Why am I not on break!

So,

I was wrong! February 8^h wasn't the last day of dancing! Last Thursday was... You see, February 8^th was the general recital where we performed in the gym only in front of the older grades. This was the performance we were graded on and guess what!?! I passed! That was by far the most exciting news I'd heard in a while. Thursday though, thursday was the actual performance, costumes and everything. My costume consisted of about 10 pounds of makeup, cut up t-shirt, and tights (not leggings)......that's it..... I have no idea how/why this was considered appropriate but I've come to realize that a lot of questionable things are seen as okay here. Anyways, after putting on that horrid costume, I had to dance in front of over 350 people! I've never been so embarrassed in my life but, luckily, my group was third so I got it out of the way early and had plenty of time to recuperate. After today though, I was reassured numerous times that I will never, ever, have to dance in public again.... that is, until Feria, but I'm not going to worry about that now.

Last Saturday, I made the somewhat stupid decision of deciding to go down to Cadiz for Carnaval. I've heard many horror stories about Carnaval but I decided that I had to see for myself. Basically, Carnaval is just an excuse for everyone to dress up and drink all night. It's kind of like Halloween but the costumes were way cooler and the parties were way more intense. I left for Cadiz at 9:30 dressed as a Hippie (the costume was pretty mild compared to everyone else but, it was free thanks to my hippie friend). Once I arrived, I was instantly surprised at 1. How many people were there, so many I could barely walk and 2. How detailed these costumes were. You could tell that people had been planning them for a while. The trains stopped running pretty soon after we got there and they didn't start back up until 7:00 that morning getting me home at around 8:00 that morning. When planning this trip, I kinda forgot how long almost 12 hours is for a party and needless to say, by the time I got home, I felt like I was never going to leave my bed. Overall, I did have fun in Cadiz but with all the waiting in line, the extreme over-tiredness, and the insane amount of drunk people, Carnaval didn't quite live up to my expectations. I am glad I went but I don't think it's something I'll ever do again....ever.. It was definitely worth experiencing though.

A new exchange student arrived in my house today from Germany. She's only staying for the week and I can already tell this is going to be a long week. She seems really nice but she's also insanely energetic. She speaks both Spanish and English which is nice even though she refuses to speak English to me. I really would like to get to know her but between studying, swimming, and my new dance classes (yep) I just don't think I have time. Even though we probably won't end up becoming the best of friends, it's still nice to have her here.

It has been really hard to go to school when everyone else back home is on break. It has taken all the motivation right out of me. For instance, today, I got home, skipped swimming, took a nap, cleaned my room (or well...started....it was taking too much energy), painted my nails (I don't do that!) and now I'm sitting here writing this while watching television in English because I'm too lazy to try and understand it in Spanish. I've decided to blame it on the fact that I'm either still recuperating from Saturday, or the fact that all day I've been reading status's about people's nice relaxing vacations and I feel as though I should be on vacation too. Either way, tomorrow I'm making myself be more productive.

Anyways,

This post has actually taken me like three hours to write because at the moment my procrastination is at its peak right now. I promise I'll try and post more but honestly, there really isn't that much to say. After five months, my life seems so normal I sometimes forget what it was like living in the U.S. It's weird but it's true.