Tarifa

The calendar must be lying, because I refuse to believe that today is Halloween. And tomorrow is . . . the first of November? Time is flying. My one month anniversary in Spain is coming up - November 5th! I can hardly believe that. Yeah, I'm a month behind most exchange students because of all my visa poblems, but all the trouble that I had before coming seems so distant; like once I arrived in Spain, all of the visa/government/consulate problems faded away, because I had made it.

This past week has been good. My neighbors from England left to go back home though, which was sad. However,  they're coming back in July so I'll see them then. I got my first care package this week! Marshmallows, letters . . . marshmallows :)

Spain doesn't have real marshmallows, and Molly has never had smores! So hopefully we can get some smores going soon now! Jaime and I will show her how it's done.

On Friday, Paola took me to the cinema and I saw my first Spanish movie in a theater: Sin Salida (No Way Out), better known as Abduction. Although I didn't understand most of what was said, I got the idea of the movie. And I guess if you have to watch a movie where you don't understand anything, see a movie with Taylor Lautner. Catch my drift?

Last weekend (Saturday and Sunday), Paola took me to Tarifa, quite possibly the most charming city ever. We stayed with her friends in the most gorgeous house that they had compleltely re-modeled (re-built I should say!). It was built into a castle . . . a castle! Technically, the Castillo de Guzmán. Tarifa has so much amazing history, but I'd like to share other things with you at the moment. The house had a terrace on the roof, overlooking the city and mountains, as well a balcony that made me feel like I was Juliet. Paco and Lola also came for the weekend, so we all had fun together. I saw the ocean for the first time, and it was breathtaking. Walking on the beach felt like walking on flour. The waves were bigger than the ones I'm used to in Marbella. Apparently Tarifa is known worldwide for surfing. Wind surfing is especially popular there because it is windy almost all of the time - no joke! I didn't go surfing, but walking along the shore was good enough for me. Atlantic Ocean? Check. Besides the ocean, we explored the city and went to some good restaurants, including "Casa Juan Luis" which is apparently very well-known in Spain. Paola's friend also bought me scarf, so now I have something to always remember Tarifa!

See the kite-surfers in the background?

Me in charming Tarifa

America will never has history like Europe does - it's been here forever. As Lola said, "Then, America was just an empty island!"

A buelletin board in Tarifa

Tarifa was "real Spain", or at least more real than Marbella is. By real, I mean less Westernized, more traditional . . . Tarifa made me want to grow up all over again, but there. It made me want to bring my family to Europe and live there forever. I love Marbella, but really, it could be California, or any other part of the world. Tarifa was like a different planet to Marbella, except it's only an hour away. Sidenote: In one hour, I went from Mediterranean Sea in Marbella, to Atlantic Ocean and the coast of Morroco. It was so cool. A 35-minute ferry ride was all that lied between Tarifa and Africa. Another continent sat before my eyes for two days . . . Paola says that we'll go for a day-trip to Morroco sometime. I cannot wait.

Well I'm about to head out for Halloween festivities. I don't know what exactly I'm doing, but I'll probably blog about it later. I have many more things I want to write about that I just haven't had time to yet. Hopefully I can get some more stuff on here soon, because I have been learning so much about myself and the world around me, and it's just incredible.