Funny thing about coming back from Spain is that...I can speak Spanish. Who freaking knew? 

Significant things about that in The States:

- I actually wish my Spanish professor DIDN'T translate every other phrase for our class, while the majority of my class looks forward to those moments (I know, I was once there...)

- Sometimes I can't figure out how to say something in English!! 

- I feel like I know a secret whenever I can randomly bust out in Spanish with friends.

- I can eavesdrop in Spanish...

- I feel qualified to someday have a Spanish job! (Hey! I did it in Spain) - which is really good, considering I probably will. Cool. 

Okay, enough about my obsession with the Spanish language...

Readjusting in strange too, though. Especially with this whole new group of friends to see/hang out with all the time. But I love them and I saw them last night and it was AWESOME. 

In other news:

- I want a pet, not gonna happen.

- Turns out cooking is actually cool. 

- New books to read? 

- I miss Allie and Caleb and Josiah and Mica and Mallory and Mason and McKenna. 

Bunch a little childrens whom have stolen my heart and I MISS THEM!!

- Juli is at Tech with me this semester and it rocks. She's a cool sister and I love her. 

That's all. Peace out hombres. 

Twenty something...

I get to claim twenty something now. Twenty. It's come so fast. It's strange that it will be here in 25 minutes. I'm not even impatient for it! I've enjoyed the teeny bopper years...

...let's take a second to reminisce on the awkward years...

All done. 

Woo Hoo! I AM TWENTY YEARS OLD! Tengo veinte anos. 20. 

Don't worry, guys...

A seat at the adults table at Christmas and Thanksgiving is not necessary, I shall gladly continue to sit with the children. Bills? I'm good...really. Ask me about a job, I'll forever be a hippie. And regarding the never-ending implications towards the successful, married, traditional life I will ultimately have...let's not get carried away now. I was nineteen yesterday.

However, I am a globetrotter as of recently and in my past home of Spain, I've been 20 for 7 hours! So, Happy Birthday to me...this old lady is going to bed.  

Margarita Isabel

Bam Ba Lam.

I was totally and completely wrong about Switzerland.

It was cold but not too cold and the mountains...oh, the mountains. Our "moto gang" -- lame, we know-- roamed the mountain roads for two days straight! It was incredible. Check out facebook pictures.

And The Swiss live up to their famous: chocolate, knifes and cleanliness. Also, most of them speak like 4 languages! It was really, really great.

My parents are coming in 10 days!! I can hardly wait. And Juli will be here shortly after that...I'm so lucky!

I have less than a month here at this point...it's FLOWN by. I'm so ready to see all of you and LBK.

Oh Lord, classes here are like 9:30 to 12:30, 4 days a week. I wrote out my schedule for next semester and it was definitely a nasty welcome back to real life. 7 classes. Only 15 hours (thanks dance minor)...but I don't go to class on Fridays and I've definitely got a travel bug now, so...

ROADTRIPS! You're all invited. On this list so far...San Marcos and San Antonio, Norman OK, Missouri...everyone must come to my farm at some point this Spring, Tyler, Houston (Easter with family)...feel free to add to it.

At least I found my voice again...

Man, I sound so overwhelming-make-me-want-to-throw-up in love in my last post. With Paris, of course. Miss it for sure but let me put my normal voice back on, it's much more suiting, I think.

Don't ask me why I would pay to fly/train into one of the coldest, most expensive places in Europe right now, to spend five days fighting snow and rain...looking for something interesting to do in a place that has the worst reputation for their lovers and their cooks.

Interlaken, Switzerland, everybody. I'm going to have to update you when I get back.

Plan: Nap, movies, shopping...cross your fingers for sunshine. Meals. Friends. Napping. Among other fun activities, inside of course. We'll probably venture out for a snowball fight if we're lucky...take 293784234890 pictures and run inside to thaw out our fingers. Pictures can be so deceiving, hmm??

No worries, I'm going with my favorite people on this trip and in general and definitely going to enjoy it.

In other news: listen to ratatat, I'm still obsessed. learning Sevillanas...seriously SO COOL, make me show you when I get back. Will you go dancing with me because I'm also learning: bachata, merengue, cha-cha-cha, salsa and pasa doble. Holla. French is the next language on the list. A jungle is the next place.

Take me home. Or come to Europe...alright familia? 25 daysish.

U Can't Touch This.

Paz Fuera.

Paris a volé mon coeur.

Paris has stolen my heart. (Paris a vole mon coeur). 

I don't know how a city takes your heart like that. And believe me, I know it's cliche...but it's irresistible. I could live there. Teach ballet to little French girls and live in an apartment. It's going to happen. Oh, I'd like to think so.

As far as being all touristy...castles, palaces, museums, cathedrals etc. are GREAT, but what I really, really love is the feel of a city. You can find that walking down the street. Parks are good, too. 

...The feel of Paris almost childlike. I was constantly excited and wide-eyed...at the most simple things. Chicken and tomato paninis. A swing in the park. A brass band on a street corner. The rosy-cheeked child that just ran past me, speaking French! It's seriously impossible to not feel it. The fact that it was 50 degrees outside, so I was wearing a scarf and a peacoat the whole time only made it better!

Paris, France and Rome, Italy are sister cities and there's a phrase for them...

"Only Paris is worthy of Rome, only Rome is worthy of Paris."

If so, I must go to Rome. 

Au revoir.

Margarita Isabel...back to spanish life.

My heart is a crowded place.

I recognize this is a long post for the casual readers. So, here's a key...

a) random.

b) spanish.

c) music.

d) the states, my dears.

e) you.

f) venice.paris.switzerland.greece.

g) palabras in spanish.

h) flamenco.

a) My blog is asking me why I don't wear scarves and telling me that my neck feels naked (who cares?), but funny that they ask, because...I've become a little bit obsessed with pashimas -- mine is kind of that color, too -- while in Spain. I bought a beautiful one in Granada, which according to Jennifer "compliments my eyes and skin tone and really, truly enhances my look as a whole." Well, I feel like that's what I'm going for anytime I put anything on...so, one point for me.

b) I think all the Spanish women went shopping in my 7th grade closet, because their clothes are about that big, on fully grown bodies, and from 1999...awesome. UNLESS, they're going to a wedding and then, they seriously could walk down a fashion runway in 1923. 

c) Levi Smith. Really, sometimes I just really get hooked on music and I am for sure. I'm listening to his myspace right now (I know, myspace, 9th grade...) and I love it. You know it's a good song if you like it the first time you listen to it. 

Try...I'd Like To Think So, Bitterness is Sexy, That's What I Meant By Goodbye, Lay Me To Waste...

d) There are so many things in The States that I took for granted before coming to Spain. And more than wanting to stay in Spain, I want to go back and appreciate all that I have. I was reading my first post about how much I'll change...little did I know, I'll be fighting a lot of those changes. 

Why didn't I think about that? 

Think about: Stores that never close vs. every store ever being closed on Sunday and during siestas (3pm - 6pm). Walking everywhere vs. Driving everywhere. A freaking hamburger. No exchange rate. Phone calls that aren't charged by the minute. Protestant Churches. Understanding the news about your home and Ike...impossible. Having more than 28 friends that speak English.

...let me clarify. I have the best legs ever from all the walking. I love the 28 Americans I'm with right now. Siestas rock. The rest of it really does suck...

e) Do you feel grown-up? When does it happen? Do I want it to? Nahhh...

f) I'm going to Venice, Paris, Switzerland and Greece. Ask me if I'll have any money when I get back. So, so, so, so worth it. 

g) Whether or not I'm fluent depends on who I'm talking to. Team 1607 (love you two) YES. A Sevillian with a thick accent and no idea that I'm catching every 6 words...hell. no. Hahahaha. 

Two things that I've recently learned about the language and am loving...

1) Lots of big, more "complicated words" in Spanish...let's take revolution for example, are practically English...like, revolucion--the o has an accent--. Love it, I can usually guess those.

2) Lots of times a noun is just the verb in a slightly different form. 

The forgotten: Los olvidados, verb: olvidar. Holla!

h) OH MY GATO! I bought a Flamenco poster with my name on it! Well, my Spanish name...Margarita Isabel...I'm so excited about putting it up in my room/house when I get back!

You're right here. Love you.

Me.

Otra vez, otra vez...

Otra vez means again...like...say it again. I totally missed that. Or at least that´s how I constantly use it.

In my host family we have a...

Mamá, Manuela...
...a mid-fifties beach bum, who loves to make fun of her daughters (that includes Jessica and I, plus Lola y Ana--her actual daughters) and cook delicious foods! Fried fish is a favorite, Gazpaucho, Paella and she loves the tinto verano...Sangria, but who doesn´t?!

Dos hermanas, Ana...

...25 and quite the little sister to Lola, bratty voice and all, but really a lot of fun and very patient with Jessica and I. She´ll literally spend 10 minutes trying to explain one word or phrase to me and then spell it in English, because she can´t speak it but she can spell it! Crazy! Her boyfriend...Robert, is around some, too--turns out he speak fluent English!

y Lola...

She´s older and really sweet but SASSY. She´s really patient también (also), but doesn´t live at the house, so we only see her at a meal a day or so. She´s engaged to Jose...this guy is HILARIOUS. I have to go into detail...

He´s SO tall for a Spaniard. He reminds me of Robert off of everybody loves Raymond. He speaks English as well, well...he´s learning. His English is a little better than my Spanish. He talks so fast and has the thickest accent ever. Yesterday in the kitchen he was asking me all sorts of questions about the...trash in The States...?? Who knows and I could not understand a word he was saying...thus otra vez, otra vez and mas despacio (more slowly...) hahaha. We´re constantly dying laughing.

Funny Story...

Saturday we got home from the beach and we were about to eat dinner, so I say to my host Mamá (en español)...I´m going to change my clothes, but instead of ´cambiar´the verb for to change, I said ´caminar´, which means to walk. So, my sassy sister, Ana, immediately stands up and struts her and her shirt across the kitchen...laughing, vas a caminar tu ropa, Maggie? (You´re going to walk your clothes, Maggie?)...haha, I freaking love them.

That´s the family update...I need to take pics of them, but you can check pics on my facebook for Ronda, Marbella and random things in Sevilla...more to come, of course!

Last but not least...corazon literally means heart in Spanish, but my host mom always says ´de nada corazon´...so, I think it means like sweetheart! It´s one of my new fave phrases in espanol.

Paz corazones...

Peace sweethearts...

:P