Long update

January 20^th, 2008;

Apparently I forgot to bring a journal and my plan to get online daily failed miserably! I guess I’ll begin from day 1…

I left Vegas 12 days ago, January 8^th. I tried staying up all night, and it did help that I was packing while my sister played Guitar Hero. Mom helped me pack all my shit into the two suitcases. It took us a long ass time to pack. I had so much clothes packed that I hoped to bring to Spain, but my suitcase was just too big, so I left half of what I planned on bringing at home. I filled one suitcase with as much clothes as 50lbs could get me. The second suitcase had my shoes, toiletries and books. My mom helped in the weighing part, and making everything fit. It was our last full day together, so I guess we made the best of it.

In the morning, I felt like I was going to throw up and that I couldn’t breathe. I showered and mom made me breakfast. We sat there in silence because I couldn’t look her in the eyes without crying. My brother was supposed to take me to the airport along with my mom and my sister, but apparently he was planning on just dropping me off like some dog at the curb. So right before I left, daddy came into my room in his blue robe and told me “Mija, I’m going to give you some emergency money. I always carried this amount just in case the Migra got me.” And he handed me $500. I immediately started to cry. I hugged him and cried on his shoulder, he eventually started crying with me as well. My mom walked in all scared and then she got a little teary eyed and walked away. I cried again when I went to daddy’s room to say bye. He got teary eyed and told me he loved me.

At the airport, I checked my bags in, and my mom and my sister walked me to the C gates. When mommy said bye to me, she got a huge knot in her throat and me dio la bendicion, then told me to behave. I got watery eyed and my sister told me to not cry, then hugged me and added the “don’t get drunk dumbass” at the end. I walked off crying, not wanting to look back and begin to bawl in the airport. The TSA guy checking my passport looked at me funny, but fuck him. As soon as I walked passed security, I was ok. I didn’t look back all in the fear of running back to my mom and my sister.

In LA, I literally had to run from Terminal 1 to 2 because my plane leaving Vegas was 45 minutes late. When I get to the AirFrance ticket counter, the chick couldn’t find my name. I guess they checked someone in under my name. So she fixed it all by putting priority tags on my bags. As I waited in a seat, I turn to see this kid wearing a Cristiano Ronaldo jersey and I thought of my sister and kindda laughed. There were a lot of the program kids there, but I didn’t talk to anyone cuz I wasn’t sure if they were in the program. We get in the plane, and I have an emergency row, so the French flight attendant yells at me to put my carry on in the bucket thing at top. So there goes my chance to take my airbourne. I rolled my eyes and put my stuff away. The 10 hour flight was so tiring! I couldn’t sleep and one of the guys next to me kept touching his junk and moaning as he slept. So when we finally get to Paris, I notice some UNLV kids, so I quickly ask them if they’re with the program, and thank God, I got to meet like 10 people that were headed to Madrid. We grouped together and tried to find our gate.

I guess we came across to customs or something, and we handed our passport and boarding pass to this guy in a window. He was SUPPOSED to stamp our passport, but tell me why I lucked out and was one of the unlucky people to NOT get theirs stamped!? I was pissed when I realized this in Madrid!

The flight was packed with kids from the program. I saw my roommate farrel from a distance, but didn’t say a word to him. I guess all the girls were talking about how hot he was. So we get to Madrid and get our bags and start heading towards the people from the program. Me and this girl cammy sat together and ended up being roommates in Madrid.

In Madrid, everyone went out drinking every night, that is, EXCEPT me! Yeah, crazy cuz I thought I would be going out to the clubs or bars every night. But cammy, and her friends Kim and Brit that met us up there later, never wanted to go out. We went to bed at midnight while everyone came stumbling back to the hotel at like 7am. Well, at least we didn’t make asses of ourselves. All the tours were great. I loved the Royal Palace there, and fell in love with the cathedral in Toledo! I almost cried as I explained the cathedral to my mom, only because I knew she would have loved to be there! It was just so incredible; words can’t even describe what a beautiful place that is. I imagine the church in heaven looking like that (I would have said heaven itself, but c’mon, there has to be a church in heaven right?! Haha)

All these places we went to, I wish my family was with me at the time. It sounds so corny, but I know they would have loved seeing it as well. I probably got on cammy’s nerves by how many times I said “OMG! If my mom were seeing this!” I think it was just my way of avoiding being homesick.

Last week exactly, we got here to Bilbao. I don’t know what I was expecting, I guess something more like Madrid, but when we got closer to Bilbao, it was so different. It’s more like the country side here. There’s all these mountains here, houses on hills, a river; it’s incredible! It’s not like being in Mexico type mountains, these are like green and almost touching the sky it seems! Its hard to explain, but I hope the pictures and the videos I took can show what I’m trying to explain a little better.

When we first arrived, the majority of the Bilbao students had someone waiting for them to pick them up. There were all these cute little ladies waiting for their homestay child. Me and farrel just stood there with our luggage trying to look for the person that was there for us. One of the ladies in the program called our names out and we looked at her surprised that she knew our name, but it was just to tell us that our ride was a little late.

Then he gets there. Felix hands him 20 Euros and me and farrel stand there speechless. Now, I know not every Spaniard is an Antonio Banderas or Penelope Cruz, but shiiiiit! Our ride was like 21, about 5’ 8”, chubby (I’d say like 160lbs) and had acne, or just a bad case of razor burn. He had a funny looking face. He came over to us and said hello. His name was Diego. He walked us over to his car…

Tell me why this stupid idiot kid came in a tiny car with 3 of his homies?! There was room for one of us. Some European cars are about half the size of American cars, at least this one was, and this idiot thought we both would fit, plus our luggage in their “oh-so-spacious-trunk”. FUCKING MORON!

Diego and his little homies just stare at me and farrel with this stupid expression as if we’re supposed to melt into one and drag our luggage behind his stupid car. So one that I guess is the genius of the group said he’d go to Leoia and bring his car. So me, farrel, and Diego are left in the street alone. The people in the program are gone, the sun is down, a few people are walking their dogs; but me, farrel, and Diego are still out there with 5 pieces of luggage chilling on the sidewalk. It wouldda been the perfect crime; Diego kills both me and farrel and steals are shit to sell for drug money!

About 10 phone calls from Diego (25 minutes) later, his homies reappear in another stupid little idiot car. I grip onto farrel’s arm and tell him I’m not going in a separate car from him! Then he asks if I trust our luggage with the other 2 friends, but fuck it! I don’t want to get raped then thrown in the river! I can buy new clothes!

So Diego, being the manly man that he [thinks he] is, tries to lift my bag first. He almost threw out his back. It took one homie inside and 2 outside the car to put all 4 inside the car. One of the homies ended up walking home cuz there was no room. So me and farrel go in the car with Diego and homie number 1 that is driving. As we try to settle in, homie 1 starts smoking, I guess we have to get used to Spaniard smoke quickly. Then Diego hops in. First thing Diego does is get a zig-zag paper thing and put it behind his ear. I thought it was a cigarette though. Then I happened to get a glimpse through the passenger window and see that Diego is smashing/sprinkling something into his right hand. Its some oregano looking substance. WEED! WTF?! So I poked farrel and told him. Then homie 1 whispers “Te estan mirando de atras, eh”…thanks douche, I know you’re meaning us. So Diego lights his shit up, not caring to lower the windows. So me and farrel get all the second hand smoke as we drive to our apartment.

We get to our street and notice this cute little old couple outside waving. We get off and homie 1, 2, and 3 can’t take the suitcases out. So I decided to do it instead. Diego calls the program lady and you can tell he wants to leave, I guess there’s some more weed he needs to get to at home or one of his homie’s places. As Reme our land lady stays talking to Diego, we’re talking to her husband. He’s the cutest little old man ever! He’s like 6’ 2” and has a cane, wears a little hat and has glasses. He gave me the biggest hug and told me I was beautiful. As Diego asked something about us, the old man said “Tell her they’re fine here and that the girl is gorgeous!” Then he asks if I speak Spanish and I told him I was Mexican. As soon as I said it, Diego’s homies start talking amongst themselves and say “ohhh! She’s Mexican!” I guess being Mexican is a big deal because Diego told the lady he was on the phone with “Si, nos vamos a ir. Ella es Mexicana y los entiende….es Mexicana” Stupid douche.

So Reme and her husband try carrying mine and farrel’s bags upstairs but we stopped them cuz they’re old. So we get upstairs and Reme told me our other roommate was already here. We get upstairs and meet unzzel. She’s a tall with dirty blonde hair. She seems bored and out of it. Then Reme shows us around and we choose rooms. There’s 2 rooms with locks on them, who knows why. Reme leaves and tells us she’ll be back tomorrow at 8pm to collect the rent and deposit. Then her husband tells me I have to sing some rancheras for him and I said maybe, but he was eager for me to sing.

We all unpacked, and made some spaghetti that the program gave us. As we ate, we all admitted we were super homesick. I guess that the fun in Madrid died down and we weren’t comfortable without our friends anymore, that we actually missed home. After we ate I noticed I had a missed call from my mom so I was super excited and called her back. After talking for a few minutes, we all headed out to explore our neighborhood. It was kindda sad being here the first night cuz I didn’t feel too comfortable yet. I was missing my family like crazy, but I toughed it out and didn’t cry.

The next 2 days here we went on a tour with the program. We had a placement test at the university one day and then toured the school. One of the days we toured Bilbao, the big city, then Getxo (the –tx- makes a “ch”sound), the area we’re living in. In Bilbao, I went to El Corte Ingles and bought a flat iron for 50 euro. It was expensive, but damn, I needed one badly! Then we went to the beaches and walked around. It sucked cuz Monday we had gone with some of the program kids we met in Madrid, and went to their apartment in Algorta and walked on the beaches. The damn hill was horrible! Going up sucked! I seriously thought I was going to die! As I panted trying to get up, my brother’s face flashed in the back of my mind and him poking my stomach saying “Gutsillo” and calling me fat. Then my sister talking shit and laughing cuz I never go to the gym with her. No lie, I thought my heart was gonna give out and I was gonna die. But I made it, panting super hard, but I made it. I blamed it on the cold I had haha.

Tuesday night was a free day because Wednesday we didn’t have to get up early. Our friends from Algorta, b and jack came to Las Arenas/Areeta (where we live) to go to some bars. farrel’s friend mobster came over at like 5 and we started drinking Kalimotxos. Who would have known red wine and coca cola would be so amazing! I drank about 2 bottles of wine myself. Then at like 10 b, jack, and sheri came over to go to the Green Parrot, the irish pub in our neighborhood. As we sat there, all the other people in the neighborhood came over; will, Nikki, Trevor, Danny, kel, Evan, Lauren, and annie. From there, when they were closing, we started walking to the other open bar, but they were closing too. Some of the people there followed us; flipmex, Brittany, Christy, Aaron, Laura, and surfer. We went to this bar and stayed there. Everyone was drinking like they were in a desert. I didn’t want to drink cuz I could feel the buzz and didn’t want it to get worse. So I just sat with unzzel and jack, then farrel told me to drink a beer, but that made it worse. At like 130am we headed out, and the people from Algorta wanted to walk home, but that’s like a 30 minute walk, and being drunk added to it wasn’t good. So everyone came to our place. They were being super loud and obnoxious how drunk people are, so we kept telling them to shut up. Finally, Christy yelled at Aaron, the main problem, and told him to shut up because he didn’t know how to respect the house he was in and the neighbors. So we ended up kicking Aaron out. But like 2 minutes later, farrel found the kid’s hat outside our door so we both left running around in the rain at 330am looking for Aaron. We came back home and found the guys had kicked the doors open from the locked rooms. Good thing only the screw thing was what came off, or else we’d be screwed! So we have 2 extra rooms in the apartment for when people want to come over. But I already said if our landlords get pissed off, they owe me my 250 euros from the deposit!

We started school Thursday, which kindda sucked! I have to catch the bus to and from school alone cuz farrel and unzzel leave and come home earlier than me. But anyway, this weekend, San Sebastian was going to have a huge festival, so we were trying to figure out how we were gonna go. unzzel and farrel didn’t want to wait for me, so I was mad and thinking about not going at all. Thursday afternoon, farrel ended up leaving without telling us, but unzzel, jack, serena, lucy, and myself caught a bus Friday at noon to San Sebastian.

We got to San Sebastian at like 3 or something and unzzel’s friend grace met us at the station. It was a long ass walk to her apartment, but she lived in El Centro, so everything was close to her. Apparently, there were 5 other people staying in her apartment. Friday night we didn’t go out, we just walked around. But Saturday morning we met ricitos and hyper up and walked up this huge hill were they have a monument thing of Jesus. It’s called like the Sagrado Corazon museum. It was incredible, but once again, a horrible experience for my fat ass!

We went to dinner at 930 to get some Turkish food. My mom called me at like 945, but I had no reception so I had to call her back. She asked what I was doing and I told her I was in another city for their festival, but I don’t know if she heard me cuz the connection was bad. That night, everyone was going to stay up ALL night for the festival. The drumming started at midnight, and when we got there, pretty much everyone was super drunk! We were trying to get to the main plaza, but a grip of people headed our way and almost killed us! We get there and see all these signs in Basque. What I could get from them, they were talking about independence and not voting. They had a beach ball with ETA written all over it. Weird. I guess the festival supported the “terrorist group”. Either way, it was a lot of drinking and walking. We had our 2 liter bottle of kalimotxo and were walking around drinking it. I had a nice buzz and decided to leave it that way. We had some pintxos and continued walking. We bumped into some other program kids, then some Spaniards started talking to me and serena. The guys were drunk off their ass and super rude. One guy kept smacking unzzel in the head while one guy kept touching my face all violently! They were weird and we decided to walk away from them and head to McDonalds. There we bumped into the people from our neighborhood and kel told me there were these 2 gay guys hitting on him, and we finally found farrel.

lucy got mad at me and serena because we said Jose had “chinky eyes” and she said that was offensive. She ended up walking off with ricitos and these 7 stranger Spaniard guys to some club. We met them up, but it was 12 euros a person so me, serana, and jack headed back home. Me and serena were mad that lucy was mad at us for no reason so whatever. We bumped into the other people from Bilbao and headed back up to grace’s room at like 3am and went to bed. unzzel, grace, lucy, and ricitos got home at like 7.

We were woken up at first with ricitos yelling at hyper to leave, so they left at 9. Then at like 11 we hear noises from behind the couch. Apparently one of the girls brought a Spaniard home and they were having sex behind the couch I was sleeping on! It was sick. Me, serena, and jack left at 130 and unzzel stayed behind. I’ve been home since about 4, and now its 730. I’ve been home alone for like 2 hours so I washed some clothes and started this.

I’m just sitting here listening to Betty’s cd and typing this, remembering that my sister wanted me to update my blogger, so I should catch everyone up with a 5 page description of my 2 weeks so far. My laptop isn’t working here so I have to get on the school computers from Monday to Thursdays.

Being home alone now, I really miss my family. It’s crazy cuz I didn’t think I would. As I wrote this I cried in some parts. More on the parts where I talk about my parents. Listening to Betty doesn’t help cuz then I think of Mexico and get sad. I just hope school makes the time pass faster because right now it’s kind of sucking. I hate being alone and doing things on my own, but I guess this is all a growing experience and it’ll help me be more independent. This trip is definitely going to change the type of person I am, but I hope it’s for the better.