Katie en España y El Mundo: Bilbao, The Guggenheim, Aston Martins, and German kids!

bonjour!
ça va?

Haha just practicing my French. I have a test.

Hi. How are you guys?

Well, I am OK. Things are coming to an end VERY quickly here and I feel that I don't have enough time to do what I want. I leave to Madrid the 28th and the flight is the 29th. aaaaaaaaa

I want to go to Marbella, (The LA of Spain) and Gibraltar, (Technically you are in the UK when you go there, but you can see Africa) and Nerja, one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen.
I want to hang out with my friends here in Malaga and in Sevilla. I want to go back to Madrid, go to the beaches in Portugal, hang out at BBQ's, sing, dance, laugh, go to the Feria de Malaga! Just have a great Spanish Summer. Well, if I save up my money all this year, I can come back next summer. I'll be 18 and it will be a nice break right before college! (Now I am going to get an e-mail from my parents)

I am continuing to have dreams in Spanish. I don't want those to end. I wonder what will happen to them when I am back in the States and there is English all around me. I usually watch my TV in Spanish. Very rarely will I switch it to English. I watched 'Gone with the Wind' last night. I really liked that movie.

* IRRELEVANT*
When Scarlet realized she truly loved Captain Red and not Ashley , it was way too late. She begged and pleaded for Red to stay. When that didn't work she asked him what will she do without him. He finally turned around and said, "Frankly, I don't give a damn." End scene. I LOVED that part. For so many reasons.

I just occurred to me that I haven't heard little kids screaming in English my whole entire year here. I hear random people speaking English walking down the street. I hear students, teachers, my American friends. However, not little kids. Like when they are playing.

So right now, I am feeling a little like I did right before I left.
- What will happen?
- What am I going to do when I get there?
- Will I like it?
- How am I going to feel? Happy, sad, angry, miserable, homesick, joyous...etc.
Do you see how these questions can be asked at either end of the experience?

School gets out the 22 of June. Oh take me now! This is horrible! It's sunny, and hot, and worst of all I can see the beach while I am sitting in Physics Class. Dios Dios Dios.

This past weekend I went to Bilbao with my family for my mother's nephew's first communion. Phew that was a lot of possessives.
I loved it up in the North. It is SOO green. It feels kinda like being in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The bluffs, the winding river, trees, trees everywhere! It's so different from down here in the south. It's beautiful. The ocean is close by. So I have been in the south, the middle, and the north of Spain. Oh how I love this country.

Well, my host-mother's family is from Bilbao. I had mentioned it to her that I wanted to go if possible. And I went! I met up with a friend in AFS while up there. Her name is Lena and she is from Germany. I stayed with her family for two days. They are the most welcoming people ever. She introduced me to her friends and showed me around downtown. Most of you may know that a Guggenheim museum is in Bilbao, Spain. I took TONS of pictures of the museum. I went in. However, just the entrance. I didn't have enough time to spend inside looking at all the wonderful art. I spent about 3 hours in the Prado in Madrid!

I took the metro into the center with Lena and her friend Anders after we spent the day going to little towns with her family. In the town of Getxo (Het-cho) there is an enormous bridge that connects the two banks of the river. It transports cars from one side of the river to the other town. But it's quite an unusual bridge. You'll see.

The flight up there wasn't bad. About an hour and a half. I went from Friday morning until Monday morning. But on Friday, I had to get up at 5.15 am and be ready by 5.30. The flight left at 6.45! What a morning. I left with my two brothers while their dad drove us to the airport. (Which is about 10 minutes from my house) I was so exhausted when we got there. My mom was already there. She is an air-hostess and she was in London the day before. So she just caught a flight to Bilbao. Anyway. She meet us there and we took the bus right to the corner two blocks away from her sister's apartment. Very convenient. That's another thing I will miss, the ease of travel. Really, it is a LOT easier here. Well after we settled down. I took a nap with Sara until 12. Then my brother's and I took a walk down to the museum. After that, we took Manolo up to the coast for his surf lesson. The little Puebla is called Mundaka. Just a little fishing, surfing village. And the drive is curvy and steep. I was a little car-sick.

On Monday morning, Lena's host-dad took me to the airport. I feel so proud. I got through security. Found the gate. Got to Malaga. Found my way out! (That was the part about which I was most freaked out!) Just that little bit of independence and trust. I love it. I thrive on it.

Anyway, when I got home. We had a German exchange student in our house. His name is Sebastian (I have no idea if that's German or not) and sadly, he went home today. Very nice kid. I enjoyed his company a great deal. One night Manolo, Sebastian, and I stayed up until 12 in the morning looking and and talking about cars. A natural conversation. I love cars. So I wanted to show Sebastian my dream car and with him being from Germany, he was super excited. I asked him why he was so excited and he responded, "I think that a person's dream car tells something about them." (Oh and by the way, I don't speak German, he can't speak that well in Spanish. But he can speak English.) So I finally revealed that I love Aston Martins.

I mean, who doesn't? It's a beautiful, discrete, luxurious car. Not flashy like Ferrari's or Bugatti's. And not cliche like BMW or Mercedes. But it comes with a lovely price tag.

Anyway. I will post pictures from Bilbao. Trust, me. You will love them. I also used a cool effect on my iPod to take pictures that looked like they were taken in the 60s or around there.
I am going to Sevilla again in the morning to see my friend Noelle and watch my brother's rowing competition!