.tryst.

So I realized all I've really done to update is complain about the conversations I've had with very few people. The truth is every one ELSE has been so awesome and fun, and I really think I've made some legitimate friends out here. I guess studying abroad and meeting people is like creating friendships on crack--you skip all the bullshit and get down to the kitty gritty, which can be good or bad. Either way, I'm having an awesome time, so let me just share a bit of my adventures with you.

Lisbon and Belen, Portugal: Granted our "hotel" wasn't the best in town, I enjoyed running around like a tourist and figuring things out as we went. Pretty much we had 3 travel guide books, and it served as our survival kit for the city. We tracked down a couple restaurants, and found all the touristy things following their tiny maps and commentaries. We visited San Jeronimo Cathedral, which is one of my favorites of the ones we've seen (it looked as though it was carved from one limestone piece.), hit the beach and cheered to warm, boxed Sangria, went up San Justa elevator, which takes you to the highest point of Lisbon, and ate snails watching the ocean. Lisbon is a lot cheaper than Madrid, so it was a good break from drilling an enormous blackhole into my bank account. It was also colder because Lisbon's coastal, and we all got ot appreciate some non-smokey air even for a weekend. They were known for a lot of seafood for the same reason, but most especially for their pastery shops, in which I indulged! They make these baked codfish things that are absolutely amazing and are always freshly made in the morning. I also really enjoyed the shellfish soup to my surprise..it was a like a tomato basil with extra umph!  Portugal is also known for vino verde, which is green wine--a younger white wine that's about 2 times as sweeter with a bit of a sparkle to it. All ina ll.. experiencing Portugal was fun! A weekend was sufficient enough to explore most of Lisbon and try its wonderful food, but by the end of our 3rd day there, I was open to the idea of going "home". I missed tapas and tinto de verano.

Galicia, Spain: Galica was a different story. We spent a good four days there, and I was aching when we had to leave. It was such a magical place that I can't even imagine how it's part of the same Spain. It really did look like a baby Ireland, and the weather was soo cold and soo fresh. On our first day, we ate at a small village non-accessible to tourists, and immediately I noticed a difference in attitude and food. Gallegos (people from Galicia), I feel, are a lot more sincere and soft around the edges. I had never seen so many people smile at me while crossing streets. And the food was ESTUPENDO! They're famous for this soup which pretty much screams Irish: it's made of cabbage and potatoes. It sounds simple, but it que rica! They're also known for pulpo (octopus) usually drowned in olive oil and butter and sprinkled with paprika, and although my arteries refused, I indulged in pulpo 3 times while I was there. Nothing beats the tiburon (shark), however....there are no words to describe the goodness that melted in your mouth! After this wonderful food experience, I started writing down the places I've enjoyed eating at...you know, just in case I ever earn the money to come back and visit again.

On the 2nd day of Galicia, we visited San Anton Alcazar, and then the Torre of Hercules, which as I've said, is the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world. 234 steps to see the rest of Galicia. I thought nothing could beat that view until I was proven wrong the following day.  In the morning, we visited San Andres, a tiny chapel that locals visit to pray and make offerings. Galica is a very supersticious region of Spain, and one of the "legends" is... if you are given the 5 charms of the city, you are also given la herba de amour, a love herb, and you take the herb and enter San Andres chapel, and once you leave, you sneak the herb into the pocket of someone you'd like to spend the rest of your life with...and apparently something magical happens and the person does, in fact, end up being your spouse. I bought charms for kicks, and I have the herb with me. I'm on a mission to find George Clooney to sneak the herb in his pocket. :)

Anywho, San Andres is on this mountain, which marks where Spain ends, and again I thought that THAT was the best view I had ever seen until they bused us to the very top of the same mountain, the highest bluff in the continent. The fog was so thick (as you can see in the picture 3 entries before this), that I could barely see past 3 feet in front of me, and it was freezing cold. I was wearing shorts and a tank top and sprinted to the view point with my teeth chattering, goosebumps on my arms, and my lips turning blue. Victor, our counselor, kept asking me if I was okay...but in all honesty, once I saw the view, I couldn't think of anything else but how beautiful it was. Okay..now I know I'm one for the dramatics, but seriously... the pictures don't do the viewpoint any justice. I stood there, just thinking about how insignificant I was in comparison to everything around me, and in some looney sense, I wanted to jump into the ocean so that I could be a part of something that beautiful. If you've ever read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, he desrcibes one moment with his friends in the car, listening to the radio blasting, and he describes how he feels as being infinite. That's how I felt. BLAHHH I can't even put what I felt in words. Anyway..point is: IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.

The next two days were spent shopping and hanging out at the beach. I finally was able to make my legs look a little more filipino in those two days, so I consider that an accomplishment.

The last day we had there, we visited Santiago de Compustela (Compustela comes from the two words: cementary and star in Spanish), where James the disciple is burried. A lot of people do the Santiago pilgrimage, so when we got there, I was surrounded by Itlaians, Australians, and French people who were at their last stop of the pilgrimage. The Santiago Cathedral is my ABSOLUTE favorite of all cathedrals. And because it was Sunday, I GOT TO GO TO MASS. AND BETTER YET, every 25 tears they swing the HUGE incense body throughout the horizontal space of the church after the Mass dedicated to the pilgrims, AND THAT DAY WAS THE DAY IT WAS SWUNG!!!! The Mass was said in two languages: Spanish and Italian, but the responses/prayers (Profession of Faith/Our Father/etc) were said in 6. There's be a profession of Faith in Italian, and then English, and then French, etc etc, and there were 7 priests, 8 including the BISHOP of Galicia who proceeded the mass. AND THEN, when I went to go eat (I had seperated from our tour/group to attend Mass by myself), Victor saw me and said that the MAYOR of ACoruna was eating at our restaurant! I totally took a picture even though I had no real "relation" to him politically. That same day, we returned to Madrid and arrived 8 hours later. I hope that I can come back and visit Galicia, which is known to be the magical region of Spain.

And now, our program is half way done with Galicia marking that point. We have no more class excursions (we had 3:  Segovia, El Escorial, and Galicia), and my personal excursions begin. This coming weekend, I'm meeting Jess in Rome, and perhaps I'll go to France next weekend if all works out, and then Barcelona, and then home. Whoever convinced me to study abroad, especially here, a big thanks to you. I don't know if I could've had this kind of experience had I not decided to do this program, and all the doubts I had windled after meeting the poeple I've met (including non-preschoolers), and seeing the things I've seen...and while the worries are still there, I plan to deal with them later, when I'm not distracted by the awesomeness that is Spain.

won't you saturate me, saturate me.

model wannabes. mwahaha.

finals have been driving me insane, excuse the constant posts.

if you're sorry
be sorry.
sit this game out,
and keep the right count
because i'm 2,3,4 down.
my heart's not a playground.

if you're hurt
i'm aching.
if you're angry
i'm raging.
if you heard painful lies,
i stood there and swallowed the ones you fed me
the ones that led me
to believe that you were real,
that this wasn't just a game for you to play
that my heart had touched down safe.

if you're sorry
for my sake,
for every ache
every crack
every fucked up thought in my head
every hint of damage,
every drop bled,
for my sake
mean it.
and let me forgive you
and myself
for all the shit we went through
i  hate you
i love you
i hate you.

2 months until Spain, and my stomach is turning from the excitement and the nerves.

There are days when I question why I'm even going. To study abroad? That's more of a by-product. To enrich my experience as a human? But what price does that hold financially/time-wise? I wish I learned how to enjoy myself without any retentions, or things to hold me back.

Am I doing the right thing? Or am I merely running away? And if I am running away, maybe it's to recuperate. Is that so bad? My year had been filled with trials. I'd just like to step back and breathe a little.

<3

On my actual birthday, I had a biochemistry quiz, so I took that, and then afterwards, I hung out at Bear's Lair with my 21 year old friends and drank high qualiy dark beer most of the afternoon. I didn't do much when I got home, mostly slept kasi alcohol makes me really sleepy pala.

My party on Friday was a TON of fun, not too big, but just right size. Lots of good music, good conversations, and drinks! Not to mention, my roommate Nicole baked me this AMAZING chocolate-dense-rich-goodness-OMG-mouthwatering/roses cake! :-)
All in all it was a good birthday week. An then next weekend? NAPA VALLEY for wine tasting! Stay tuned! I hope all the April birthdays have a good one. CHEERS!!

I've owned 3 Smart phones since my first year of college, and my blackberry curve has definitely outdone my first two. I love the user-friendliness of the settings, and the push-demand email feature. I also love the "standby" mode, so you don't have to turn it off when you sleep or worry about your alarm going off if it's not powered on. It honestly organizes my life. If I don't schedule the appointments or tasks on my phone--it won't get done. Definitely worth the price!

i'm in love with eyes.