Monday, January 31, 2011

Que Bueno

Well, I figured it would be time to write again, seeing as it has been a few days.
Last time we talked, I've had a big long weekend of great successes :)
Lets catch up:

1) Thursday: Kapital... again, obviously. My goal at Kapital was to have someone to dance with me because last time... well lets just say I sucked at dancing and all I attracted were dull men with mullets. This time, I did get someone to dance with me, so mission complete. LISA GAPINSKE is finally in Spain with me, but she ended up going to another club that night. No worries though, we'll be out partying together in no time. It was a lot less full this time around, but I got to socialize with the girls a little bit more which was cool. We went home pretty early, around 3, and then got ready because the next day we had...

2) SEGOVIA!
Troy organized a day trip for us to Segovia, which is an hour and some change away from where we are in Madrid. We had to be at the bus station around 9 to catch the bus and we got there around 11. I slept on the way because I was tired from being at Kapital, and when I woke up THERE WAS SNOW! We were up in the mountains and it was snowing bug chunky flakes of snow! Good think I had layered up! We walked around there all afternoon, seeing the beautiful sights and taking in the ancient city. its amazing that there is anything modern in a place so antique, and I can't believe that there are people that live there and get to see it every day. I highly recommend you going to see it for yourself because its hard to describe in words. After a long cold day of walking around and getting lost, we headed home.

3) I went out with my brothers after Segovia, and I'd made more new friends and hung out with some older ones. I had talked to Charlie a few weeks back and showed him a video of my horse. He kept commenting on how long his tail is and saying I needed to cut it. I told him I refused to and he kept pushing it. Then, he asked what my horses name was and I told him Shaggy. He asked why and I said because he has a lot of hair. His response was "Well cut the tail and maybe he can be Scooby Doo!". Charlie was full of it that night, and for the record, the expression "I have two left feet" does NOT exist in Spain, because he confessed to me that he had been looking at my feet all night trying to see if it was true.

4)Saturday was a lazy day, and I hadn't planned on doing anything that night until Dinner, when my brother told me I should come with them. They had 2 parties to go to but it was forecasted to be a pretty chill night... I should have known better =P
Starting at one bar, we had some drinks and when that bar closed we went to another. When that bar closed I hopped onto a Motorbike with a friend who looks EXACTLY like Bill Hader (and talks like him doing his Vinnie Vedecci voice) and went to Pantera, a disco that more or less is for really rebellious teenagers. The music was AWFUL, save for the songs by Nirvana and Beastie Boys, but we stayed there and danced until it closed at 6. From there, My brothers, Dani, Pablito and Charlie went off and had breakfast, which involved another few rounds of beers, and before we knew it it was 9am. We walked to Charlie and Pablitos and crashed there for the night. Once we woke up, we took the metro home and picked up where we left off with beer and great music videos. Dani kept playing Jimmy Cliff, and when the other guys came over (including Quique and Francisco this time) I was introduced to essential Spanish music, and also Quique's Gemelo -- Pitingo.

If you're looking to hear some great Spanish rock music, check out the bands Extremoduro, and Estopa. They're my favorites right now. Great stuff.

GEMELO UPDATE:
So as I mentioned before, I have officially met Spanish Bill Hader. His name is Tallo, and he can really bust a move when he's drunk. But the BIG news is that today I HAVE COMPLETED THE RYAN SEACREST MISSION!!!!! He was sitting by the door of my chocolate sandwhich bar, and I freaked out when I saw him there :) I'm eagerly awaiting the next mission from Jay, so I will let you know who I will be looking for next, but to be honest it has been a great week for dopplegangers :)

Well, I'm gonna finish watching True Blood and head to bed :)
HASTALUEGO (or "tago" as you're supposed to say it... whatevs =P)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

La Cueva

Today is Tuesday, which means I have nothing to do until 5:30pm when I have my spanish cinema class. What does this mean? It means that I woke up at the crack of noon, had a "Café solo" (coffee, straight up -- it grows hair on your chest.) and got ready in a relaxed manner. This included listening to straightening my hair, doing my makeup and then getting dressed. After which, what else was there to do but put my feet up and watch The Office?



So what happened was... I think about what I'm going the next day before I go to bed. Usually, my outfit starts out really well... I'll give you an example of the typical bedtime outfit planning: Black skirt goood good, i like where this is going, tights, i mean obviously, red shoes (I don't have red shoes) yeah cool! you know what would look awesome with that! a shirt that had butterflies and an elephant! and i could wear a clock with that.
As you can see... I start to fall asleep, and I wake up THINKING I have an outfit picked out, but in reality, I've got nothing. Luckily, I got mine figured out while I was still conscious and I think it turned out really well. Check it out!



The dress has a bow in the back, so it makes the back look a little weird, but hey whatevs :) (i'm probably going to change the shoes before class though -- don't tell peter!)

As per usual, I took a good 15 minutes looking for my phone only to find that it had died at some point during the night/afternoon. I plugged it in to charge it and I had 3 messages (super). I had a message saying that by... charging my phone I received 10 points... Also, my total number of points is 352 to date. After some searching, I found that apparently vodafone does a points system that you get for being a member and doing things. The person who had the phone before I did must have done a lot with it because I had a bunch accumulated. Anyway, It looks like I can get things with these points, like a gift card. I'm going to go to the store and ask about it because I know nothing.

As for the Gemelos, I have made a fantastic discovery (that I wish I had my camera for :()
Yesterday, while going to class I saw NOT 1, but 2 Karl Pilkington gemelos. They were standing RIGHT NEXT TO EACHOTHER! It was fantastic. They could have been real life twins, and they were twins of Karl. The world might end. I'm still searching and searching for Ryan, so I'll let you know if I can find him. I won't give up!

Thats pretty much it for now! AHHHHHDIOS :)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Obsesiones

Hey everyone! Its been a few days so I thought I would come on here and give you the latest scoop on life.

Since we last spoke, I have had exactly one "week" of classes, which for me is Monday Tuesday Wednesday. I take 18 hours of classes here, classes that include Poetry, Spanish Cinema, Colloquial Spanish, Advanced Language and Grammar and Art in the Museums of Madrid. So far, the classes haven't been too bad, but the Colloquial Spanish class was kind of brutal in that we spent about an hour of class-time doing phonetics of things. Basically, people in Spain (much like in the United States) don't pronounce every piece of a word, and a lot of times the words get morphed together. For example, when I say "Don't Worry About It" it usually comes out, phonetically, like this "Donworryabouit". So, in Spanish, instead of saying "Hasta Luego", its more colloquial to say "haluego". Interesting, but at the same time it was a long class.

Updates:
1. As of Today (Given that Lito can find the tickets) I will be attending a minimum of 3 concerts while I'm here. I personally have possession of 2 (Dropkick Murphys and The Shout Out Louds), and then Lito is going to buy tickets for Thin Lizzy today. I'm pretty excited about it all. We're also planning on (maybe) going to see a Spanish band called Siniestro Total, a band that Lito and I like called Deerhunter and a few music festivals that would probably change my life. Its cool because the majority of the concerts are here in Madrid, but the music festivals are elsewhere, and I get to travel and see awesome bands.

2. I've been introduced to a few really great bands over the past few days, so I'mma lay them on you. If you like indie music, check out : The Kissaway Trail . They're a really cool group (and I'm really bad at voice detection and saying what things sound like, so i'm just going to leave it at that. Another cool one is Celtas Cortos. They're an Irish rock group from Spain, and they're awesome. I've been a good girl and listening to the new Decemberists album, and so far I like it a lot :)
Also, I know there aren't a lot of Green Day fans out there, but if you get a chance, listen to the song "When It's Time" by them. They played it at the end of their concert the last time I saw them, and I think its a great song that makes me miss my man haha =P

3. Home Life: I still love my host family. I definitely lucked out with the best brothers who are introducing me to all of this cool stuff in the city. My brothers and their friends have been inviting my housemate and myself to all of these great places and concerts and introducing me to bands. I have a hard time understanding my señor still, which I'm hoping will change over time. He's a coach for basketball and football and he also plays with a group of friends which I think is pretty cool because he's Pop Pop's age I would guess. Anyway his voice is really deep and he talks pretty fast.

4. I'm talking to my dad right now through instant messenger, and I just got news that my car is finally alive and running. She had to get a fuel tank replaced and my dad got the car starter re-installed (funny how I ask for it to be re-installed and it doesn't happen, but when I'm gone in Spain and its a car he'll be using it happens... =P). Anyway, the thing about my car is, she's a brick. Also, she's kind of a dinosaur, and as a feature, the car locks when you turn it on (Safety precaution) and unlocks when you turn it off (to let you out). The car has always done this and I remember laughing at my dad getting locked out over and over because of it. He apparently has forgotten this problem as he is now saying the car has a problem because the remote starter keeps locking him out when he turns on the car.
Also, on the subject of "Ham"

Wayne Missy Jenne @ 12:39: habon or jabon?

Courtney Jenne @ 12:40: Jamon, jabon is soap. close words though, they get mixed up a lot

Wayne Missy Jenne @ 12:40: or if you want to order soup!

Now, I don't know what that means. But words of inspiration from Dad :)

5. GEMELO UPDATE
- Ryan Seacrest of Spain is still on the loose, but I'll find him
- Spanish Andrew Giotto has been discovered. (he's a resident of Connecticut but is studying here.)


Well, thats it for now! I'm going to be a bum and read my book for a little while
HALUEGO :)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

It Starts...

When I was younger, I had a sega genesis, and my favorite game was the Lion King game. I would play every day after school because I never could get past the second level where I had to do a double jump from the ostrich (and Peter knows my problems with double jumps to begin with...)
Anyway, everytime you would turn the game on, Rafiki would say "It starts"
And thats where I am today.

On Tuesday, January 11th, I left my home in Syracuse, NY to live in Madrid for 4 months. The trip did not start as I imagined as I was planning on leaving on the 13th. Basically, because I'm the worlds most unlucky person, a huge storm came to the east coast, and I needed to pack my shit up as soon as possible and get to NYC. That involved me leaving 12+ hours early, a 12hours that I really wanted for goodbyes. I'm glad I got my last sleepover before I left. Mom, Dad, Remy, Missy and Peter came to the airport to see me off, and we checked my baggage and hung out on a couch outside of security, eating up time before I inevitably had to leave. Tears happened, mostly when my little brother hugged me goodbye. It was hard to leave them, but this will be a good experience. A few hours later I was on a plane to New York City, flying away from my horse, my school, and my entire life. Part of the dealio with the storm was that I had to just get to JFK before the storm hit, because it could be bad and rescheduling happens in the airport itself. I stayed overnight at the hotel and went to the airport to leave for Spain itself!

7 hours later I was here, and I was wired off of coffee so I was just jumping all around being ridiculous. Then I got to my house and my señora was literally the size of my suitcase and she WOULD not let me carry it! My host family is basically awesome, and I'm really happy that I'm with them. I have 2 host brothers that live with me, one more with a child that lives close, and then a sister that lives in NYC. My host brothers are not much older than I am, but they are big jokesters. For example, pretty much since the first day, they have called me Courtney Love. They even told Alberto, the child of the other brother, that it was my name!

I really like being here, walking around, taking the metro and making adventures out of everything. One of the things I've been noticing is that I'm finding "gemelos" of people that I know in the united states. Gemelo is the word for twin, and its almost impossible for me to go somewhere without me finding the spanish version of someone. It started when I got off the plane and saw Spanish George Takei (Seriously, a sight to be seen.), and its carried on every time I leave the house. It might be because I'm nervous about being here and I'm trying to find things that are familiar and comfortable to me.

I've walked around and done various things since getting here, but being in Toledo again was just incredible. I took so many pictures because it was so beautiful. I think my favorite part was when we took this random street because Alex wanted to play soccer with a kid, and then we just kept walking and we ended up in a park with a swingset and an incredible view of the cathedral. It was incredible, I want everyone to be able to see that. Toledo was great because we got to bond as a group too.

Then, after I got back from Toledo, I met my housemate Macayla, and I like her a lot. She is really smart, and she lives near Syracuse! My host brothers asked if we wanted to go out with them and I said yes because I really wanted to go somewhere where I could meet spanish people, and it ended up being a fantastic experience. I had a blast and I made lots of friends(as usual). The night started with going to bars and meeting up with various people, and I talked a lot, and everyone understood me!!!! That makes me really happy. The only time that people didn't understand me was when I was trying to explain the word "Squirrell" for the story involved there(if you don't know the squirrel story then... well its a good one). Anyway, after a few cervezas I felt confident enough to tell the one guy, Lito, that he looked EXACTLY like Ryan from The Office. I honestly wanted to yell "TEMP!!!!!" when he entered the room and I met him. I'm still not convinced that its not him... and then a few cervezas más and I was telling my older host brother that he looks like Ken Tanaka, or the coach from Glee. And then we all had más cervezas (and some that we bought in the street) and we were calling Macayla by her new name, Macayla Jackson, and we were calling Dani "El actor pornographico" because he's this squiggly bald guy and.... well he could belong there =P Everyone except Cristían, the younger brother, had a nickname that we were talking about. We all piled into Ryan's car and he dropped us off at our house, and then as Daní got back into the car Shotgun with RyanLito, I suggested that he gets the camera out and film "La Oficina: Sucio" or The Dirty Office. It was necessary.

Anyway, I've been talking to a lot of friends back home during all of this, and while talking to Jay, he brought up the idea that I've been seeing a lot of "celebrity look alikes" here, and that I should find a Ryan Seacrest gemelo, and then I thought, hey, why not do a blog-scavenger hunt like deal. In a very Barney Stintson way I said "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED" (and don't worry, I've already got the Neil Patrick Harris Spanish Gemelo) so this blog is going to be dedicated to finding the Spanish twins of people I know!
I'm going to try to get pictures in an inconspicuous way but I'm not sure how well that will go.
Obviously, the first challenge is to find Ryan Seacrest, but I'm working on a list of ones that I need to find. I'll let you know tomorrow.

That having been said, It Starts...

Sunday, November 28, 2010

yeahyeahyeah


So I know what the hypothetical "you" is thinking
"Courtney... this is like your 90th blog attempt, wtf? Have some consistency..."

Yup, thats right, my life is a constant ebb and... fuck I can't even remember the rest of my though... EBB AND FLOW? Is that what I'm looking for??? ok...Lets not be eloquent in this moment:

Shit, I'm busy, sorry to my 0 followers that were really curious about what music I was listening to while making food =P

Well regardless, here's what I'm here for:
I really like talking about fashion, horses, making food and music (and the occasional rogue topic...and by occasional i mean it will most likely happen every post...read the title, shit...)

So here goes.
See picture above? Yeah I wouldn't promote that as saying I LOVE FASHION either... But, I was on my way to work when that picture occurred. I work at Macy's, where you have to wear all black (I'm convinced its because your dreams die when you work there, and its disrespectful to wear lots of color at funerals...)
Don't get me wrong, I like my job. I just know I've got bigger stuff coming my way.

As for music lately, I've gotta promote some things:
The Decemberists
My friend Joe just shoved this band down my throat because I hadn't heard them...And I liked it. A particular favorite for me is Eli, the Barrow Boy.
Why you might ask?
1) it makes me think of Eli Manning pushing a wheelbarrow...shirtless and dirty... sweat running down his exposed che-- OK SORRY
2) its a freaking haunting song.

Album = Picaresque...Download that shit.

Another thing that I suggest all of you look into music-wise is Arcade Fire's new album The Suburbs... Its just a really nice and upbeat album that gets stuck in your head like crazy.


Well ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to bed. It's been real, I'll be back tomorrow when I'm less sleepypies.