Flood, flights, and my fun-filled summer

Once again, I start off my post with an apology at not having written for such a long time. Well, this month, like many previous months, has been extremely crazy.

I will explain it sometime in the near future (someone help keep me to this :P), but now I must get a bunch of schoolwork done before we leave to go pick up my dad at the airport to welcome him home from the States. I told you it had been a busy month. Everything seemed to kind of crash down all at once.

Take care, and have a wonderful day, all of you!

~Annalisa

Olive oil and chopsticks

I love my life. It's unique, its full of perks and quirks. I mean, how often do YOU eat salad with chopsticks? Lately, we seem to be eating a lot of Chinese food (no clue why...), and I am loving it. I absolutely LOVE to try to eat anything with chopsticks. Seeing as my brother grunts and grumbles when I just use them randomly, I enjoy it ever so much more when we make Chinese food, seeing as it gives me a valid reason to play around with our "stolen" chopsticks--they used to give you wooden chopsticks with your meal at Catalan/Chinese restaurants here (never to be confused with "Chinese" restaurants, because I am still doubtful about the actual percentage of recipes and flavors here that are still untainted by the er... unique catalan taste), and, it is just like taking sugar packets: if they are just going to throw them away once you walk out the door, I would much rather walk out of the door with a new pair of chopsticks :D

As the never-ending college hunt goes on (you'd think that one month after the SAT would be... relatively calmer. BUT NO!), my parents are already giving me tips and pointers about life. Interesting how that works. I wonder if this upcoming year will be full of "life tips when you leave." Probably. Sounds amusing :) One of the most painful realizations that they want me to come to terms with is the fact that olive oil is NOT a staple food in the States. Silly people! How can you NOT have olive oil as your base ingredient for... everything!?! Food? Homemade beauty recipes? Ear infections? (Yes, we actually know of a full-fledged doctor telling a friend to "rub some olive oil on it" when her little daughter had a bad ear infection. Forget drugs or painkillers! Olive oil, pure and simple!) After trying to wean myself from this precious liquid--without much success, rather, I seem to be increasingly dependent on it--I have recognized and put into words one of those undeniable truths that people become famous for:

Olive oil is more than a staple food. It's a way of life!

I am not as brave as a friend of mine who managed to cut herself off from it when they moved back to the States last year. And I am not strong enough to deceive myself into believing it ever existed. So, as much as I love Ramen, I have to be true to my heart (gotta love those Disney values) and realize that olive oil will always hold a special place in my heart.

PS-- For those of you who are wondering why in the world olive oil is such a big deal, and want to tell me that "it's not like you can't get it here in the States", you should come visit me. You will see just how MUCH I use. I am a simple MK after all, and right now, I'm tearing myself apart between leaving on as little as possible in college and actually living with style (culinary style. "Fashion" itself hardly exists in my dictionary. Unless, of course, there is a 'NOT' of some sort between me and "fashion": "Annalisa does NOT follow fashions," for example)

Earth to Annalisa!

Yes, I AM alive! Wow, has it really been an entire month since I last posted? Well, I am extremely sorry for those of you who actually wanted to read something this month... shame on me.

So many stories to tell, yet so many distractions: writing papers, completing projects, studying for tests, taking tests, catching up, sitting back... All that after getting back from Kandern.

While in Kandern, I'd have to highlight: my first hand-written essay all year (for the SAT. Bad time to practice my 'A's"), using a pencil again, discovering that you can get virtually anywhere in Kandern within 10 mins on foot, "culture shock" when I was among the "hundreds" of Christian, English-speaking teenagers at BFA, attending "school" for the second time this year (the first also being BFA :D,)the Cookie Dance, laughing out loud during the Spanish AP exam, girl night (complete with a chick-flick, nail-polish, and French braids), quality pre-prom girl-time, my own version of prom (me all dressed up in a fun purple velvet dress with a bunch of people watching "Transformers", drinking hot cocoa, and then watching Veggie Tales during the wee hours of the morn. It was wonderful.)...

After getting back from Kandern--other than schoolwork, which took up most of my time, quite honestly--I discovered a new passion and hobby: hair braiding. It is simply amazing how many different types, styles, combinations, etc. have to do with braids. And, oh, the skill!! I might post pictures soon. :)

Another highlight from this past month was my random day-trip up to Cerbere. A good friend of mine who is moving back to the States for college and I decided to see each other one last time before that. So, what do we do? Meet in the middle :) Cerbere is a quaint little coastal border town just above Portbou, with more birds than people. Seeing as there really wasn't anything to do in town, my friend and I took to the hills. Quite literally. There are cliffs leading down to the sea, little coves that speak of pirate adventures of old, and flowers everywhere!! This trip was definitely one of the major highlights of this month--even the trip home on the train, where my look-menacing-so-you'll-be-safe tactic broke down and I ended up befriending a Spanish lady, a little old Catalan lady, and a random French guy; so much for keeping to myself!--after Kandern.

May has been extremely busy. Je suis drôlement desolée, mes amis. But, I hope to catch you up on a little more, as soon as I can, and then keep you informed of things as they happen, rather than do a summary of my month. :) But first... that dreaded Logic exam...

Explosió de colors

"Explosió de colors", or "color explosion" is what I first thought when I reached Germany. There are flowers everywhere! I feel like I've stepped into the flower festival in Girona, but these are actually PLANTED. Imagine that!

As I was doing my schoolwork this morning, my computer suddenly froze and decided to be its typical, obstinate, ornery self and just refuse to humor me in any way. While it took its jolly sweet time to shut down, and woke up at the same glacial pace, I decided to hop on downstairs and make good use of my time. I had a camera, some free time, and FLOWERS everywhere outside. Let me put in a simple equation for you math people:

Annalisa + camera + flowers = computer overload-worth of pictures

For any of you starting to pity my computer and side with her, DON'T! Its all a lie. She (yes, I have decided that it is a she, because of her increasingly sneaky methods for making my day miserable. She's in cahoots with the Internet connection, I'm sure of it! I guess everything turns into a conspiracy when any electronic devices you own come with their own personalities) should be happy and content, and not turn even the smallest task into a constant struggle.

Anyways, I promised to send tulip pictures, and I am ready to honor my word. Enjoy!

Nails, planes, and tulips

Nail art, airplanes, and tulips basically describe today :) As I was packing for my trip to Kandern, I stumbled across purple and white nail polish... and, with me, this naturally leads to some fun :D Maybe that's why I never clean my room--because I always end up getting distracted by the random things I discover.

Right now, I'm writing from Kandern, hurrah! It has been so amazing to fly across Europe and still feel right at home. I'm looking out the window onto a beautiful little German town, with the sun setting in the west, bathing the multi-colored treetops in a soft golden light. There are tulips everywhere! Pictures to come...

Today was actually my first trip "alone alone" I've traveled without adults before, but always with a companion before. Today, getting through security, clambering up the rickety Ryanair ladder into the airplane, putting mu laptop case in the overhead compartment, sitting down in the window seat with no competition whatsoever... quite frankly, it felt kind of lonely. Traveling is so much more fun with someone to laugh with! Even so, I always feel at peace when I'm up above the clouds, looking down onto the myriad of shapes, sizes, colors and textures of the clouds below.

What can I say, my blood runs thick with TCK emotions :)