Being Mimsey.

During high school, I participated in Large Group Speech. My brother got me started doing it, and I really enjoyed it. During my senior year, I was part of a group ensemble. We performed part of Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite." The part we did came from the third act.

The third act takes place in a suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Roy and Norma Hubley's daughter, Mimsey, is set to be married in the hotel that day, but she has decided to lock herself in the bathroom and refuse to come out. I was Norma, and my friend Alex was Roy. The majority of the scene revolves around trying to get Mimsey to come out the bathroom--involving trying to knock down the door, climbing out onto the window ledge, and doing a lot of yelling. She still refuses to come out. Finally, they decide to get her groom, who is patiently waiting downstairs for his bride. He walks into the suite, knocks on the door, says "Mimsey...cool it!" and leaves. 5 seconds later, she walks out of the bathroom and says, "I'm ready now."

I feel like I've sort of locked myself in the bathroom, refusing to come out--not wanting to think about leaving or dealing with everything else with my upcoming departure. But this morning when I woke up, I read 2 emails (one from my parents and one from Collin)--and suddenly I decided "I'm ready now." I'm not quite sure what they said, but I just had a sort of calm come over me. Chances are that I'm going to "lock myself in the bathroom" a few more times before I leave, but for now I know that I'm ready.


That's it for now. I'll probably write some more later...for now I'm going to rest a bit. I think I may be getting sick...or it's just my allergies starting. I'm just hoping I'll feel better by next Friday!!

Seeking the Grail.

I've been making my last list of things to do before leaving, and I realized that I haven't seen the Holy Grail, nor have I written about it.

The Holy Grail is the cup used by Jesus in the Last Supper, and there are about 5 or 6 places in the world that claim to have the Holy Grail. Valencia is one of these places; however, the Holy Grail in Valencia is the only one with Papal approval and the one most historians believe could be the real thing.

So sometime this week, I will be seeking the Holy Grail--much like in Monty Python--except without the coconuts used for horse hooves. It is located in the cathedral in one of the chapels--but you have to pay to get in--and I always happen to be in the cathedral when that area isn't open. I'm excited for my little quest.
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On another note, I got some great news yesterday! I was offered an internship for the summer with the ACS, and I figured out where I'm living next year at Luther. It was a good way to end the day.
I went out for horchata yesterday afternoon, since there was a Luther guy in town visiting (he's currently studying in Nottingham). It was the first time I had "horchata granizada"--which is somewhat like slushy horchata. It was really really good!!
All for now, must get ready for Phonetics!!

Uff da.

Uff da. It's a phrase that entered my life during my first year at Luther. With one roommate from Minnesota and the other from North Dakota, "Uff da" was thrown around often in our room. Too much homework? -Uff da. Something crazy happen? -Uff da. Anything at all? -Uff da.

Today "uff da" is on my mind, because of everything going on. We have entered the final, FINAL countdown. 13 days and I will be back in Grimes. Uff da.

But enough of that talk, I thought I'd share a bit about my tour of the Lladró factory. I went to the Lladró factory on Friday afternoon with 4 other girls--Jill, Claire, Colleen, and Kaitlyn. We got a little lost, since Google Maps wasn't the most precise at nailing down the location of the factory. We arrived a wee bit late, but they didn't really mind. We got to see each step in the process of making the porcelain, from starting the molds to firing the pieces. The detail is incredible. There are a bunch of people who only make flowers for the pieces. The woman made a rose, right in front of us--and she was surrounded by all the different flowers she had made that day. It was really impressive. I also really enjoyed looking through the showroom...the pieces range in price from 40 euro to 120,000 euro. It's expensive stuff. Each piece is hand-painted, and all of them are beautiful. Now the show room is the place where they are wanting you to buy a piece--I was wanting to buy one, but I wasn't enthused about the price tag. We had hear rumors that there is a "Seconds" room--that is to say a room with the pieces that have "imperfections." We asked about it, and they took us there. It was a giant room filled with pieces--all about 50% cheaper. We only found one visible imperfection. I ended up buying a piece. I'll post a picture of it when I get home. For now, it's living in a box, carefully wrapped up under my bed--and I don't feel like ruining the packaging. It was a piece that I felt fit my personality. It's nice that I now have something uniquely made in Valencia to take home--and it's something I can continue to collect for the rest of my life.

The rest of the weekend has been a mix of working and relaxing. My literature professor decided to give us a lot of work to do over the weekend, realizing that we haven't read everything that she wanted us to read. I've been working away on those readings (post Spanish Civil War short stories) plus working on reading poetry from post Spanish Civil War. We've read a lot of poetry in my lit class, which I wasn't really expecting--but we found out this week that poetry is our professor's specialty. I have a presentation in Avant Garde tomorrow, and then will spend the rest of the day enjoying Valencia. These next 2 weeks will be a mix or work and pleasure--because I will have a lot of school work to do, but I also want to enjoy my last 2 weeks in Valencia. It will be a delicate balance to maintain.

I just finished skyping with my parents earlier, and I got a full tour of our yard. I'm surprised at how green everything is, and it made me excited to get to see everything in person. I'm going to go back to work now--keep on reading and taking notes. All for now.

Jueves.

Hoy es jueves (Thursday).

Life is much the same--just the anticipatory feelings of going home. Classes are fine, it's strange knowing that we have each class 2 more times before we have our finals--and then one final day to get our exams back, chat, and say goodbye. Tomorrow, I am heading to the Lladró Museum with some friends. It should be a lot of fun. Saturday will end up being a beach day, and Sunday will be homework.

This afternoon, I started craving lots of American food--so I made a list of things I want to eat when I get home. The list is growing...quite quickly. I've been asked a few times what I will first eat when I get home....the answer---cottage cheese or carrots--or both!! They are two of my favorite foods. I'm also craving pizza from Breadeaúx and crab rangoon. Plus fruit--here I eat apples, bananas, oranges, and pears, since nothing else is in season--so I'm craving some variety in my fruit consumption.

Not much to report--this is just a bit of a rambling blog entry.

On a side note, Madonna's music is the soundtrack to my week.

All for now.

Martes.

What did Tuesday bring for me? Frankly, not much. Another day of class. In Phonetics, we are doing transcriptions--basically taking texts in Spanish and writing out how they are pronounced phonetically.
For example:
"Nunca dejes de sonreír, ni siquiera cuando estés triste, porque nunca sabes quién se puede enamorar de tu sonrisa."
Transcription (more or less--there are a few errors):
[ 'nũŋka 'ðexez̦ ðe sonr̄e'ir | ni si'kjera 'kwan̦do eș'teș 'triște | 'porke 'nũŋka 'saβes kjen se 'pweðe enãmo'rar ðe tu son'r̄isa ]

Then in the afternoon, I had cine. 3 people gave a presentation over the last movie we watched, and then we talked about why Spaniards don't like Spanish movies, and then we started watching another movie "La noche de los girasoles" (Night of the Sunflowers)--it's a little creepy so far.

Now it's time for dinner, then some homework and job application stuff.
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And I guess I haven't really mentioned the Icelandic Volcano. It's big news here, especially with all the flights being cancelled in Northern Europe. One of my friends, Kelsey (also here for the year), was in Norway visiting a family friend when it erupted and spent 2 days driving with people back to Spain...she said it was a nightmare. We have had a boy from Jersey (island--owned by Britain) here at our house--he was supposed to leave on Saturday, but due to the volcano, he is here until Friday--if his plane will leave then. If his flight is cancelled again, he will be traveling by car to northern France and then taking a ferry home. It's craziness...

Hopefully it will all be resolved by the time I come home. I'm lucky though and my flight is from Madrid to Dallas--then Dallas to Des Moines...18 days.

Lunes.

I figure that I don't really have a lot of time left, so I might as well write little entries whenever I feel like it.

Today the sun finally came out after a week of not so great weather. Since it is Monday, and I only had one class--I went to the beach after class. I relaxed in the sun for a few hours and even paid 5 euro for a 10 minute back massage. It was nice.

I was super productive yesterday and got all my homework done through Wednesday. It's giving me a chance to relax a little bit and continue prepping things for this summer and for next year. I'm in the process of filling out my graduation application for Luther--it's crazy to think that I'll be graduating from college in 1 year. All for now.

All I need...

Sometimes all I need to stay happy is a little classical music.

For some reason, it drives me and soothes me.

Classical music of today: Luther Symphony Orchestra 2009 Spring Concert...
Favorite song: Allegro molto appassionato (great violin line)

Today is a classical music day. It's an easy day to relate to the music.

20 days.