Wednesday & Thursday

The highlight of yesterday was our journey to our favorite hot chocolate cafe. We had been there two times before, yet it still took us at least 30 minutes of walking, at least 30 minutes of me searching on Google Maps, and asking about 5 people where this place was. At one point, we stopped in this really cool, old bookstore. The owner was British, and I couldn't understand anything he said. Apparently he asked me a couple of things while we were in the store, but I just stared blankly in confusion. I thought he was speaking Spanish or was a Spanish-speaker trying to speak English, until I heard his English accent as we were leaving. I am so horrible at understanding people with accents, and I don't know why. It is quite annoying, but I guess the only thing that will help is to listen to more people with accents, which I have been doing quite a bit of recently! We were totally clueless as to where this little gem was. We finally found it after wandering down many sketch roads, and it was totally worth it. I splurged and got an ensaimada (which I found out is made from pig fat and that is why it is unique) and hot chocolate. Best day ever. Okay, maybe not, but it was incredibly tasty. We also realized that the cafe is older than the United States, as it was founded in 1700. Crazy, huh? As usual, it took us about 10 minutes to figure out how to divide the check and pay for everything, but we finally figured it out. After that, we went to my favorite store, El Corte Ingles, to.. I don't know why we went, but we did. We walked around and looked, but I didn't buy anything. I love that store so much. It is like a cross between Macy's and Target and Publix. It is about 6 or 7 floors, with a cafeteria on the top floor and a supermarket (that is incredible) in the basement. They have absolutely everything. They even have bare minerals makeup!! Anyway, that store is like my Target here. I go there to buy everything I need.
Today was productive, partially. Classes weren't very productive, though I have realized I can understand quite a bit of Catalan now, which I wasn't expecting to be able to do so quickly. After lunch, Hannah came over to mi casa, and we researched hotels and flights for our grand Easter break (Semana Santa) adventure. Carmen brought us hot chocolate (made with Nesquick) and little muffins in my room where we were researching. She is so cute. Since Spain is so very Catholic, we get one and a half weeks off school! So, Thursday through Easter Sunday, Hannah and I are going to Sevilla, Spain. They have some of the best, most world-renowned Easter/Semana Santa celebrations in the world. We are so excited!!! Masses upon masses of people flood the streets to celebrate Jesus with parades and all sorts of things. It looks amazing. On Easter Sunday, we are flying to Paris!!! I think Amit and Emma are going to meet us there also. I also cannot wait for Paris, as I've always wanted to go there (and everywhere else...). On Wednesday, we are going to... DUBLIN!!! I think I am most excited for Dublin, and it is also the cheapest, which is incredible. I am going to need like 10 memory cards for all the photos I'm going to take. We have been looking at hotels, hostels, and apartments to rent during our travels. I cannot believe how cheap everything is compared to the U.S. It is insane. This is going to be one of those trips I remember every detail of for the rest of my life.
I also got a box from my aunt my mom today! I am so happy that it arrived. I had to leave some things behind that wouldn't fit in my suitcase, so this box reunited me with things I had been missing like my favorite scarves, teddy bear, and brown boots. I cannot thank them enough for sending that box to me!
I just got done eating Thursday family dinner. We had some really strange meat. They said it was turkey and cheese, but I don't believe them. It was the weirdest textured meat I've ever had, but it had good flavors so I dealt with it. We also had potatoes cooked in olive oil. I love olive oil. I think I've had at least one entire bottle of it in the past 2.5 weeks. We also had some delicious cake called coca. Half of it had peaches on it, and the other half sobrassada, which is something I have yet to try. They put spicy sausage on a sweet pastry and cover it in powdered sugar. Around Carnaval time, they put that sausage stuff on all of their sweets, like one last indulgence before Lent starts. I am having a hard time bringing myself to try it, especially since I researched the sobrassada and know what it is and how they make it (let's just say it's homemade pork sausage that is not cooked, but instead cured by putting it in sausage casing and letting it age, oh and putting salt and pepper on the ends so insects don't get stuck in it.. sounds delicious, right?). I will try it one day, but not on a pastry. In the sausage casing it looks like raw meat, and they cut off a piece of it and smear it on bread like meat paste.. I don't know if I will ever try it.  For some reason, I am super tired tonight. They were laughing at me at dinner, because I looked so sleepy.
I think we might go to the beach tomorrow and maybe some caves in a different part of Mallorca on Saturday. I love living on this island!

Buenas noches!
~Lynne