZING!!! It was warm and sunny, too! It wasn't warm enough to sit out in a swimming suit, but it sure felt warm to me!!! After lunch we headed to a Bellver Castle. We weren't sure where about the Castle was, but we took a chance. Long story short, we got lost getting there (we didn't know what stop to get off at), we hiked FOREVER through on a curvy road in the woods, saw the castle, and got lost on the way back to the hostel! Good thing the castle was worth all the hard work getting to a from it!!! We forgot about the festival being in the plaza by our hostel, so the buses stopped running there and the restaurants weren't serving any food :( So dinner Saturday night consisted of nothing other than....McDonalds :) It's always good to have McDonalds every now and then right?!?!?!


Being exhausted from all the walking on Saturday, we went to bed early. We left Palma later than expected due to an error with the number or passengers on the plane. The boarding gate had less boarding passes than what we had on the plane...I was about ready to get up and start counting passengers myself, but then the problem was solved :) When we got back to Toledo, I was on the bus headed to work on some homework at school when we passed my amazing study abroad advisor, Rosemary, and Taylor. I called them and we met up to walk around Toledo for a bit. It was so nice to see her!!! She will be staying at my school until Tuesday when she heads back to Madrid to work on research for her doctoral thesis. 


This week is pretty calm and will hopefully be relaxing! Tomorrow we will hopefully get to eat dinner with Rosemary, Tuesday I work at the clinic again, Wednesday I only have one class :) and Thursday I have another field trip and a presentation to give in art class!! This weekend I decided to take a weekend off from traveling and hang around Toledo. There is so much more to see of Toledo and this is the only weekend until I head home that I am not doing some sort of traveling! 


I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL weekend!! Is the weather warming up in Wisconsin at all? I sure hope it is for you guys :) It is supposed to rain every day from Tuesday through the weekend here :( Never fear, I brought my rain boots here :) ha ha ha!!! Madrid did get snow this past weekend so it isn't just everyone in Wisconsin!


Wishing everyone a fantastic upcoming week :)
Talk soon!
Besos y abrazos!!!
B

Catching up!

I was pretty impressed with myself when I came home and uploaded the pictures from my trip to Santiago de Compostela right away! It is much easier than I expected!!! Now I just need to update this blog more often!! Sorry about that!

Lets see, I haven´t updated since last week, Thursday, I believe. We left for Santiago, bright and early Friday morning. Jake and I took a taxi to the bus station at 5:30 in the morning. The flight was extremely short. It only took about  50 minutes. I got the window seat on the way over there. It was cool to see the snow on the mountains and TREES! I never thought I would miss grass, trees, and fresh air! Everything in Toledo is brick and stone. The air I am breathing in is usually mixed with exhaust smoke and cigarettes. It was nice to have some nice, fresh, clean air to breath in :)

I loved the city. It was pretty small and felt like home! Everyone was extremely nice and caring! We walked around the first night. Our hostel was really close to everything. It was 3 minutes to the grocery store, 5 minutes to the main cathedral, 100 yards to a really nice park, and about 10 minutes to the center of town. Friday night we made pizza at the hostel. It wasn´t AMAZING, but it was still pizza! Saturday we got up, toured the Cathedral and went to a museum about the culture of Galician people. They speak a different language in Galicia, gallego, so it was a little difficult to get places and read things! For lunch we went to a restaurant. This was the first time we have been to a restaurant, other than with school functions. So it was really nice not having to cook anything! I thought the food was great!! After lunch we walked around town for a bit. Jake and Katie wanted ice cream so we went to a bar/cafe for some ice cream. Brittany had coffee and of course I ordered a piña colada :) The pictures of the Malibu, Bailey´s, and Kaluah are from this bar/cafe!

Before heading back to the hostel, we walked around the park. It was quite interesting because all of the parks over here have work out machines and equipment in them! No wonder why America has an obesity problem!! We need to get some work out equipment in our parks!! For dinner Saturday night, we made spaghtetti. We always make spaghetti because it is nice and easy (and doesn´t cost a lot!).

Sunday we headed back to Toledo. The flight was miserable. There was a lot of turbulence. It was nice to get both of my feet back on the ground! Sunday night was really relaxing. Just unpacking my things and having dinner with the family!

Arturo is starting to open up a lot more. He reminds me more and more of Brock EVERY DAY!! He just comes into my room and will chill on the bed while I am trying to get my homework done. Then he just grabs my iPods and starts listening to music. On Monday night he walked in the room with two toy guns and pretended like he was "shooting everything up"! That is exactly something Brock would do. Arturo now even slams the kitchen door in my face when I am walking in or will hit me with pillow! My mom here told me that I am his "big sister" so I need to keep him in line. She said I need to tell him to pick up his room and make his bed!

Last night, I walked in on World War III at my casa (house). My parents were YELLING/SCREAMING at Arturo for his grades....Sounds faguely familiar to fights at my house over Brock´s grades...So I felt right at home :) Doors were slamming and people were swearing!!! HA HA HA I felt bad, but it was nice to be reminded of home :) In case everyone was wondering, Brock´s grades are MUCH better!!! GOOD JOB BROCK!

Tuesday at my internship, I worked with a Psychologist. She was really cool. We talked with 5 patients with addiction problems and alcoholism. Two of the boys brought there moms in and they both ended up crying and saying that they blame their son´s problems on themselves. So it was nice to see how the psychologist handled the problem. The same two boys were the least motivated people I have ever met in my life....They obviously didn´t want to change their ways, but were only there for their moms´and girlfriends. I really like working with the psychologists. The next few weeks I will rotate with the 3 other psychologists.

Tomorrow I leave for Palma de Mallorca. I am going with Brittany, her mom, and a friend of her mom. I am excited because this should be a nice and relaxing trip again. Mallorca is one of two islands in the Mediterranian Sea. Hopefully, it will be warm enough to get some sun :) We return on Sunday afternoon.

Next weekend I am not traveling anywhere. It will be nice stay around here and explore Toledo! Traveling really takes it out of me! It takes me the whole week to catch up on sleep and get back on track!! The following weekend I am going to be in Madrid. I was invited to go with 4 other girls who go to Notre Dame. We will be seeing Taylor Swift....ha ha ha. I had to come to Spain to see Taylor Swift in concert!!! HA HA HA!!! I think it will be nice to travel with some new people for a change! Do you think she will sing in Spanish?!?! Just kidding :)

After this week, I only have 6 more weeks of school!! Where has the time gone. Why doesn´t school fly by like this at SNC?!?! Before we know it, I will be packing for Green Bay, instead of the weekend trips!!

That seems like to be the more important things of this past week! I will TRY to update a lot more frequently!!! I´m working on that!!!

I hope everyone has a great day and an excellent weekend!!! I will update on Sunday and upload more pictures when I get home :)

Talk to you soon!!

b´s and a´s

B