First week

This is Queen Amidala's palace
see all photos »

So I didnt get to complete skip out on the snow.  Our drive up to MPLS was very slow going on unplowed interstates but we made it anyway.  We had so much airport time to kill!  I am convinced clocks run slower in airports and on airplanes than in other parts of the world.  Once at the Chicago airport we had to go through all the awkward (and repeated) first introductions to the other 50 students with the program, well, 6 of the 52 are from Northwestern and one is Jess my roomie (we are basically inseparable here, whether that is good or bad I am not sure) and another is Karen Leonard...  I basically made friends that day with the people that I would continue to hang out with later.  A bunch of boys: the Baker brothers, both just the sweetest guys you've ever met, Micah who reminds me a lot of Brian Christianson at times, Blake who was our very first friend, and Adam who is actually from Orange City but goes to a different college who knows my cousin Dustin so we had a chat about him and Real World etc.  :)  there is a girl from MPLS, Sydney, and we were at Stella's Fish Cafe at the same time just before I left!  small world.

girls at Alambique, or Pedro's as we like to call it
see all photos »

Our host family seems very nice.  They have 3 little kids which is unusual for host families: twins at 3 years old, Jaime and Guillermo (Guille for short), and Tatiana, 4 yrs old.  They are basically little hellions, I cannot count the times I have been stabbed with Guille's fork at mealtimes, and they love to call us 'apestosas' which basically means stinkies, and they tell us we are eating caca and pipi which i think you can figure out.  Tatiana is a big fan of telling Jess she is fea (ugly) and me I am bonita (pretty) because I think she knows that it gets to her.  Little brats but they are so cute :)

I have never eaten so much spinach, garbanzo beans, or olive oil in my life.

Tatiana
see all photos »

Fun Facts: On a walking tour of the city we saw Plaza de España which is actually the site of Queen Amidala's house in Star Wars! and we walked through a street where Viggo Mortenson shot parts of his latest movie.  Also Jessie, from CA, was accomponied by Bob Saget on the way to Chicago so he was at the airport with us too.  wootwoot.

My roomie Jess turned 22 just a few days after arriving, oddly enough we celebrated at an Irish Pub.  Found out that Cruzcampo, the local beloved beer here, is not really that good at all, no one in our group really liked it.

Jaime and Guille, who knows which is which :)
see all photos »

speaking of not really liking things: we have some weird food here.  I have never eaten so much spinach, garbanzo beans, or olive oil in my life.  and they are very into seafood being near water which I also don't really enjoy.  It is hard to get used to the mealtimes here: breakfast at 8, lunch at 3, supper at 9.