On Friday, I went to London!
I went to visit my good friend from Cincinnati, who was in the hospital after an accident. I'm not going to elaborate on the details, but my friend is doing incredibly well, given the circumstances. I am so proud of her for being so strong throughout this entire thing!
This gave me a first hand look at National Health Care..and I don't really know how I feel about it. In theory, absolutely wonderful. In practice...not so wonderful. My friend was in a room with four other people, all very colorful characters, to say the least. To spare the gruesome details, just imagine one woman with a bedpan....and quite vocal gastrointestinal problems, another woman with a tube coming out of her brain that was leaking into a cup that she was carrying around, another man with a short robe and no underpants telling everyone to "F*** Off!" and another man who seemed to have nothing wrong with him, he just refused to leave the hospital, and had anywhere from 3-7 family members visiting him at once. The food was subpar, the equipment they were using seemed a little dated, and it just wasn't a very healthy environment. We were able to be in the Private Insurance Sector for a day or two and that was a world of difference! Private room complete with nice bathroom, a balcony overlooking the city of London, food served on a silver platter, Wifi internet connection, a TV, fancy equipment, and more. I don't know enough about the existing health care system, or what Obama has planned, so I don't want to make any rash statements...but let's just say that Obama has his work cut out for him.
I did get to meet up with another good friend from Cincinnati, Scott Simon! Scott moved to England after graduating from college and he was able to meet me in London for an afternoon. We went on quite a tourist adventure. We started at Piccadilly Circus, then to Trafalgar Square, then to Westminster Abbey, then Parliament, then Big Ben, then to the London Eye (which was extremely overpriced), then to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (the original burned down, but still cool), then Tower bridge, a quick stop in a pub for some Cider, then to Buckingham Palace, and then a walk through a park back to the Underground Station, when I went back to the hospital!
I really really enjoyed London. The pace is a little more laid back than Barcelona. The streets are more open and there is more green everywhere. I do love practicing Spanish, but it was a relief to be in an English speaking country for a weekend. English accents are really great.
Right now, I am hiding from Maria. This morning was a verrryyyy bad morning in our apartment. Katie and I overslept, woke up at 8:15, and needed to leave for class at 8:30! So we were rushing around the apartment trying to get ready and the following things occured:
1. This is the morning of all mornings Maria makes us toast, puts out croissants, AND watermelon with lots of seeds. Very nice gesture! However, we did not have time to eat it all and Maria didn't understand why. She was all upset when we rushed through what breakfast we could eat and took the rest to go.
2. It was really windy, and the wind kept coming through the open window of our bedroom and slamming the door...very loud. Normally, we would close the door when we left the bedroom, but we were rushing around, running in and out of the room getting things and brushing teeth and all that stuff, so we kept forgetting to close the door. Maria kept yelling at us to close the door, but we (mainly I) just kept forgetting.
3. The final straw! After one big slam, Maria came storming into the room to shut the window. My bed/"side" of the room is in front of the window. I hadn't unpacked from London yet (because I was planning on doing it in the morning...but we overslept so obviously I didn't have time). Since I was in a rush, I had just put things on the ground and it was messy, but I thought she would understand. Well, nope. She barged into the room, and to get to the window she had to step around my bag...but instead, she started kicking my bag and yelling at me in Spanish. She kept saying "ME ENFADA MUCHO!" Which means "This angers me a lot!" And then going off about how I can't keep things on the ground and I was messy and lazy and all this sort of stuff. I was trying to explain to her it was just because I was late, but she wouldn't even listen and would say "NO!" and continue to yell at me. Quite intense. Not the way I wanted to start my day, that is for sure. Katie and I met up after class to return back to the apartment... Maria ignored us when we came in, and when Katie left she said "Adios Maria!" and Maria ignored her.
So, yeah. I need to wash my dishes, but Maria is in the kitchen and I really don't want to have to face her. I understand she's dramatic and she'll probably forget about what happened this morning by tonight and act like nothing is wrong, but still I am shaken up and upset about it! There is NO need for her to scream at me, or kick my belongings. I haven't been yelled at like that since middle school and it's ridiculous. When Maria is not being crazy, she is so great and awesome and nice and caring and everything else a host mom should be....but then she goes off like she did this morning and it's hard to handle. I hope it gets better.
Thursday I head to Interlaken, Switzerland to spend some time in the Alps! I am VERY excited. I am in need of some mountains in my life. I heard news back from Colorado College and there was a BEAR on campus! It was just hanging out in a tree on our quad. How wild is that?
That's all I have for you now. Blog reader, I hope that you are not getting yelled at because the wind is slamming your doors!
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