murcia? no, murTHia :)

so my speech impediment is a blessing here in spain. thank god that i never made any progress on my lisp in elementary school :)
so since the last time i updated, i got my suitcase, unpacked, settled into life here in madrid (sort of, still adjusting), we went to andaluTHia for a week. i fell in love with a flamenco dancer and a spanish guitarrista. cried cuz i was homesick once. we went to the prado and i started checking off paintings from my list of "masterpieces in spain.

i took a placement exam at university complutense. i planned three weekend excursions. i made friends with the 22 girls and one boy in my program. i went out in chueca the gay district in madrid with a actual spanish college student who took us to actual spanish bars without tourists.

i slept every once in a while.

here's what the future looks like, consider this a table of contents of sorts for future posts
~this next weekend i'll be at my host family's beach estate in Murcia. they have two houses connected by a garden/courtyard thats a five minute walk away from the beach. i'm pretty sure i'm living w/ spanish royalty and i don't even know it. they have to at least be like noble or something.
~then there's the portugal trip i just booked, followed by cuenca cliff jumping, barcelona w/ the fam and a long weekend in paris and then granada
~oh yeah, and somewhere in there i'm gonna be going to school and learning.

I LOVE SPAIN.
besos
tay

deep thoughts and rationing underpants

hello friends, or should i say amigas
here i am sitting on my new bed in my new room in spain.. roomie's name is angelika and she likes alphabetizing things. so do i. perfect :)
my host mom, maría josé is super nice and fun. her little baby is probably one of the cuter babies i've seen ever. his name is jorge and a él le gusta sonreír. everytime you say his name or tickle him he gets a ginormous smile on his face, convulses in giggles and a little bit of my heart explodes.
so that dog i was supposed to have when i got here? died sunday. looks like my mom really is gonna have to get me a puppy for chirstmas.
the only negative in a so far wonderful trip is that AirFrance lost my suitcase. the big one, with all my clothes and my gift for my family and basically my life. the suitcase they were able to find had my books and my tennis shoes in it. no thanks. wanna know what i need more than my books? clean underpants. no seriously, i've got one days worth.
it should be here either today or tomorrow. everyone start praying
thats it for now, i just took a well deserved shower and am going to eat dinner soon at la abuelas! (my host moms mom lives next door w/ some other students and we all eat together. its pretty adorable)
besos
taylor

damelo que quiero

i know blog, it has been a while. my apologies. twitter is much more convenient and i get to feel like i'm really friends w/ the jo bros, but i'm back. for good this time. i hope you can forgive me, after all, carrie forgave big.

the real reason for my return is the muy exciting trip i'm about to embark on ... MADRID! i leave for study abroad in españa in exactly one week. as i sat here and listened to the Juanes inspired station on pandora, i realized that thats like super duper soon. for the first time since i was accepted into the program, i can see past my all consuming anxieties and actually feel excited about whats about to happen.

i've made many many lists of things that have to get done, and things i have to buy, and people i have to write letters, and which cardigans i have to bring and the list of lists goes on and on.

i plan on using the next seven days to cram in play time with important people and to fully prepare myself for flying so when i pop a couple lorazepam before i board i can know everything is taken care of. more exciting updates to come i promise....

besos!
tay

oh hey there God, you ride the red line?

tonight i got on the red line at jackson in a fit of rage. middle east politics professor was a jerk tonight and i had to rethink my love for him and our plan of running away together. that and he gave me a b+ on a paper that i TOTALLY deserved an a- on.

as i began considering quitting academics because i am clearly incompetent and not meant for a career and politics and just a dumby (i think i used that word towards the end of my phone conversation with my mom...i was reverting back to 3rd grade vocab) a man got on the train.

i took him to be the typical crazy homeless man who is on the red line after 9pm. maybe he had a weird poem to read. maybe he wanted some taco bell. maybe in his head he was surrounded by nymphs with clogs on. ya know, typical crazy.

but then he started quoting to the entire train my all time fav bible verse...II Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." I'm not gonna get all preachy in a blog post but isn't it kinda freaky when you hear exactly what you need to hear at the exact moment you need to hear it?

i need to ride the red line more often.

lovaBULL, false.

so last night i learned that there was a reason for me not watching sporting events very often. my nervous system is not built for it. I don't have enough control over my stress level for triple overtime situations.i'm not built for them.
stress level through the night:
1st overtime: oo, this is cool, but stressful.
2nd overtime: seriously, at least its almost over.
3rd overtime: gaaaaah anxiety attack. this sucks i wanna go home.

its probably a good thing that i have my fam in town and won't be able to watch game 7. GO BULLS.

adorably uncomfortable.

there is nothing quite like the first time you go to mass with a new friend. so wonderful to start a semi-regular church date, but sort of uncomfortable for the following reasons.
1. how loud does this person like to sing the songs, if they sing at all? i'll just mumble sing till i figure it out.
2. are we going to hold hands during the our father? did is stick my hand out too soon? ok i'll take it back, now she's sticking her hand out. fuck.
3. during the peace, do we hug or shake? should we try both? shoot that was uncomfortable. giggle. giggle. oh jeez.

so don't worry lauren, we'll get better at this. i promise.

taylor: 1, burger: 0

I eat quickly, don't know why but i always finish my food a good 10 minutes before my dining mates.

tonight i ate a half pound burger in 7 bites. impressive? yes. healthy? no.

i'm left w/ a stomach ache the likes of which I have seen many times before and will see many times again. but here's my theory, as long as the burger comes out of my digestive system on the lower half of my body, then i win and the burger loses. so far, so good.

do i have to like flogging molly?

its st. patty's day, a very special day to me and my people. so watch ps i love you, eat some corned beef, do a jig, drink a beer, buy into stereotypes and be merry.
my goal for spring break is to not watch tv unless its a new episode of gossip girl or how i met your mother. instead i'll be reading books and taking naps and doing my best at this whole "self-improvement" thing. i also got rid of perez hilton on my bookmark bar...i'm starting to be a grown up!
first i'm gonna go celebrate st. patty's day w/ some drunken debauchery though, then i'll be a grown up :)

cleanliness is a right, not a luxury

if i owned a restaurant, I would have a sign in my bathroom that said "employees must wash hands, but everyone should." seriously, sanitation and clean hands are not just for the gainfully employed.

message to the world: wash your hands guys, if jesus can take the time to wash other peoples feet, you can wash your freaking hands.

pre panic attack blog entry

wanna know a sure fire way to ruin a perfectly good weekend? have the syllabus gods of the underworld plot against you to have four major papers due in four different classes w/in the same 48 hour time period. its as if i'm back in 9th grade at sections at slp, in full super hero swim suit costume, preparing to take to the pool. where are my pills? no pills? how about some afternoon wine? that'll do.

what happened to spring?

it was spring like three days ago, what are you doing to me snow?? i wore a sundress a couple of days ago and now there is snow on the ground and my face hurts when walking outside. i hate you snow. i hate you.

wanna know who probably has really bad self esteem? snow. nobody ever wants you around except for at christmas. i don't even care. go listen to some emo music and go away snow, i'll call you next december.

a wish my heart made

so i just had a wonderful dream and i thought it would be something the blogosphere would appreciate. also this way i won't forget it.

i was at a justin timberlake concert with colleen, but we were each sitting alone. the dance crew jabawokeez was perfomring too and one came up and danced next to me and asked me on a date. afterwards, in the camp pyro style cabin colleen and i were living in, said jabawokee came over and we went on a moonlit walk to the jonas brothers house where we ding dong ditched them. then jabawokee (who i think had a name but i can't remember) gave me a piggyback ride and asked me to junior prom. then we cuddled and he let me be the big spoon.

best.
dream.
ever.

i'm gonna talk about my mama if ya'll don't mind

Valentines Care Package contents:
-Pink J.Crew cords....49.99
-Brown/pink purse....15.00
-HSM 3 and Camp Rock Candy valentines...4.99
-homemade chocolates and goldfish...6.00
-realizing how well your mom and sister know you and forgetting you're single on valentines? priceless.

food for thoughT

add this to the list of things that irritate me. already the list includes jewel's attempt at a comeback, wind chill, old furnaces and 100 calorie hostess cupcakes.

the newest addition is people who over-aspirate their T's and P's. it is a sure-fire way to sound super pretentious and lose me as a friend. "Paris is jusT such a beauTiful Place in the sPring, don'T you agree Taylor? I was reading some liTeraTure while sTrolling through a Park and I realized, i'm PerfecT."

no. you suck. that p or t sound doesn't make you appear to be smarter than me. it doesn't make what you're saying more profound. it just makes me want to hit you.

my dog ate my hw, but why?

so i'm supposed to be writing a paper on Plato's republic and his views on the "noble lie" he explores in book II. I don't want to, i'd much rather eat a parfait and watch cspan.

do you think if i lie to my professor and tell him i couldn't write my paper on the noble lie because of a dead grandparent and mono and a broken printer, would that lie be noble?

think about it.

brown v. board?

in light of todays significance (mlk day) i thought i would let you in on some statistics i've been learning about.

public education today is as segregated if not more segregated than it was in 1954. Most public high schools in nyc are 85-90% black and hispanic. They receive $2,000 less per student than suburban high schools that are predominantly white and teachers remain in these urban schools for an average of 8 months. In 1997 teachers in South Bronx made an average of 43,000 per year, while teachers in the wealthy suburb of Scarsdale, 11 miles away, made an average of $81,000.

There is a school in Los Angeles named for Rosa Parks that is 86% black and hispanic.
There is a school in NYC named for Langston Hughes thats 99% black and hispanic.
There is a school in Milwaukee named for MLK himself thats 99% black and hispanic.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day?

whats that they say about the unexamined life?

i should know myself better than this. i know that i have very little self control when it comes to fantasizing and rejecting reality. i know that i am very susceptible to tall men who wear sweaters, and i know that at twenty minutes a pop, half hour sitcoms are dangerous little devils.

why did i think i wasn't gonna finish the first season of 'how i met your mother'? why did i insist on buying each episode @ $1.99 a pop? because ladies and gentlemen, if this last election cycle has taught us anything, it has taught us that hope is a powerful force in this world. i had hope that i would be able to stop myself from buying all 25 episodes, i had hope that this time i'd be able to put an end to the madness.

while i wasn't able to put an end to the madness, and i just spend twice as much as i should have on this tv show, we do have a black president now (or in about a week). make of that what you will.

recommended videos: a life

my television addiction has hit a new low. and i know i start entries like this a lot but for reals man.

i just spend an hour and a half watching blooper reels on youtube of shows that i don't watch. what does this all mean?

maybe my life is a blooper reel. think about it.

why did the chicken cross the street? cuz he had mono

wanna know whats always funny? a good joke about mononucleosis; which can sometimes be misdiagnosed as a throat tumor. here are a couple of my favorite mono jokes.

Q: a man and a duck walk into a bar. which one has mono?
A: taylor

knock know
who's there
monkey
monkey who?
monkey in spanish is mono, lets give it to taylor.

and the best one of all,
megan: hey taylor, who gave you mono?
me: your gay ex-boyfriend.

practice makes not perfect, but less bruising

didn't we go to high school together?
(yes we did but i'm going to say no so i can go dance w/ steph instead of small talking w/ you)
oh my gosh i havent seen you since graduation!!
(i know, that was done purposefully)
hey taylor!!! give me a hug! remember *insert hs class we shared*?
(yes i remember. fun times learning basic reading and writing skills. wanna make out?)

who knew random run ins w/ people from high school could be so much fun? i think the yellowtail helped. 2009 started much better than 2008 did, cheers to a happy new year and fun times ahead!