Saturday, February 23, 2013

I'm so Bored that I kissed a lot of people

The fact that you actually clicked on that link kind of disturbs me, but yes, perverts, it's true.

In the past week, I've kissed more people than I can count.

You horrible person. Stop reading my blog.
On the cheek.

Because it's part of the culture.
Seriously, what is wrong with you?
Anyway, I'd been hanging out mostly with my Vandy friends and with my host mom and her family and friends for the first few weeks.
I'm quickly realizing that my social skills have not actually improved since 7th grade
Older adults in Spain only kiss each other if they're family or haven't seen each other in a while, and we all know Vandy students aren't really into PDA
Moving on

This past week, though, I started hanging out with a bunch of other students from all over the world (including a few who are actually from Spain!), and among the college-aged crowd, kissing is used as a greeting and a goodbye every day.

At first it was a little strange to not have a personal bubble

 
But now I'm actually getting used to it. 

I mean, what's not to love about kisses? 
;)
Bored Game Time!

Answer: Ascensor. If you knew that take the elevator up/down one level of the game board (whatever moves you forward instead of backwards)

Question: What is the quickest way to make a sitcom annoying?

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I'm so Bored that I got my pictures developed (kinda)

Ahem, hola, Blogosphere! I really thought I'd have uploaded tons of pictures and exciting stories by now, but my camera battery is in the mail currently and my "exciting" stories are mostly about how I tried a new type of cheese or I actually woke up early enough to eat breakfast and catch the bus.
I actually have not seen a Palma bus map yet.
This past Saturday, however, I was Bored and I had the day to myself, so I walked down the street to the train station and hopped on the train to Sóller.
It's like an adorable, old-fashioned trolley!

Since Palma has basically been annexed by the Germans as a vacation/retirement resort, I was the only person on the train who spoke Spanish as opposed to German.
I was apparently also the only person who was not in a serious, PDA-full relationship
The ride was gorgeous, but as I didn't have my camera, I resorted to writing my feelings about the landscape.

No, you may not see that writing.

When we got to Sóller, I immediately noticed that the local tobacco store sold cheap disposable cameras, and I figured this was the perfect solution for the day.
Nothing could possibly go wrong!
Anyway, I wandered around the little town taking pictures and so on. I won't go into the long story of how I realized my debit card didn't work and spent loads of money on international calls with my mom to fix it...

When I got home, I figured that I could go develop my photos and then I could spend Sunday scrapbooking.


I know y'all are seriously doubting my skills at both photography and scrapbooking...stop judging me!
I asked somebody in a shop on the way home where I could get my pictures developed, and they told me the best place would be El Corte Inglés.
It's like a combination of every store you've ever seen...in one store

I checked their website, and it said they were open on Sunday, so I decided to wait til then.

Of course, when I actually walked all the way there on Sunday, they were closed. I kinda just stood around looking stupid for a while before walking back to my apartment.

On Monday, determined to scrapbook, I set out on a major shopping excursion.
And the path I took looked about like this...
First, I went to a schools supplies store on the street next to mine.
Which is funny since the study abroad advisers told us we couldn't buy that stuff here

I got myself a whole lot of glue, some scissors, and a box cutter to complete my scrapbooking set.

My next stop was an electronics store, where I probably paid way too much for a radio alarm clock.
Spanish vocab time: Despertador

Then I walked a far distance away to a store I had noticed a couple days before that advertised photo developing (revelar fotos) in the window.
Turns out they only "develop" digital pictures, which isn't really "developing" them at all

So, I turned around and walked all the way to El Corte Inglés.

Once inside, it took me asking multiple people and waiting a really long time for an elevator to the 5th floor to find the photography counter.

The lady behind the counter originally told me 1 day, but when she saw my disposable cameras, she said 1 week.
Why do they even sell these if they're so obsolete?!

So, after I added more money to my cellphone at the Vodafone counter, I ended my 2-hour journey by walking home taking the bus home and almost getting run over by it after I got off.

Anyway...

Bored Game Time!

Answer: 7. If you knew that, move forward 7 spaces, just for funsies. If you guessed a different number, move back that number of spaces.

Question: What is "elevator" in Spanish?