Homebound

Wow 4 months and I am heading home. I can’t believe it. It has just flown by. I will start with what I did this week.

Monday I took my patho/pharm test. I woke up when I had to be at the metro so I rapidly got dressed and ran to the metro. My professor ended up being on the same metro as me. I took it and yeah. I did not do as well as I hoped and it definitely was not what I could have done. But I am glad it is over, I can go home and relax and cuddle with my dog and family and not study for the test. Monday after my test there was a workshop on how to adjust back to the states and how to use study abroad to better your chances of getting a job. Then we went to see the Sant Jordi festival. Sant Jordi is basically the Valentine’s Day of Barcelona/ Cataluña. Sant Jordi is based off an old folklore. This princess was swallowed by a dragon and a prince killed the dragon and cut the princess out and flowers grew from the blood. So on this day men give women roses and women give men books. So there were books and flowers everywhere! There are authors who come in from everywhere to sign books. One of the authors was Carlos Ruiz Zafón who wrote Shadow of the Wind which I had to read for my literature class and I wanted to get my book signed but I got there too late. However the best thing probably happened to me! Christopher Paolini who wrote the Inheritance series was signing books! Me and my roommate found English copies of the 4^th book and we got them signed! Best moment ever, the line was so long and people were pushing, best moment of my life. It was a good Monday. My roommate and I also got roses for our senora. Also there was a Barcelona vs. Chelsea game so some people in my group and I went to go watch it at a bar. It was so intense they could have won! But it was fun to just hang out and see a game.

Tuesday it was a reading day for us to just read our notes. So I shopped for last minute presents. Then I worked on my final for lit which was essays so it wasn’t too bad. They were due Wednesday. My art paper was due Wednesday. Thursday I had my art final and it went better than the midterm. So a lot of us were done Thursday afternoon so we had a movie afternoon at the school. We watched Bridesmaids. It was super fun.  For the evening we went to a bar to just relax and hang out- they had popcorn so I snacked on that.

Friday- last full day in Barcelona. So I slept basically all through the morning. I did more lastlast minute shopping. Then I went to lunch with some people in the group at Bo de B because I was craving more rice in a sandwich. I did more shopping and went home to repack my bags. I have a bad feeling I am going to hit with an over bag fee.  My group and I went to see the Montjuic fountain show. It was so cool, I heard it is better to see at night since you can see the colors. We had a good bye dinner and it was sad but the food was so good. I went to church because I had too. I had to say the lastlast good bye to my new friends there. I am just chilling at my homestay until 4 in the morning and taking a taxi to the airport.

Barcelona has been great and wonderful. To quote Bridesmaids people do grow and do change. When I come back I will have changed and the people at home have changed too. But I am ready to bring the new me home and bring the new me home and put that in affect for what is best for me and my family. I have been on facebook way too much and I have been looking at the people who I knew in high school and I have probable had an experience that may not have- Some have kids, work at jobs, but I go to school and work and I am making the best choices for myself. I have to thank Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship because I could not have had this amazing experience.

I will post over in the next few days on how I have adjusted. The nursing aspect of this experience continues through May with clinicals and labs. It’s going to be an exciting month. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog!

The Homestretch

Looking at my journal this week was not really interesting and I have to study for my Patho/Pharm test that is tomorrow so this will be another quick post.

           Tuesday for literature class my roommate and I had to cook a meal(Arroz a Banda) from the book that we were reading, Los mares del Sur. Our senora wasn’t opposed to us using the kitchen but she did a lot of the cooking, mainly since we did not know how to cook fish or shrimp and we didn’t want to get people sick. The presentations were good, our Professor invited the senoras to class, and my senora had to be the cutest out of the group- she reminds me of Dora the Explorer. Wednesday I had clinicals and they were a little less exciting since I haven’t really been sleeping and I was just so tired. I ended up taking a nap that afternoon, because I was so exhausted.

           Thursday I had my presentation for my art project. The paper is basically finished I just have to reread through it. Also I had my literature test on Los mares del Sur. Let’s just say it went better than last test but I got lost on the vocabulary.

           Friday, I had lunch with people from my group at Bo de B. It is a sandwich place by the beach and it was pretty tasty. I would have never thought to put rice in a sandwich but it was so good. You may be thinking I have to get rice, no you don’t but it was an option, and a good one at that! Then to celebrate our last full weekend in Barcelona we went to a bar, and they had free popcorn!

           Saturday I didn’t do much besides study for my patho test. I went to lunch with some people in my group but that was basically it. Sunday was super sad. It was my last time going to church. They had a pancake lunch for family that is moving and the put me on stage too to say good bye. They have really made this experience so much better. I got to know local people and they helped me so much with my Spanish. I have a lot of good memories with them.

Okay now patho! Last week in Barcelona.

Playing catch up

I am writing this really late at night so hopefully it makes sense not that some or my earlier posts make sense. This will probably be a short post since I did not do much. I stayed up really late all week and tried to get all my homework and studying done but it is Sunday night/ Monday early morning and I still feel so behind! Well I have had all semester to get this art paper done and I still procrastinated until the end.  It was reduced to 8- 10 pages which I am so happy about I would be freaking out if it had to be 12-15 pages. It would not be too terrible if it wasn’t 1.5 spacing, I am just so used to writing double spaced.

Oh but Wednesday I had clinicals and it was probably the best day of my life! I was in the pediatric unit and oh my gosh babies! I had a different nurse and she spoke a little English but we spoke Spanish because she said it is a good language learning time and I was like definitely. We first saw a toddler and she was super cute she had a combined appointment with her older brother and they were taking an eye exam and they had to use their hands to demonstrate the way the E is facing and the little girl went first and her brother went and she was showing him the way the E was facing but he wasn’t looking at her, cutest thing ever! Then the baby parade started: we had a 17 day old baby, 4 months, 8 months and others but man so cute. With each of the babies they took measurements and it was interesting oh important the nurse made it seem that the baby should be near the 50 percentile. If I have not been obvious enough I think I want to do be in the pediatric unit and it is super cool that I am in this room, it will toughen me up to the crying. All the babies were good until they got the shot. But I still have at least 2 more years until I decide what I want to do.

Friday was another Conocer Barcelona. They stopped making them mandatory which means we want to go now. In the morning we went to Camp Nou! I have not been there yet, well only from the outside I may have gotten lost trying to find my church which was in the opposite direction. It was fun we had a guided tour from one of the professors from the school who teaches Sports and Society. We saw the trophies from not only their soccer team but their basketball, hockey, and racecar team.  Then we got to sit in the bleachers for a little bit. Then we got to go near the field and take pictures unfortunately the soccer team was at an away game. It was also my señoras birthday so my roommate and I bought her a Messi Mug because she is in love with him! She liked it and we wrote her a card in Spanish. It was good. Then in the afternoon we had a Conocer Barcelona at the Sagrada Familia. It was still marvelous even though I have been there before. It was a guided tour so I got to learn more things. Also we got to go up the towers probably the coolest thing ever. However you take the elevator up then you have to walk all the way down a winding staircase that is poorly lit! I went super slow down the stairs with my hands griping the walls since some of the way down did not have a railing! About half way down there was a couple and the guy told the women to look down and I was like it is probably a bad idea to look down. It was funny because I was talking to them in Spanish and I had no idea who they were.

On Saturday I was walking around and I was like why are my legs killing me! Well it was all those stairs! I also went to a baptism on Saturday and Sunday church. Not an amazing week but it was a good week.

Springbreak 2012

Oh Springbreak, Some people might imagine beach, tanning, relaxing. Well I got plenty of relaxation. I slept so much, it was nice. I also ate so much ice cream/ gelato.  I did not get to do as much as I would have like too though since it was raining basically Tuesday- Friday. For a country that never rains it had to pick Spring Break to be rainy.

Casa Batllo roof

                Well Monday I had a fabulous day. I have been waiting all semester to go to Casa Batlló and the Pedrera by Gaudí. I woke up and the line for the Pedrera was huge so I went to Casa Batlló first and wow was it amazing! There are no straight lines in the building; it kinda looks like a dragon, especially on the roof. Oh you get to go on the roof, and I am a chicken when it comes to heights but I had to just suck it up and head up. I loved all the colors in the building! There was an audio guide on the tour and I liked what it says, that Gaudí was able to respect the forces of nature, religion, and put it into his building which put him above all architects. Then I got some lunch and went to look at the line for the Pedrera which still had not gone down. So I went to buy some peach rings and waited in line. The first thing you do when you go in is go up to the roof. I did not have time to prepare but I still went up but I did not stay long but the roof is basically the best thing about the Pedrera. The Pedrera is a building the Gaudí built to be used as apartments, so there was a level that displayed what an apartment would have looked like during his time. There was a level dedicated to the architecture plans for his other buildings. It may have been nicer with an audio tour but it was a letdown after Casa Batlló.  

                Tuesday was the first day of the crazy rain so I went to school to print out things I would need and I worked on some homework. I wrote a lot of postcards which I have failed to do all semester. Wednesday it was still raining so I went to find the aquarium, well tourists and parents alike were trying to keep their kids busy so the line to wait to go in was an hour long and I did not feel like waiting. There was a mall next to it so looked in there for a while. I got onto the metro to see the movie times for anything just to get out of the rain. It was still too early for them to open and The Vow wasn’t until 4 and it was 1. I went and got lunch and I was already wet (Lucky I did bring an umbrella from home but my pants and shoes were all wet). I walked around waiting for the movie to start. It was me and a bunch of old ladies in the theater to watch Todos los dias de mi vida. I swear Spanish is more romantic. It was so good!

Monjuic Castle

                Thursday it wasn’t raining yet so I was like I am going to go to Monjuic which is a mountain in Barcelona and it holds all the 1992 Olympics. Well once I got up the mountain it started to rain! I made my way to the Miró Museum. Miró makes no sence! But I had to go for my art class and I wanted to get out of the rain. Then I went and got lunch then went to the CaixaForum which I had to go for my art class to since it had an exhibition on Goya and Delacroix. They were both so good exhibits. I took the bus up to the castle on Monjuic which hold so much history. During the Spanish Civil War prisoners were held and killed there. It is a sad but pretty place. I took the Teleferic down which is basically a glass box with seats and you go down probably the scariest thing but you got some beautiful sites of Barcelona.

Hippos Sleeping at the zoo

                Friday I went to the Marina Museum because they were hosting a Titanic Exhibition! Their main exhibit was closed but the Titanic Exhibit was so good. There was an audio tour and I loved it. That night I went and saw Titanic in 3D. It was okay in 3D, it was actually a lot darker looking in 3D but I was still crying at the end. The snacks at the theater are cheaper here than in the states. I have not had popcorn in a few months it was so good! Saturday I went to the zoo! Their zoo has a nice collection of animals. They were so cute. I went in the late afternoon and they were all taking a siesta.

                Sunday was Easter and I went to church and it was good. I talked a lot more Spanish and it was nice to be around and talking to people after talking to myself all week. Today, Monday my roommate and I spent all day catching up on our homework that we should have done all week. Luckily she finished but I have patho objectives that I am slowly making my way through.

Happy April Fools Day

I hope nobodies gotten to make pranks pulled on them today! I know I did not have any.
        Well the realities of being back in Barcelona hit and it hit hard. Since I did not bring any homework with me to Morocco I had a lovely pile waiting for me. Monday I went to school early to watch all the recorded nursing videos we missed from the previous week because we could not connect. Probably the worst torture I had to put myself through. Then nursing class, then doing more nursing homework to get ready for an exam we are supposed to take Wednesday but got an extension to take it Thursday, I know what kind of extension is 1 day but with Spring Break the following week we took the one day. Tuesday I spent the day still playing catch up with nursing and trying not to fall behind in my literature class. So Wednesday while the U.S. nursing class took the Patho test the Barcelona class was studying. We had to connect for Foundations but we couldn't connect again! Well we only missed 10 minutes.
        So obviously its been a rough start to the week and I wasn't sleeping much, then waking up late and missing breakfast. So me and my sister skyped and it made me feel better, we complained to each other about our lives which helps me to just get it out and not have it feel bottled up. Also clinicals on Wednesday were good, it was the same nurse I was working with last week and she is so nice. I saw more people get there blood drawn. Then in her office, we saw a couple of the same patients as last week but a lot of new ones but the same aliments, pressure ulcers, a long clotting time, and high blood pressure. 
        Thursday was the strike, the public transportation was working on limited service. Only 3 hours for the morning rush hour and 3 hours for the evening rush hour. All of the professors and staff at my school were like be careful, its going to be busy, and it may be better to walk to school. So me and my roommate walked to school in the moring it was only about 40-45 minutes, not bad, and  there weren't a lot of people out. So I had class then I took my test. My test was on the brain and diseases with the brain. Honestly the test could have been a lot harder but it was fair like all the other tests. By that time other students already had stories about the strike! In Spain everyone has the right to strike but it must be peaceful. So a lot of stores were not going to open and if they tried strikers would throw things at them, try to close their gates, they smashed windows, and they also put firecrackers in garbage cans so they blew up. After lit class my roommate and I walked back home and where the strikers had moved was were we needed to go to get home. They had signs and were marching but a lot of people just took the day to walk around and relax. We didn't meet any trouble and we may or may not have taken pictures of the 2 blown up trash cans that were still smoking. So its Spring Break now! I had a 2 way skype with my brother and my sister which was fun.
         My first day of Spring Break, Friday a couple of the students who were still in Barcelona and our staff went to a hostel, InOut Hostel that lies on the outer side of Barcelona to volunteer. InOut is a hostel that is staffed by people with Special Abilities, kinda like Lambs Farm if you live in the upper part of Illinois, except instead of a farm it is a hostel. It is a really nice hostel that is in Barcelona but is out of the craziness of the middle of the city. So we painted picnic tables and I was like oh yes my mom will let me paint! Then I got all full of paint, I am not really sure how I did it but I got paint on my lip, face, shirt, pants, hands, arms, and shoes. I was a mess, my senora asked me what happened to my pants when she was washing them ooops. We got lunch at the hostel and we spent the afternoon thinking of ways to increase the name of the hostel hence the long description. I went to church that evening and we had the lesson and then we played Just Dance 3! It was a fun day.
 Saturday I may have slept in really late but it felt so good after not sleeping much all week. Then I went on search for some lunch, I was trying to find this sandwich place everyone in my group said I had to try but I may have not been able to find it so I just ended up at a bakery and got the menu del dia. Then I went walking through the streets of the Gothic Quarters.
      Sunday, It was the first Sunday of the month which means some museums are free! So I went to the National Museum of Catalan Art, which houses artists from Cataluna. It was nice, I like works of landscapes a lot more then I like portraits. Then I went to the Picasso Museum. The line for the museum was so long so I got some gelato to eat while I was in line. I am such a smart cookie. The Picasso Museum is kind of small. It houses a bunch of his earlier works but not to much from his Black and Rose Periods. But they did have a collection of his ceramic works. I was going to go to the zoo but it was 4pm and it closes at 5pm and I was like I need more then an hour so I just walked around. So I was just riding a bus and I saw the Torre Agbar. So I walked to it, it was a lot farther then I thought it would be, but I made it. It is a lot prettier in the night time then it is during the day. So I went home and I wrote some postcards because I have been so bad at sending them. It has been a nice Spring Break so far.