as i sit here in the pan's & company coffee shop underneath my school, i can't help but wonder if this is really where i'm meant to be. it doesn't feel right. & when i think about being here for 4 months, i get really stressed & frantic & scared. i want to go home. or do i? is this normal to be feeling this way right now & then soon enough i'll adapt & things won't be so bad? i don't know. i keep having these dreams. dreams about my family. & about george harrison. why is that? i've had 3 about him since i've been here, almost 1 dream every night. but my dreams aren't happy. i'm either fighting w/my family or am somehow there when george harrison dies. very sad.
sevilla itself is a pretty enough city. there are palm trees everywhere making it look more like morocco than spain. i like to sit on a bench by a the river and look at the houses, thinking i'm there instead of in spain. makes everything more exotic. i've found a great little cafe right near my house & will be spending a lot of time there. i only have class until 2:30 every day and no classes on fridays so i need to find ways to occupy myself. it's all so stressful. but? i'm comforted by this cafe playing american music videos on it's tv's. makes it seem like home, sort of.
i am here.
lost in transpaintion.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sing Me Spanish Techno
so here i am in Spain. pretty crazy. & hot. too hot. getting here wasn´t too bad.
i made a really good friend in the Chicago airport. his name, as i named him, is olley. he didn´t say much considering he´s a luggage cart, but we still got along brilliantly. he saved me from wandering around the airport with a huge heavy bag on my back. at first, i didn´t want to buy olley for $3, but then i thought, ¨cyndi, you are not a sherpa, spend the dough and & buy a cart.¨ and what a great investment it was. turns out olley really likes coffee. i figured this out when my iced macchiatto spilled all over him. i was able to get another one for free, & didn´t bother cleaning olley off as i figured we both deserved a starbucks for all the work we were doing. while other perky students chatted amongst themselves, i remained in the corner watching them all ask each other the same questions over & over again. i just didn´t have the energy to make friends. & besides, i had olley.
the flight was ok. my seat partner was an absolute riot as she would put her blanket over her head to sleep. after every meal, she would just put down her fork, put her blanket over her head, & sit there, falling back asleep. i must admit it was pretty comical. this actually worked out well for the both of us as i was able to steal her coffee creamer & sugar w/o her knowing.
once in Sevilla, we played the waiting game for our luggage. i thoroughly enjoyed finding out that the suitcase containing ALL of my clothes had been misplaced. our program coordinator took down my info & sent me out the door to meet up w/the bus to be taken to our houses. i couldn´t actually find the bus though & as i snuck back in to the luggage area, i was accosted by a security woman demanding that i tell her why i just james-bonded it into a restricted area. like i knew i wasn´t allowed in there! i held on to my olley jr. cart for dear life as i explained the situation about my luggage & she let me go.
good news though, they did find my luggage & are bringing it my house which is on, get this, a street called ¨la virgen imaculado¨, which translates as ¨the immaculate virgen¨. & our streets in the u.s. don´t have names like this why?
spain itself is quite engaging. my host mom is a very kind woman, very talkative. i feel somewhat guilty though as we really only see her at meal time. for breakfst we eat toast w/ jam & cafe, that´s it. lunch & dinner are unusually small w/dinner not happening until 9:30 or so. the coffee is good here. the weather, not so much. i´m ready for snow.
speaking of snow, i must indulge you all on the fabulous cd my brother ben made me for the plane ride. pleasantly titled ¨from ben to cyndi¨the track list included such classics as ¨golden years¨, ¨don´t wanna miss a thing¨, & ¨hey jude¨ with new amazingness added in such as the kooks and the morning benders. the best song though was the twisted sister rendition of ¨i´ll be home for christmas¨. i have a feeling that cd will get me through these 4 months.
so for now, i feel that is all i have to share. i leave on a walking tour soon, which might prove horrendous considering the heat. we´ll see though.
until we meet again...
¨do you wanna see the world
do you wanna see the world
in a different sorta way...¨ - the kooks.
love,
cyn
i made a really good friend in the Chicago airport. his name, as i named him, is olley. he didn´t say much considering he´s a luggage cart, but we still got along brilliantly. he saved me from wandering around the airport with a huge heavy bag on my back. at first, i didn´t want to buy olley for $3, but then i thought, ¨cyndi, you are not a sherpa, spend the dough and & buy a cart.¨ and what a great investment it was. turns out olley really likes coffee. i figured this out when my iced macchiatto spilled all over him. i was able to get another one for free, & didn´t bother cleaning olley off as i figured we both deserved a starbucks for all the work we were doing. while other perky students chatted amongst themselves, i remained in the corner watching them all ask each other the same questions over & over again. i just didn´t have the energy to make friends. & besides, i had olley.
the flight was ok. my seat partner was an absolute riot as she would put her blanket over her head to sleep. after every meal, she would just put down her fork, put her blanket over her head, & sit there, falling back asleep. i must admit it was pretty comical. this actually worked out well for the both of us as i was able to steal her coffee creamer & sugar w/o her knowing.
once in Sevilla, we played the waiting game for our luggage. i thoroughly enjoyed finding out that the suitcase containing ALL of my clothes had been misplaced. our program coordinator took down my info & sent me out the door to meet up w/the bus to be taken to our houses. i couldn´t actually find the bus though & as i snuck back in to the luggage area, i was accosted by a security woman demanding that i tell her why i just james-bonded it into a restricted area. like i knew i wasn´t allowed in there! i held on to my olley jr. cart for dear life as i explained the situation about my luggage & she let me go.
good news though, they did find my luggage & are bringing it my house which is on, get this, a street called ¨la virgen imaculado¨, which translates as ¨the immaculate virgen¨. & our streets in the u.s. don´t have names like this why?
spain itself is quite engaging. my host mom is a very kind woman, very talkative. i feel somewhat guilty though as we really only see her at meal time. for breakfst we eat toast w/ jam & cafe, that´s it. lunch & dinner are unusually small w/dinner not happening until 9:30 or so. the coffee is good here. the weather, not so much. i´m ready for snow.
speaking of snow, i must indulge you all on the fabulous cd my brother ben made me for the plane ride. pleasantly titled ¨from ben to cyndi¨the track list included such classics as ¨golden years¨, ¨don´t wanna miss a thing¨, & ¨hey jude¨ with new amazingness added in such as the kooks and the morning benders. the best song though was the twisted sister rendition of ¨i´ll be home for christmas¨. i have a feeling that cd will get me through these 4 months.
so for now, i feel that is all i have to share. i leave on a walking tour soon, which might prove horrendous considering the heat. we´ll see though.
until we meet again...
¨do you wanna see the world
do you wanna see the world
in a different sorta way...¨ - the kooks.
love,
cyn
Monday, August 25, 2008
It All Comes From Liking Honey Too Much...
in less than 24 hrs, the adventure begins. i leave the things i know too well for things i am a stranger to. some of you may be wondering as to the reason behind the title of this blog. it happens to be a line from a "winnie the pooh" story. it reminds me of the things that brought light and dancing into my world as a child, as well as the things, the pure things, i'm striving towards in my life now. am i ready for spain? is spain ready for me? i have absolutely no idea. am i scared? of course! but i suppose it all comes from liking honey too much.
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