Hey Mr Blue Sky!

Three days in a row the sun has been shining! Its like living in a whole new city! Today I don't even have my umbrella with me! Yesterday I ate lunch outside - sans jacket!
Obviously, this is exciting. Since I've been here, it has rained at least 6 days a week and 2-3 times a day. For example, I woke up on Saturday around 3 and looked out the window. 'ooooh, que bonito!' the sky was all blue and not even a cloud was in the sky. I went to the kitchen to make a glass of tea and began to plan what I could do on such a sunny day (should I go read in the park? should I go for a walk? or just do errands without an umbrealla?) and when my tea was done steeping, I went back to the living room and it was pouring rain! So, I put myself back in bed to read.
But today, almost a week into November it is so nice that I was sweating on my oh-so-slow-half-hour-walk to class.Just check out our crazy weather forcast- super warm for november and soon to be super rainy again. At least I can keep my hot pink umbrella in the closet until the weekend.

hello!

all the cool kids

in spain, it seems there are two types of young people. either very preppy - button down shirts, sweater tied around the shoulders, khakis and loafers are the uniform - or indie rock, in which case the only requirement is a MULLET and some dirty jeans. the more dramatic and ironic the mullet, the cooler the kid. in pamplona preps dominate, especially at my private university. but the occasional mullet pops up. in barcelona, the capital of cool, mullets are everywhere. the first mullet i saw in barcelona was a girl who had layered hair. the longest layers were very dark and reached the middle of her back. the middle layers, which were dyed a lighter shade of brown, reached her shoulders. then, there was a lighter layer that went to her chin. the rest was dramatically shorter but also in layers AND, ¡an inch of her bangs were shaved!
que cool, ¿no?

p.s. bea locked herself in the bathroom, we sprung her loose and the lock still does not function.

how long a minute is depends which side of the bathrrom door you're on

bea and i share a bathroom. the floor and walls are black tile while the sink, shower, toilet and bidet (yes, we have a bidet and no, we dont use it) are PINK. one wall consists of a floor to ceiling mirror with a woods and river scene etched into it. in other words, bea and i share the ugliest bathroom ever.
on our second day in the apartment bea managed to lock herself in the bathroom. i was of the mindset to just leave her there until she figured out how to work the lock. but she was whimpering and whining loud enough that we ended up rescuing her. it took all of five minutes and she was almost in tears. since then we put a stop/go sign on the door and we warn all our guests: don't lock the door...
today i decided that bea (who is currently in madrid for the weekend) just doesnt know how to use a lock and to prove it to myself, while i was brushing my teeth, i locked the door and then tried to unlock it. no such luck. of course, i wasnt dumb enough to shut the door. but now i cant use my bathroom.
i think the current plan is to keep the door open until bea comes home from madrid...

italespanglish

LIVING QUARTERS:
in the beginning, i arrived to pamplona alone and took a taxi to my hotel. 5 minutes later, i met josé (a guatemalan transfer student from notre dame). the next day we met bea, short for beatrice (an italian/spanish hybrid from milan) through tom, a fellow missourian.
the three of us then began our frustrating apartment hunt. frustrating because josé and i liked everything we saw while bea thought it either wasn't well located, not large enough, not well lit, not well furnished, not well kept, not, not, not... until we found 6 bis. what is 'bis', you may ask. all we know is that 6 bis is located next to 6 on the street Pio XII. as you may guess it is well located, well lit, large and clean according to bea's standards. thank god because living in a hotel was getting to be a bit expensive and inconvenient: josé and i shared a room and the two of us shared a bathroom and kitchen with two middle-age drunk basque businessmen who tended to fall off their chairs and make an extroadinary amount of noise around 3 a.m. while we were trying to sleep.

between the three of us we have invented our own language: italespanglish, slightly more complicated than your average spanglish. we invent words, anglocise spanish words, conjugate english words (estás flirteando = are you flirting or no me pincheas = don't pinch me) and spanish-ise italian words or add an italian accent to spanish words to make ourselves understood.

yesterday, after a week-long argument about the word 'cheek' we consulted the dictionary (finally) and realized all the words we were using and arguing about are synonyms. i think the dictionary will stay on the coffee table for futher consultations.