This time last year, boy were things different!

I am knee-deep in school work (actually I should be writing my paper on the BP oil spill right now), but I couldn't help but remember where I was last year around this time of the year.  I was in my apartment, sulking in the fact that I didn't know if God was calling me to go to Spain or not.  What a stressful time of my life that was.

Recently I talked with several juniors who were debating whether or not they wanted to study abroad, and as I was hearing their anxieties about going abroad, I involuntarily was taken on trip down memory lane.  I felt their pain! I know their pain! So, me as a oh-so-wise senior, the response I gave them was this: "I know that whatever comes out of my mouth right now is going to be momentarily soothing, but make you even more confused.  So the only helpful thing I can say right now is, I know what it feels like to be in your position, and trust me, it's all going to work out."

And really, take it from my experience. God's going to take care of you. He is the Provider.

I still revert back to the horrible first two weeks of me being in Spain, and am so thankful that I was not left in that hole of darkness. Thus, when I face difficult patches in my current stage of life, I must remember that sad little place I was in, and how things paned out eventually. (Although, I must admit, sometimes I think some of my current hardships come from the fact that I was away for a semester...That doesn't mean I regret going though!)

Sometimes I feel so nostalgic, and ache to be back in Madrid.

Some things that were a part of my everyday life...

Plaza de España

Weird meals. Actually this was one of my first meals

out in Spain. 

The courtyard in the apartment I lived in. :'( I miss it!

Churros con chocolate de San Gines. YUMM

Plaza de Cibeles 

Mercado de Ventas. Crappy but cheap pastries from

the local market near my house. 

Las Ventas!! Plaza de toros. 

Fun activities at Retiro :')

Last but not least, the funky handles of the Metro. Can 

I just say how much I MISS THE MADRID METRO? 

Being back in Boston, I realize with stronger conviction

that the Metro in Madrid ROCKED. 

Oh, I miss you Madrid. When will I be back??

Something to look forward to

Heads up! Here are a couple of posts I'm thinking about writing.

Madrid Favorites: Some of my favorite places in Madrid I think you should go and see if you're in Madrid.
Barcelona Parts 1 and 2: Overview of my final trip of the semester to Barcelona.
20/20 Hind Vision: Things I wish I could have done slightly differently.

And a whole bunch of pictures.
 

Just some ideas that are floating around my head. :) Stay tuned. 

Te extraño, Madrid

Hello from Nashville!

Sorry I have been MIA! Life has been a whirlwind since I've been back in the U.S. of A.

First week back was me trying adjust to the time difference while attending a wedding and going on a camping trip only two days after being back from Spain.

The following week, I started my internship, I was helping out with my church's VBS, and then that Saturday, my grandfather passed away. That day felt like a week and that week felt like a month. Since then, I've been either working or with my relatives who flew in for the funeral.

So, long story short, a mix between procrastination, not knowing how to write about Madrid in Nashville, and a hectic life has delayed my updates on the final stretch of my semester abroad.

It's been almost a month since I've been home, and I wanted to share a couple of things I miss and a couple of things I don't miss. :)

Justification

Remember when I said that I have a fear/dislike of birds?

I don't per se hate all birds, but I really don't like pigeons and just any birds that cross my path on a daily basis. (Ugh, just thinking about pigeons brings a chill down my back.) I walk around birds, and a little yelp escapes my mouth when they all of a sudden decide to flutter past me, in front of me, over me, etc.

While traveling, I've come across my fair share of pigeons, and my travel companions would always ask why I had this weird distaste for birds?  There are several different reasons, but nonetheless, I've been trying to get better about my dislike of pigeons slash birds I come into contact on daily basis.  But as of yesterday, I have (more) legitimate fear/dislike of them.

Multiple apologizes

Hi everyone, sorry that I've been MIA.

My friend Jo* was visiting me for the past 4 days, and things have been a little crazy with the school work. >.< My final exams are coming up, and can you believe it? Tomorrow is my last day of classes at the UAM!

I promise, after I get myself organized for my exams, I'll write you all a lovely post--make that several lovely posts.

Another update, I'm officially changing my flight back to the U.S. a little bit earlier than the original flight. This change is to several different reasons, but I'm feeling quite conflicted about going back home.

Here are some pictures from my Granada trip to make up for my absence. :)

P.S. Interesting. I having a hard time physically writing English, and spelling words like psychology. (Just now, that took about 3 different tries.) Spanish is getting to my English. 

Stressed

So much to do, so little time.

The studying part of study abroad has finally hit me, and I think I'm drowning. Bleh.

All will be well. Breathe in, breathe out.

Querida Real Academia Española...

Dear Royal Spanish Academy,

I hereby humbly request a creation of a new Spanish word for the benefit of the Spanish people, to facilitate the expression of one's feelings and thoughts.

Please consider including the word "awkward" into the next edition of Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, for your beautiful language lacks such an expression.  And when taking this word into consideration, please, dully note the social context of this word. Failing to do so would be the upmost disagreeable thing to do to this wonderful word.

I do recognize that the Spanish find this word, well, awkward to pronounce.  However, do not be dismayed for practice makes perfect.

Thank you for your time and dedication to the Spanish language, and I look forward to the 2013 edition of Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.


With the highest level of sincerity,
Angela

Truth

I came to Madrid knowing I wasn't fluent in Spanish.  However, I had high hopes to becoming more or less fluent by the end of the semester.  At one point during this semester, I thought I was pretty darn close. (What made me think this, I do not know.)

I have almost exactly a month before I return to the States, and I shall elaborate on my sentiments on this matter at a later date, but for now, I will stick with my original train of thought.

Like I was saying, I have almost exactly a month before I return to the States, and in recent days, I have had multiple elongated periods of time hanging out and talking with Spaniards.  And the more I hang out with them, the more I realize, HOLY CRAP I AM NO WHERE NEAR BEING FLUENT.

People back home who have had their elementary classes in Spanish may think otherwise, but let me tell you, when I'm talking with my Spanish friends, half the time my mind just goes, "??????????????????????!" When it is my turn to respond in the conversation, my mind goes, "....!!!!?!??..??!!????!......?!?!?!? :'("

Sigh, this truth burns a deep hole in my heart and my ego.

Maybe I should start writing my blog posts in Spanish to practice....Nahhhh, who are we kidding? That would make my blog not only incomprehensible to English speakers, but also Spanish speakers as well. So no.

All I can do is take it one step at a time.

P.S. Speaking of Spanish friends. Two friends (they're not technically Spanish. They're Mexican) are leaving Spain on Monday and I have to say bye to them tomorrow.  Makes me really sad, especially because I felt like we were just now getting to know each other and the probability that I will see them again on Earth is very, very, very slim. :( Wahh!

Daily Life: Thursdays

Time for another daily life update.

Thursdays are pretty chill.

I have 9 o'clock classes, so I usually have to wake up by 7, get ready, and be out the door by 8. The sun has been rising earlier so it makes my mornings that much more pleasant.

I technically have three classes on Thursdays: two lectures, followed by a discussion section.  However, that discussion section rarely takes place, so I tend to end by 1PM.  By this time I am furiously hungry, so I head home for lunch, and I hang around in the house or go for a little jog (if I didn't go on Wednesday).

Around 6:30, I head out for La sala de oración that I mentioned earlier to meet with my friend Lena*.  We usually meet for about an hour, and just catch up and see how the other person is doing, and share any thing we have learned while reading the Bible.

Then I go back home for dinner.

Wow, I make it sound like all I do is eat...probably not too far off from the truth. :P

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Angela in London (for the weekend) to the rest of the world who happen to read this blog! :)

It is finished, Christ is risen, the old has gone, the new has come!  The good news is the Kingdom of Heaven is on this Earth.


**If you want more information on what is Easter for Christians, I would like to direct you to any of the four gospels in the Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I am no expert, but John may be a good place for you to start.**

Daily Life: Wednesdays

Wednesdays are the best.

My Wednesdays provide room for me to recuperate from my crazy Mondays and Tuesdays because I have no classes on Wednesdays!!

How luxurious is that?! Never will I have this schedule again in my life. :( But just because the day is technically free of activities doesn't mean it lacks structure.

Although I am not a morning person, I sincerely would like to be, and so I try and not to wake up too late (meaning after 10). And to help prevent me from sleeping all day, usually Wednesday mornings I meet up   with Jaime, my intercambio at a cafe or something and have a nice conversation in Spanish and English over a cup of café con leche (durrh). After an hour an half or two hours of conversing, we catch the same bus, and I get off by the International Institute of Madrid where the BU program is headquartered at.  Either I have some businesses to take care of at the BU office, or I hop on the Metro from there and go home.

Once home, I try to go for a very LITTLE run in the park near my house, come back home (take the stairs up to the 11th floor to try and compensate for the fact that I barely ran at all), take a shower (because after going up 11 floors, one is out of breath and slightly sweaty), and then time for lunch (what a counterproductive system)! Haha

Afterwards, I take a little siesta, get some homework done, or watch some TV, and then around 4 or 5, I head out to Kilometro-0 in La Puerta del Sol, where there is a prayer room for this ministry called Kilómetrocero.  The ministry is basically a street-evangelizing ministry, and people every day go out into a concentrated area of a city, stand on a red box and share their testimony.  The prayer is so awesome, and I got to meet some really cool people through this place.

I've been having a hard time having my one-on-one time with God at home, so I decided one week on a whim to go and be alone with God. Like a mini-retreat.  Since then, I try and go at least once a week to have a longer time with God.

After a couple of hours of being there, I head back home and eat dinner, etc. etc., with the only exciting thing left for the night is videochatting with lovely people back in the States.

Angela will be slightly MIA

Hello all! 

I'm leaving for Paris today (well, hopefully I can get to the airport with the strike going on and such!), so I'll be even more MIA on the internet world.  But I do have a couple of small posts that are scheduled to post--I'm not leaving completely leaving you all hangin'. 

And maybe, just maybe, I'll write a post while in Paris and/or London.  

Random: 

• I just cut my finger nails, and I think I cut one of them too short. I'm nervously waiting for the pain.
• I still have to write an essay about Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein before embarking on this journey. HAH. Let's see how that goes.
• The flight I'm taking is letting me check a bag for this flight (what a LUXURY!!)! So naturally I got excited, and I think I may have overpacked. (So much for packing light!)  Also, I think I'm feeling slightly pressured to look awesome at all times since I'm going to the fashion capital! (Sadly, this is almost an unfeasible goal since my wardrobe is severely limited.
• I just heard a lot of chanting outside my window. HUELLLGAAA!

Happy (early) Semana Santa everyone! 

<3 

La Huelga

Tomorrow is the big Huelga here in Spain.

Also referred to as 29M, the syndicators of Spain has rallied together and called the nation to a nation-wide strike tomorrow protesting against the labor reforms the current government has/will be enacting.

I don't know too much about it, but I know that daily life in all of Spain will be affect by this strike.  Flights have been cancelled (thankfully not my own), the Metro is estimated to only function 30-35% of its normal capacity, and most all classes have been cancelled.

On campus, almost everything but the walls and chairs are spray painted with a large 29M in red or black, and everywhere you can see signs saying "LA HUELGA!" or "PARA VUESTRO FUTURO!" etc. etc. Spain and their leniency with the law never fails to surprise me.  This type of vandalism would never fly on Boston's campus.

I might get stoned for saying this, but from an Economic point of view (tainted with probably an Americanized bias), these labor reforms in general seem really necessary for the Spanish economy.  And as a college student who often fails to be well informed on the things of this world, I wonder if even half of the students who are rallying tomorrow will know exactly what they are protesting against. A colleague told me that the people are angry because these decisions were made only by the government and the businesses without discussing with the workers.  I don't know whether that is true or not, but in my humble opinion, even with these reforms, the workers in Spain benefit so much more than the workers in the U.S.

Let me give an example. If an employer wants to or needs to fire an employee, he/she needs a strong reason such as the employee comes to work naked or did something horrible. If such reasons don't exist, the employer is required to pay the employee he/she wants to fire 45 days worth of pay for every year the employee worked for the employer.

That is to say, if I wanted to fire an employee who has worked for me for 10 years because I needed to reduce the number of employees in my small business (which is not a good enough reason according to Spanish labor laws), I would have to pay 45 days of work multiplied the number of years the employee has worked for me. So in total I would have to pay 450 days worth of salary in one check if I want to fire this employee. !!! The reforms reduces this number from 45 days to 33 days.

Okay, it is only a small portion of the reforms, I'm sure, but either way, the workers here have it REALLLL nice.  A part of me wants to say, stop your whining.

Anyhoo, let's just hope that I can get to the airport tomorrow okay so I that I can be on my way to Paris to be reunited with one of my best friends.  YAY for Spring break! :)

Angela today

I haven't written much about my personal well-being here in Madrid. Most of my posts have been about shallow daily occurrences, or my travels.  Therefore, I wanted to share a snippet of what this abroad experience has been like for me. :) Enjoy!

Daily Life: Mondays

So what's my day-to-day life like here in Madrid?

I'll give you a small run-down on what a typical Monday looks like for me.

I'm basically at the university all day. Aim to wake up at 7, but usually at 7:15, wash up, dress, eat, and get on the metro by 8:10 at the latest.  While listening to music, I weave my way through the sea of people while changing metro lines, getting on and off of trains.

Grab café con leche para llevar at the cafeteria to stay awake during class once I get to the university.  I get to my classroom around 9, which starts at 9:15 (the Professor is almost ALWAYS late,) and ends at 10:30.  I usually have a group meeting for my other class or a tutoring session, but if I don't have any meetings that I have to attend, I either watch a show on my computer, do some work, or AKA kill time until 5PM for another class. That class ends at 7 (or 7:30, as it has been recently), and by the time I get home it's around 8, 8:30.  My host mom and I watch Pasaplaba, a quiz show my host mom watches religiously,  have dinner around 9, do homework, watch another TV show, email, talk with my parents, facebook, tumblr, etc, until roughly about midnight, and go to sleep.

Nothing exciting.

Uh-oh

My host mom has been sick all day with what I think is a bad cold.  Maybe even the flu. [!]

I didn't think much of it until I started coughing a little this afternoon.  I don't feel sick, but I don't want to be anywhere being in the danger of sick, and this itchy throat is scaring me.

1) I'm going to Portugal this weekend! I can't be sick for that!
2) I consider being sick one of the worst things to happen to you while you're away from home. You don't have your mom to take care of you, you can't haphazardly skip your daily duties, etc. etc. Wah, I hope I'm not getting sick.

Let us pray.

God, please oh please, don't let me get sick! In Jesus' name. Amen.

:P

Promise!

I'll send new update(s) soon your way with lots of pictures and just general updates on my life. :)

I want to write one right now just to avoid doing this one assignment for my Public Economics class, but it's already 11PM here, and if I want to get to bed a reasonable hour, I should get it done soon. Bleh.

As some say, Abroad Problems.

Just a teaser of my Bilbao/San Sebastian trip:

 Looks good? Well, looks can fool you. 

Artsy, eh? :)

P.S. did I mention that I'm going to Lisbon this weekend? Hehe

Let's get to know me part 2

I don't know if you have noticed, but I don't put pictures of myself on this blog.  This is in fact NOT because I don't like the way I look (I mean, the girl has her insecurities, but it ain't that severe!) It's more like there's only so much I want to share with the whole world.  My apologies, but I make small attempts to be safe on the internet.

I try and be honest with my thoughts and my adventures (granted, there is censorship and filtration), but I don't want everyone to know what I look like.  I mean, I have had my weird run-ins with strangers on the metro already. ;)

But in order to compensate for this, I decided to write another post about me like this one.

Sometimes how I feel

I would like to slow down this growing up process.

Role reversal

I'm not Catholic, so I didn't know, but apparently today is San Ángel Day, which means you get a little gift today if your name is Ángel or Ángela.  Well, my name is Ángela, so my host mom got me a porcelain box. How sweet of her! :')

This same host mom asks me during lunch, "Angela, do you like to dance?"

To this, I reply, "Yes, I like to dance.  But I don't know how to Salsa or anything like that. I would like to learn, though (smiley face)."

And then she says, "Well, you need to go to a discoteca then! There's tons of places to go for this! Salsa is very easy to learn. Other girls I have hosted went dancing Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday. You should do the same."

Well, to that I had no response. How is it that my 60-someting, conservative host mom advises me, a twenty-something (Asian-)American, to go out more at night?

LOL talk about a role reversal.