I had a few new experiences lately and am dying to share them with you ...
1. I am growing up. My walk home from school no longer holds my attention so I was dreaming about buying sunglasses. The pair I want are pricey (think car note) and it occured to me HOW MUCH I can do with that money. It was (as I mentioned) a payment for my future Audi TT, and several cheap flights around Europe. Vale la pena? Is it worth it? No.
2. After my mature "Just say no to shades" moment, I decided to wax my eyebrows. I typically burn a path home (why DO I do that??) but stopped dead on the sidewalk and said, "No Alyssa. Do it now, or you'll never do it." I hadn't even prepared my eyebrow-waxing vocab. Cejas.. eyebrows. good. Not Too Thin ... shoot. Ancho is wide ... I'll just say the opposite of ancho ... and so the planning went. Long story short, there was no need to be afraid. When a problem comes into the hands of the Spanish, they will take care of it. Ask for directions and you'll get a personal tour guide. Ask for the time, they'll show you to the nearest watch store. Walk into a peluqueria and say Cejas ... they know what to do. So off we buzzed through the mirrored salon. Not too thin! she declares. (okay good .. we are on the same track.) Do you want me to tint them? They are so light! (hm, not today thanks). ARENT YOUR FEET COLD? (no, the weather's quite nice.) And so it went. I wouldn't say smoothly, but the woman, Conchi, took good care of me. And despite the fact that my eyebrows 'aren't exactly the same length', everything turned out beautifully.
3. The women's locker room. Gym experience #1.
Today, Estefi (one of my roomates who is from Granada - down south where they down pronounce 's' among many other syllables) and I went to the gym for Spinning (or 'epinning' -- add and 'e' and drop the 's'). We ended up doing a weight lifting class focused on the thighs, but and arms. It was good .. pretty normal. There was the typical gym women there: the old one, the fat one, the normal ones, and the hot one. The hot one (front and center, probably named Maite or Conchi) had her hair down and curled, great makeup, outstanding cleavage and a butt to kill for. I'm not gonna lie and tell you I didn't stare at it for an hour straight. After a good work out one always goes to the locker room. This is where the women (ALL women) have no modesty issues, there is no theft, and though it smells like a jock strap, its really like a nude hair salon. I openly laughed and hoped to remember this moment forever.
4. I just watched an hour program in my towel with David and Estefi. It was about Spaniards living in Houston and they took us around the Houston Rodeo, Kemah boardwalk, Minute Maid, NASA, a longhorn ranch, an upper-class neighborhood, RICE and Baylor School of Medicine. My roomates were awed by the homes, unimpressed by the city and how "old" it is, and confused by the ranch. I had to answer a lot of questions. However, I was SO excited and proud to see Texas represented here in a positive way. The city and state were reflected beautifully and fairly and it made me miss home so much!
a with my American friends Travis and Misha and my Portuguese friend Sergio. We left (he has a car whaaaat) around 10 and spent the day in the shadow of the mountains and the reflection of the glorious lake. Lake Sanabria is the pride of Zamora: it originated as a glacier and is now is a magnificently large, clear lake. Really, ask anyone about Zamora, and they'll recommend Lake Sanabria. 
So there we were disfrutando (enjoying) the perfect weather; bright snow, huge sunshines and tons of locals with a fabulously different accent.
e Portuguese with Sergio, French with Travis and just smiled at me and Misha. After he figured out I wasn't French (I was wearing the all-too-misleading black beret) he asked if I was from Texas. I am leading the strangest life ever.