I have definitely not been a very faithful blogger as of late. I suppose it has something to do with being generally busy the vast majority of the time.
Two weeks ago Mom and Davina came for spring break. How awesome to see them! I picked them up at the bus station that Sunday night and after a few drinks in the Plaza Mayor, I let them get some rest. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday seeing the sights of Cáceres. Most of Monday consisted of touring the old part of the city, which is absolutely beautiful and unique. I also introduced mom and Davina to Manometro. My favorite waiter wasn't there :( but when we were about to leave the owner gave us a free round of beer (our fifth of the evening, uff da). When my mom asked why he said it's because I come there so much. Hahahaha. Gotta love being a regular. On Tuesday Isabel served lunch for all of us, and it was very cool to see my real mom meet my host mom. Isabel made my favorite foods for Mom and Davina-- garbanzo stew, tortilla de patata, fresh tomatoes, peppers, and onions, and of course, pan and fruit. Isabel was the happiest I'd seen her in a long time-- it's been a rough past month or so for her. She takes great joy and pride in serving people, and it's obvious to see that her fame for cooking is well deserved. After lunch she pulled out the traditional holy week head dress that women here wear, and both mom and Davina got to try it on. This particular one is antique, and Isabel wore it when she was young, too. After we wrapped things up at Isabel's mom, Davina, and I climbed up the mountain. The weather was nice and hot the whole time they were here, and it was perfect weather to get a tan that day :) We enjoyed some drinks at the bar at the top, and then watched the sunset over Cáceres. Wednesday morning found me in class, and Mom and Davina walked to campus to check out where I go to school. We walked to the train station that afternoon to buy tickets to Madrid, and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing and savoring their last night in Cáceres. I also introduced them to La Guinda that day. Needless to say, they loved it... so much that they made us go twice! Best pastries in the world <3
Thursday we headed off to Madrid. We got there midday, and after a big meal of paella and sangria, we went to the Prado and the Parque de Retiro. The Prado gets me everytime-- Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, Renoir, Rembrandt, Monet, el Greco... so many works of great artists all in one place. We devoted Friday morning to the Royal Palace, then had sangria en la Plaza Mayor before moving on to Puerta del Sol. We found a great Indian restaurant in a sketchy neighborhood. It was definitely a hole-in-the-wall, but so cheap and so good! Saturday was an early morning, as mom and Davina had to get to the airport and fly out. We parted ways in the metro. I was kind of sad to see them go, but so glad they came. In the past three years we've been to Haiti, England, and Spain together, and I feel like I've grown a lot closer to both of them, especially my mom.
This past week in Cáceres has been a lot of playing catch-up on things I didn't do while Mom and Davina were here and things I need to get done before spring break (which is coming up soon and I can't wait!!!). A few highlights: snuggling lots with Guillermo, La Guinda and Manometro with Tiffani, Cassidy, and Angélica Thursday night, going and seeing The Vow in theaters with a big group of ISU girls and Spanish girls (such an awesome movie-- Channing Tatum stole my heart!), and going out to Oxigeno for drinks on Saturday night. Not so enjoyable parts of the week: being sick and spring forward. But hey, it happens. And considering everything good I've got going on here, no complaints :)

Tortitas

Thursday night we had a girls night at Estefania's house. There were four Spanish girls and four of us American girls. The plan? To make pancakes. The Spaniards were SO excited to make them and try them for the first time-- just like they see people eat on TV (they watch a lot of American TV shows and movies here). They all took turns flipping pancakes for the first time too. It was funny to see how nervous they were to do it, but they all did surprisingly well. Maple syrup is essentially non-existent in this country (although in my search I did stumble across a half litre of syrup that cost 26 euros!), so we bought lots of jams, chocolate syrup, and peanut butter to top our pancakes with. I also made some make-shift syrup like my mom used to do when we would run out-- brown sugar and white sugar dissolved in water. It turned out pretty good. And the pancakes were awesome too! Soooooo delicious. And to top it all off, unbeknownst to me, everyone had planned this get together at as a belated surprise birthday party for Tiffani and me. When we walked into the living room it was covered in balloons, and Tiffani and I were both adorned with crowns. What sweet friends I have :)

Friday marked the beginning of my three day weekend which, with the exception of some internship stuff, I have devoted entirely to working through Don Quixote and to napping. I also had some credit card issues that I had to work out last night. Even though I contacted my bank and both of my credit card companies before I left, they no longer had a travel record for me, and so all my accounts had been frozen and entirely unaccessible since last week, although I had used them before without issue. Apparently there are quite a few of us having this problem. Anyways, I had three plane tickets on my credit card and couldn't pay them off due to lack of access to my account. Scary, considering that could really tank my credit score. And the phone numbers that Visa and MasterCard gave me didn't work from Spain, even with an exit code. So, Mom to the rescue! I Skyped her, and while we were skyping she called my credit card companies, who I talked to on her phone via Skype. Talk about a complicated process. But everything got worked out! Hooray! 

La Guinda (my favorite bakery) tonight, along with working at the Catholic nursing home and maybe going to a 90s hip hop bar with Jess, and then working more on Don Quixote all day tomorrow until I go pick up mom and Davina from the bus station. I'm so excited to see them!!! 

The girl who speaks to God

So, I figured blogging a tad would be a good way to avoid homework a little longer. So here's a few random things that don't really fit into any other blog.
-I adore older people in general, and the ones that I work with here are no exception. In addition to calling me Marisol, they also call me 'buenamoza,' which is an antiquated phrase meaning attractive young lady. It also seems to imply something about being grand in stature, as well. I literally get called buenamoza at least 50 times a day. Today I was also called 'la que habla con dios,' which came along with an upwards speaking hand gesture. I was at the Catholic nursing home, and the table I was serving at the time informed me that this means I'm so tall that I can talk to God because my head is basically right up next to them. Adorable, right?
-My host mom always tells me that I have 'una boquita de oro.' Literally: a mouth of gold. Figuratively: I'm a good eater. Really, my mom's just an awesome cook. I have eaten everything she's put on my plate. Every last bite.
-I bought my eurail pass for spring break today! It's coming up SO fast and I can't wait!
-Mom and Davina are coming on Sunday. Yet another thing I'm really excited for. I really think they'll love it here. Then next Thursday we'll leave Madrid and spent a couple of days there before they leave. I'm so grateful to have had so many awesome opportunities to travel with Mom and Davina!
-My sister will be on the same continent as me for two weeks, starting today! Lucky duck!
-I put my class schedule together for the summer and fall. Two classes in the mornings during the summer, and then 4 classes Tuesdays/Thursdays during the fall. The end is in sight! And it actually makes me want to stay at ISU longer!
-I'm kind of drowning in homework, required internship hours, and readings for my independent study. So I should probably start working on that now...

Feelin' a little Hungary...

Wow. How to describe last weekend? Budapest was amazing beyond words, but I'll do my best to recap it here.
We all met Thursday at noon to take the bus to Madrid, where we were flew out from. We flew Wizz Air (one of Europe's many low-cost airlines) and spent the majority of our time in the Barajas airport worrying about getting all of our carry-ons on the plane without them having to be checked... they are very strict about carry-on luggage. But we all made it! And we flew off to Budapest without a hitch in a pink plane. We were all so excited by the time we got to Hungary that on the shuttle on our way to the hostel, all we could do was say "Oh my gosh, guys, this is Hungary!" "That's a Hungarian road!" "That's a Hungarian sign!" "That's a Hungarian building!" First things first, when we got to the airport we had to withdraw forints (Hungarian money) from the ATMs. There a 222 forints in 1 US dollar, so we were working in hundreds and thousands with everything we bought this weekend, which definitely made the best of my math skills.

Once we got to our hostel it was pretty late and we had to run to a 0-24 shop (basically a 24 hour convenience store of sorts) to break our bills down and pay for our hostel rooms. Our hostel was super sketchy and a tad smelly... I shared a room with Taylor Anne and and Andrew, and we spread our sweatshirts and clothes over the top of the beds so we wouldn't be directly on the pillow or comforter. But heck, we were in Hungary, so we were happy anyways.
After breakfast at our hostel Friday morning (Friday, March 2nd, 2012, AKA: MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!!) we headed out and walked to Hero's Square and the park on the Pest side of of Budapest. The city was beautiful, and the street the we happened to walk down was full of embassies from all over the world. Hero's Square is a beautiful, large square with monuments, and behind it is a park with and a beautiful palatial complex. We strolled through the park and bought mulled wine and large, bready pretzels from a street vendor. We stopped and sat along the moat of the castle to enjoy the hot wine and pretzels. On our walk back towards the hostel we stopped and spent a few hours at the Terror Museum. As it turns out, Hungary was essentially a pawn during WWII, first for Germany and then for Russia. When Germany was in charge, they tortured and killed all of the Hungarian communists. When Communist Russia took over, they did the same to the Hungarian fascists. It was a bad situation all around. The building that the museum was in was the actual place in which much of the killing and torturing took place. It was a really somber experience, but I think it was good to learn a little bit more of the history behind Budapest.
After a quick lunch at Starbucks and some free time at our hostel, we were ready to go out for the night. Jenny, Alix, Alice and I decided to spend part of the evening on a river cruise down the Danube with drinks and live music. What a good choice! Evening along the Danube is gorgeous-- it was dark and all of the beautiful buildings (such as parliament and the castle district) were lit up. As if it couldn't get any better, the girls had the string trio (which included a world-famous violinist) come up and serenade me for my birthday. They played a pretty rendition of 'Happy Birthday' and then played an upbeat, traditional Hungarian song. As I sat there enjoying the champagne, the music, the setting, and my friends I couldn't help but thinking about how truly, truly blessed I am. I could never have dreamed of spending my 21st in such a wonderful way.
After our cruise we met back up with Andrew, Katie, and Taylor Anne and searched for dinner. We didn't find the Hungarian restaurant we were looking for, but we ended up in an awesome Italian restaurant. After that we went to Szimpla Kertmozi, which, according to Lonely Planet, is the third best bar in the world. I'd really like to see how two others beat it out, because it was probably one of the coolest places I've seen, located in the ruins of an old Communist building.
First thing Saturday morning we walked back towards Hero's Square and went to the thermal baths. They were beyond beautiful and elegant, and consisted of outdoor pools heated naturally to varying temperatures, encircled by gorgeous, antiquated buildings. Such a fun, relaxing experience-- something truly Hungarian and very typical of Budapest. On our way back we stopped and had Indian food for lunch. SOOOOO delicious! I tried Paneer Tikka Masala for the first time and fell in love. Afterwards we were so full we had no choice but to take a little siesta. That evening we walked across the river to the Danube side of Budapest, which is where the castle district is located (aka: Hogwarts). That part of the city is elevated, so once we climbed up the hill we got to look across the river and see the sunset over the entire city. And then the lights came on, and the city from that view was incandescently beautiful. We spent the evening taking our time and enjoying the sights of Buda at night. We then went to an authentic Hungarian restaurant, which was delicious. As we walked back down the hill towards Pest, with arms linked, Alix, Andrew, and I started singing Save Tonight... it seemed fitting. If only that night and our time in Budapest could've lasted forever.

We went back to the bar again that night, but were so exhausted that we went to bed by 12:30. Sunday morning we strolled around the area near our hostel a bit, but had to be ready to leave by noon. After a plane ride back to Madrid followed by a train, we got back into Cáceres at about 2:00 in the morning. And it felt like coming home.
Now I'm back to real life a while. My internship is going really well, and I already have my 'favorite' residents. This week the ladies have begun vying for my attention, and all of them keep giving me little gifts to win me over. It's adorable. I've also still be working with the nuns, and am truly enjoying that. Also, being back home makes me realize how much I love my host mom, Isabel. So thankful for all of the awesome people here!