People are such a big part to everyday.

Well, we overslept and missed out on our free breakfast this morning- darn. Another early morning for a long wonderful day on the beach! The bus system is becoming a little more familiar; I’d have to say we definitely don’t look so stupid anymore figuring out where we need to go, get off, and how to get home. But I think with any new situation it just takes a little time to get your bearings and then you start to learn how things work.

Do you know how wonderful it is to be woken up by loud church bells? NOT AT ALL. I mean please don’t get me wrong, I’m all about church but shoot when I’m sleeping- especially in the morning being that I really don’t like mornings at all- PLEASE don’t ring your church bells right outside my window. It’s not like I can walk my little American self down the 6 flights of stairs, outside and over to the church, knock on the door and say- oh hey, yeah I was wondering if maybe by chance you could stop ringing your church bells, or maybe not so loud so you know I could decently sleep- I’d get jumped pretty sure. I guess being awake early is it instead so here I am.

Got up and got ready for the beach. Since we missed breakfast it was already lunchtime anyways and we were starving. Here they eat like 3 plates for lunch. The first one is just an appetizer but big enough to be a plate in America, the second one is the main course and it’s even bigger than the first plate, and the last plate is whatever you choose as your desert. There is no way I can eat a full blown meal for lunch here- after one plate I’m stuffed. Oh and by the way, America is SO cheap compared to Spain holy moley. You think everything is so cheap here because of the euro system but if you think about it, one euro is two American dollars or so- EXPENSIVE. After lunch I had to go on a mission to find a towel because I was obviously not thinking straight when I packed- knowing that I was going to be at the beach- I did not bring a towel to lay on! Used my bargaining skills- thanks daddy for teaching me those, you do learn from the best- and saved myself about 4 euros. Passed out for a good nap on the beach listening to some good ol Dave Matthews again- if you couldn’t tell I kind of love him- and acquired some new tan lines. Although I must say I will have the best Chaco tan line ever when I get home and my watch tanline already is ridiculous so I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when I get home.

The people you meet in life are so interesting. For example: walking to the bus stop leaving the beach today, a tiny tiny man – I was twice his size- stopped us and said hello. Just a simple old man wanting to have a conversation, his English wasn’t half bad either. He was born in Valencia and had lived here all his life but went to an American school in Valencia way back when and that’s where he learned his little bit of English and has just been practicing since then with people to get better. He definitely did not look like he was born and raised here but who knows- this is Spain and with that comes a variety of people. It was neat- he asked us to talk to him in Spanish and he’d talk back in English so we could both learn- that was until we veered off to the super market and said adiós. And as far as the beach goes- I think it’s automatic that we attract attention, people just know we’re not from here but hey that’s okay, it’s nice meeting so many new people. It’s hotter than a mother here so we of course cool off in the water. One of those times cooling off in the water an older like 40 something year old man struck up a conversation with us- not exactly the attention Candra and I wanted, because I feel like when you start having a conversation with one person then every one else wants to look at you and try to listen and so on- and of course asked us where we were from. So being the proud Americans we are, we told him from America. He said that he could tell and being the curious Americans we are we of course asked why. In response he told us because we are very CLASSY beautiful woman not like the women here who walk around with tops off and blah blah blah. So all you CLASSY CHI OMEGAS reading this- that’s a shout out to you HOLLAAAR!

Do you ever feel like sometimes it’s easy to pick people out from their country? Here just like the Spaniard picked us out, when we see an American or a potential American we can pick them out like apples and oranges. It’s always nice though because yes we’re here to practice our Spanish language but once in a while just speaking English about the same customs is so much better- handshakes that are so automatic in America don’t exist here. Lucky for us there was an American sitting not too far- he had a Wilson football, was probably 6’3, and was built - tell me that’s not American. He’s actually from Plano, Texas which is all the better and is playing in an American semi pro football league over here just because of it as a way of being able to come to Spain and hang out here for a while- that’s pretty cool. If there was something like that for women you better believe I’d be all over that program- free everything except for your plane ticket- PARADISE. Someday I want to come back and just live here for 6 months or so with Spanish roommates and all- you’d be completely fluent by the time you left. He taught us that people here call American people “giddys”. Not quite sure as to what that means but I’m thinking that’s a slang term not in a bad way but as a label, if that makes sense? I love meeting new people for several reasons- 1) it culturally enhances you as a person and 2) having friends in a new place is always fun because then they can tell you what to do, where to go, and also hang out with you- hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to test that theory out.

Came home for a nice clean shower- which by the way is nothing like the US, you have to hold the little shower head up when you want to rinse and if not it just hangs there- and as we walked through our door we heard what we would hit the ground for in Texas, gunshots, outside our window, or so we thought. Almost had a heart attack for a split second only to realize it was like a confetti cannon for a celebration that was taking place right outside our hostel. You should have seen Candra hahah oh my gahd HILARIOUS- we both jumped a little. Got all the sand off and headed out for a nice relaxing night in Valencia, dinner and everything! That was of course after Candra knocked her newly purchased can of hairspray from madrid out the bathroom window and down 4 stories causing all kinds of ruckus- priceless. Had a tasty meal called paella de pollo with a HUGE water. When the waiter asked me what size water I wanted I didn’t think it was going to be this MASSIVE bottle of water- don’t worry I took a picture of it for yall to see. Over heard these germans sitting two seats behind us ask the waiter where we were from and sure enough what did the waiter do? Came and asked us where we were from and reported back- that was awkward. Ended up talking to them for a bit but lost them ASAP considering they were like slightly creepy. Maybe I shouldn’t say creepy because it’s not like they were weird we just didn’t want to be around them and all they wanted to do was talk to us to learn more English and our customs and on and on and on. Politely we said goodbye and moved on- but before then I made sure to learn some new words/sayings in German. Ran into some girls our age from Madrid just visiting Valencia on vacation. Two spoke English the other two didn’t. One girl actually studied in the states for a whole year so that was easy communicating haha. Met some MORE Americans from Washington- two visiting their sister who actually studies in Saragossa- who were remarkably pleasant to be around and are staying in Valencia until Sunday like we are! Hopefully we’ll be able to hang out with them again and just have ourselves an enjoyable time.

And to end the night we came home to again NOT BEING ABLE TO SLEEP DECENTLY, JUST DECENTLY, BECAUSE ITS ALWAYS SOMETHING. Either extremely hot, loud, church bells, music, people partying, ALWAYS SOMETHING. So it’s probably best if I just lay my head down and try to pass out despite all the conditions so that I’m not completely exhausted for the beach tomorrow.

Set goals for yourself, make bucket lists, and reach them. There is no limit as to where you can go, what you can reach, and what you want to achieve out of life expect the limits you put on those measures yourself. I dare you to reach for the biggest and best, to achieve, and to make memories out of your dreams. Its possible, you just have to believe and do.

There is no passion to be found playing small -
in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
- Nelson Mandela