SNOW

Imagine looking out your window the moment you wake up to see large snowflakes flying past you. What an incredible sight this would be! Now imagine where you are when you see this sight? Colorado? Switzerland? Any mountain? NO- You're in Spain.

Wait. I know what you're thinking. " It doesn't snow in Spain!" Well my friends apparently it does. I woke up this morning to a lovely winter storm brewing outside my window. It was complete with thunder/lightning. However unlike a normal thunder storm, instead of rain it was complete with snow. It was quite a sight. These are some pics I took. Sorry- it was too cold to actually go outside and take pretty pics. Also, the snow had just begun to stick, so there's not much on the ground.
I think it's safe to say my friends, that the Christmas Season is officially upon us :) Happy Holidays my friends!

American Thanksgiving in Spain!

Since I couldn't be at home with my family for Thanksgiving, I decided to put on my own Thanksgiving with people here. It was such a fun time. Although I did miss my family, it was amazing to spend it with my new friends/people that I have come to care about. I spent it with my pamplona family :) My menu consisted of:

*turkey
*stuffing
*mashed potatoes
*macaroni & cheese
*green beans
*rolls
*olives
*pickles
*fruit salad
*pumpkin pie
*apple pie

Everything was delicious!

The real London post :)

Ok! Sorry this has taken so long guys! I've been feeling a bit sick lately so I've been just doing absolutely nothing. BUT- here it is, what you've all been waiting for! My whirlwind trip to London!

Diana, Cate and I took the 8:15am bus from Pamplona to Zaragoza as that is where we were flying from. The bus ride was 2 hours long, but it was fine because we slept the entire way. We got to the bus station in Zaragoza and had to wait for another bus to take us to the airport, so we sat in a little cafe waiting for the bus.

Once we got to the airport we had our passports checked and everything and decided to get some lunch. I ate this disgusting salami sandwich, but I was so hungry so I ate it anyway. We then had to go to our gate only to find that our flight was delayed. *insert huge groan here*

We finally got on the plane and into London Stansted. Once we got in we had to take a bus to Liverpool street so we could take the metro to Cate's aunt's house. It took an hour to get to Liverpool street and then a 45 minute metro ride to get to Cate's aunt's. We finally arrived around 6:30 or 7. We were soooo tired. We hung around and ate dinner and then decided to go with Cate's cousin to a pub close to the house.

We went to a cool little place and drank some cider/beer. I had cider and it was really good. Very comforting. Then some of her cousins friends met up with us and we went to a different place called Ruby. This place was a little more upscale. They had a lounge upstairs and dancing downstairs. We had a drink and then went downstairs to dance. We danced for awhile and then we decided to go to a different place. Cate's cousin went home because he had to work the next day, but we all went to a different place called The Globe. This place definitely had a lot of character and a strange array of people, but it was fun nonetheless. After this place, we went home and decided it was time to sleep. We went to bed around 4 am.

I was hoping to wake up super early and get a head start on the day. However, we all know how much I like to sleep and we didn't get up until around 10am. ( Not too bad, but definitely not the head start that I wanted!) We got ready and left the house a little before 11. The first thing on the list was Portabello Market. It's a cool little market in Notting Hill ( which is where Cate's aunt lives). We had some fun and did some shopping! I bought a funky dress, which you will all see in pics/when I come home!

After Portabello Market we took the Metro down to the river Thames where we saw the Houses of Parliament/Big Ben, the London Bridge,and the London Eye! It was stormy weather but it was incredibly cool even so.

After looking here, we decided to walk to Trifalgar Square. In all honesty I had never heard of it, but Cate said it was a pretty cool place and she said something about it being kind of important, but I have no idea why. On the way to Trifalgar Square, we passed the famous guards. ( You know the ones where they aren't allowed to break their facial expression so people try anything and everything to get them to break character) I must say, these guys are good!
I was nice and didn't try anything. I actually felt bad for them. People were doing some pretty crazy stuff! We kept walking and we finally got to the square. It wasn't a terribly long walk, but it was definitely cold. Also, at the square, I got to take a picture in one of those cliche phone booths that you see in movies. The red ones that say 'Telephone' on it in case you weren't sure what they were for! Haha. I felt as though I was in Harry Potter and any second I would be transported into the Ministry of Magic. ( yes- I'm a Potter nerd. Deal with it)
After this, we decided to walk from Trifalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. I couldn't very well leave London without paying a visit to the Queen could I? I mean honestly, I am her future grandaughter-in-law, seeing as William and I will be married one day, but that's another story for another day ;) To get to the palace, we walked through this very pretty park. There were still lots of autumn leaves on the ground so it was quite beautiful.

Then came Buckingham Palace. Honestly, I'd have to say I expected it to be a bit more... elegant I guess. I'm sure it's very pretty on the inside, but I felt the outside to be a bit too.. simple. I don't know. It just wasn't very pretty, as I had expected it to be. (I'll have to do a bit of remodeling once I'm living there)


Once we looked at Buckingham palace for a bit, we decided to walk to Picadilly Circus! No I know you've all heard of this, but does anyone actually know what it is? No? Good I didn't either. haha. Basically it's just where all the major roads meet in the West End of London. It was really cool to be able to see it because all of the christmas decorations were up and we got to see it all lit up. It was really quite a beautiful sight.
After Picadilly Circus, we went to Harrod's because grandma told me I absolutely had to go. We went. That place is spendy! It's very pretty though!

After we went to Harrods, we had to go back to Cate's Aunt's house because she was putting on a dinner party. We went back, took showers, got dressed and ready. We had a lovely dinner and then we went out for Diana's 20th birthday. We went to this pretty cool underground hip hop club. Then after that we went to a house party. We didn't get back home until 5:30am and I had to get my cab at 6:20am. I took a quick nap and then embarked on my trip back home.

I fell in love with this city. I definitely want to come back and explore some more :)

London

Hey guys!

Just an FYI I did in fact make it back from London ok :) I will post pics and everything soon, but I accidentally left my camera with my friends in London, so they are bringing it to me tomorrow :)

So i will write the blog and tell you all the fun things i did, when i can put pics up to show it!!!!

Also- On thursday I will be giving a thanksgiving dinner ( since i can't be home to be with family) I will put pics up from that on Friday!

XOXO

Starting tomorrow,

I will be in London! Therefore I will be out of touch until Sunday night, but you better believe that the minute I get back pictures and stories will appear on here and on facebook! I hope you all have a nice weekend, I know I am going to!

XOXO

Even in Spain...

.. this day tears at my heart.


Love you and Miss you. No matter where I am.

XOXOXO

My letter to Spain

Dear Spain,


I love you to death. You have done wonders for me. I enjoy our nights of dancing til 7am, the delicious chocolates and goodies that I can buy in your pasteleria's, the fact that I have gorgeous 60 degree weather in mid-november, 2-hour lunches, the friends that I have made, and among many many many other things the way I feel since I have been here.

There seems to be just one slight problem that I'm having a bit of trouble dealing with. I CAN'T SLEEP EVER! I don't know how many more nights I can lie awake until 6am! I just can't do it.

So, my dear friend in hopes of salvaging this loving relationship that we have I beg you to fix this insomnia you have given me.

With all my love,
A very tired Yvonne :)

Sorry Sorry Sorry!

Hello guys!

I am so sorry that I have not updated at all lately! I have been super super busy! I had an exam yesterday so I spent the entire week closing down the library and studying until 5am! (Unfortunately I am not kidding about the 5am part, you can ask my parents they were the lucky recipients of my many late night skype calls.)

Although I must say, I don't know why I studied! The exam pretty much murdered me.

Anyways, what I can do now is tell you what I was up to BEFORE the exam madness started.

Last week there was a Colombian Party that we went to because we wanted to get free tickets to our favorite club Marengo! (which we did !)

On Thursday, I wasn't planning on going out because not really any people could and I wasn't sure if I was up for it. However on facebook I got a message saying I had been chosen to go on a list where I could get in for free to Marengo! My friend Dora also got it, so we decided why not? We went just the two of us. It was pretty fun!

On Friday we reunited the group to make a comeback sensation! It had been quite awhile since we had all had the chance to go out together! We hit the cocktails of the world party and danced and had a blast. Then we went to the Chupitos bar because we hadn't been there in awhile. Followed by: MARENGO! We went and had a blast dancing til 7 am. I must say dancing until 7 is probably one of the main things I will miss when I leave Spain!

On Saturday, I slept in. Then I went over to Nerea's because our friend Miya was coming over to teach us how to make dumplings! I now know how to make real Chinese dumplings! They were absolutely delicious!

Sunday was an easy day. I didn't do much. Just slept, watched tv, and relaxed. Then came Monday and that was when the study madness began!

Here are some random pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Because I hate studying:

So I of course am a procrastinator and therefore am waiting until the absolute last minute to study for my 2 exams tomorrow. Thus, I will spend a bit of time writing this blog post and lolly-gagging (sp?). I was thinking about how I only have 50 days left in Spain, which then led to things I can't wait to do when I come back. Here is the list: (no particular order)

*Movie Nights w/ the gals and lots of goodies
*Eastlake on a friday night
*Bowling
*Build a snowman in the quad
*Work- I know, this one surprises me too, but I miss it
*Make no-bake cookies and coconut brownies
*Have One Tree Hill marathons
*BAKE Christmas Cookies
*Shoe shopping with Nancy, Court, and Jade
*Karaoke @ Finn's / The Little Red Hen
*Eat a chicken quesadilla w/ xtra creamy jalapeno sauce at T-Bell
*Hug my family
*Walk through Red Square in the rain to watch everyone fall on their asses
*Watch New Moon 6 times in theatres :)

These are just a few random thoughts. Guess I should get back to studying. I just thought I would throw a few of these down.

Night of Mayhem: Spanish Style

This weekend was Halloween! We came up with such a good halloween idea: m&m's! I was yellow, Nerea was blue, Kamilla was purple, and Dora was red! It turned out really cute! Hehe. Here are some pics!

These are our mustache and beard thinking faces :)

In order to keep from messing up our m's, instead of doing the spanish kiss, we did the eskimo kiss.
Dora's butt said 'zexy', nerea and kamilla's said 'don't touch', and mine didn't say anything so they wrot 'eat me, i'm sweet' on it..
The back of our shirts are hard to read, but it says 'melts in your mouth not in your hands'- go m&m slogans!

Children at heart. This is characteristic of the m&m's :)

Apparently vampires like to suck the chocolate out of m&m's like they suck the blood from humans.