Hello New Year

Hi New Year, my name is Christy. I know that tonight at midnight you will get a big kick-off and all, but there are a few things I wanted to address first. To start it off, don't be surprised when I continue writing 2010 on all my checks and essay assignments... it happens every year. Sometimes I do a complete time warp and just go all the way back to writing 2008 on them, so you'll just have to forgive me for this ongoing problem. Secondly, let's not have a repeat of last year's celebration... I mean, chillin' on the side of the road with two blown tires is fun and all but... oh wait, it wasn't that fun. It was, however, expensive to fix. Furthermore, I have work tonight until 11 and I don't want to have to deal with car problems after all that!
Now as long as you keep those two requests in mind, I think we'll get along just fine. So have fun tonight, be responsible, and don't do anything you wouldn't want your grandmother to see. That's all I really had to say, New Year, so I guess I'll let you get ready and I'll see you in about 14.5 hours!
Sincerely, Christy Sunshine <3

Train of Thought

Have you ever tried to follow a person's train of thought? I ask this because, I find the topic very interesting. I mean, sometimes my friends seem to bring up totally random facts, but when I ask them, they depict this interesting line of thought procession. Honestly, there are no limits when it comes to what you can hold in your mind. The mind..... the place where ll your memories you have ever thought, all you have ever seen or experienced are crammed impossibly into one small space.
The reason I thought of this, is because not very long ago, I was watching the news and then about 5 seconds later, my mind had skipped down a path of logic that brought me to consider the actions of wild bears in Alaska. I could take you on this creative journey, but it takes about 50 times longer to write about it, then the 5 seconds it took me to think of it. Isn't that funny? So here goes:
1.) Watching the News. I was reading those scrolls at the bottom that tell you about all the horrible stuff happening around the world.
2.) I thought hmm, I bet in earlier times, a lot of bad stuff like this happened, but they just didn't have a good source for communicating it to everyone.
3.) This reminded me of Mark Twain. (When he was young, he used to print fake tragedies in the newspaper as a joke to mess with the people.)
4.) Well, Mark Twain immediately made me think of a steamboat.
5.) Which reminded me of the yummy restaurant on the huge boat at Downtown Disney.
6.) I ate some pretty good fish on that boat. (I don't remember what kind)
7.) Salmon is also a tasty fish.
8.) I went to a Salmon bake in Alaska where they made really yummy Salmon.
9.) There are a lot of bears in Alaska that also like Salmon.
10.) I wonder what bears do all day?
BAM! Train of Thought. Isn't it interesting how a bunch of my random facts and experiences interested with that once thought I had while watching the news, and brought me to this finish?
If I may offer a suggestion, the next time somebody brings up something that you would consider "random," try asking what led them to that topic. You might be quite amused. 

The Ugly Sweater

So I just got back from a Christmas party 2night! I really enjoyed it. It was with the College group called The Current... I go to their stuff a lot of Monday nights. BUT, this was no ordinary Christmas Party, it was an Ugly Sweater Christmas party. Basically, you find an ugly/tacky Christmas sweater and wear it as though Tyra Banks just strutted down the runway in it. The more stuff you can cram onto said sweater, the better it is. Needless to say, I proudly rocked my Christmas Sweater, complete with hand painted Christmas trees, presents and snowmen, and some extra glued-on snowflakes that gleamed blue and white. I won the contest :) We also brought White Elephant gifts to exchange. I was in charge of this section of fun, so I brought along a whole bunch of play money and turned it into an auction! It was pretty awesome. Each player had about $35,000 to bet with and there were more presents than players, so they could bet on more than one thing. Several players had an extra $15,000 to spend as part of their prize for the earlier trivia game. (My team won that by the way... GO TEAM AWESOME.... obviously, rightly named lol). So, all in all, an excellent Christmas Party, I would say.
Unfortunately, I still have one exam left 2morrow. :/ It is my Spanish exam, though and I think I know the info okay, so it shouldn't be that hard to deal with. I am actually probably going to go ahead and go to bed in a few, because last night I only got about 4 hours of sleep and managed to not take a nap during the day, so I am pretty tired!

SAK Comedy Lab

I just got back from SAK Comedy Lab here in Orlando (I have been about 10 times throughout the semester!) and I thought I would do a little blog about it. I love it. haha... okay, but seriously, it is one of my favorite places to visit here in Orlando! It is an improv show that is similar to "Whose Line is it Anyways?" In fact, Wanye Brady from that show started out at SAK! Cool, right? On Tuesdays, it is only $2 to get in too! (I think it is closer to 15 on weekends). It is great! You go, laugh for like an hour and a half, then go home... back to school work... and nasty tests... *sob* ah! don't remind me!
Anyway, I really love and highly recommend SAK to anyone who happens to be in Orlando! The Tuesday cast isn't always as good as the weekend cast, but that is because they are students. My favorite SAK performer is this guy named Chase... he looks like a younger version of Dwight (from The Office). I call him Dwight Jr. I am not sure if the reason I like him is for his awesome doppelganger status, or his hilarious portrayal of a koala during the first show I saw him in. I was crying from laughing so hard.
Seriously, laughing is supposed to be as good as a 30 minute workout (or something like that), right? So instead, you should just visit SAK every week and get 3x the work done!
www.sak.com :) You will NOT be disappointed!
Okay, now back to that Spanish paper.... :'(

Some Exciting News

Hey! First off, my Thanksgiving was GREAT! I flew out of Orlando on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I landed in Memphis, TN where my mom's parents picked me up before heading to Senatobia, MS. There, I met up with my parents and brother before the four of us went down to Grenada to see my Dad's mom. Ah! There were so many relatives there! I was there for actual thanksgiving (2 turkeys and a ham= yummmmm). I also got up at 2am the next morning to head BACK to memohis with my uncle and his family for some black friday shopping. I didn't really buy much, though because I would have had to fit it into my carry-on. Thankfully, I witnessed no stampedes or other horrific things that so often occur with Black Friday. I was REALLY cold, though! Well, I mean it was at least in the 40s or something.... give me back my 85 degree November, thank you very much. Anyway, later that day I went back up to Senatobia (my parents and brother had already left to drive home). I had dinner/xmas tree decorating time w/ my grandparents there, my cousin and her boyfriend. I beat them all at phase 10! mwahaha! Saturday, I went to stay with my cousin in Memphis so I would be closer to the airport. We went to her boyfriend's house for dinner and poker.... I beat them all at poker! Mwahahahaha!!! Then I flew home. Thus ends thanksgiving.

I didn't even give you my exciting news yet!.....

I AM MOVING TO SINGAPORE.

My dad is transferring there for work for about 3 years. He is actually moving there in January. My mom and brother are going over there after he graduates in May and I AM GOING WITH THEM! Of course, I am not moving there for the WHOLE time they are... my brother and I will probably be there for the summer and then Fall semester. I  will probably come home after that and go back to UCF or something.... not sure what my brother will end up doing.  I don't really know much about it yet, but I am still excited! Yay for Singapore!

Harry Potter Review and Thanksgiving Plans

So, I got to see HARRY POTTER! Yay!
After work on Friday, there was a movie that had just started and wasn't sold out, so I got to gooooooooooooo! So, my thoughts: still not on my list of favorite movies. I liked the 4th and 5th ones better, but this movie was waaaaaaaaaaaay better than the 6th, for sure! It stuck a lot closer to the book, which was awesome. Unfortunately, since they didn't follow the books closely enough in the previous movies, a lot of characters that hadn't been introduced before, had to be in this movie because they are vital to the plot. In reality, I wish they had waited till after all the books had come out to make the movies.... or at least waited until the 6th or 7th one, because J K Rowling is really awesome and brings back smaller details in previous books that turn out to be a huge deal later. She also uses a lot of the same side characters in a way that you end up knowing all of them pretty well even though they were hardly in the story.
In conclusion, movie= pretty good. Books still = AMAZING!!!!! If you are reading this, and have never read the books, I can't stress enough how much you are missing!

And now for thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait! I am leaving TOMORROW morning to fly to Mississippi until Sunday! I. LOVE. THANKSGIVING.
Family, turkey, desserts, and NO SCHOOL are just four of the things I like about it!

HARRY POTTER!!!!! And Linedancing?

Today is a very important day. THE 7th HARRY POTTER MOVIE IS BEING RELEASED AT MIDNIGHT!!!!!!   XD  I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean seriously, Harry Potter has been such an important part of my life since I was in the third grade! That's a long time, people! AND, it's not over yet! Part 2 will be released over the summer! I have to work the release, so I won't be able to watch it, which is sad :( Actually, I am not sure at all when I am going to get to see it. I am scheduled 10:30-3am tonight, 10:30am-6pm 2morrow, 8:30am-6pm saturday, and 6-10pm sunday. I might have to wait until Monday! *sigh* Did I mention I am excited? I AM EXCITED!
I LOVE HARRY POTTER! 
Of course, 1st, I have to go to my dance class! yeah, that's right.... I am in a dance class :) A 2 credit Country and Western Line Dancing Class. It is pretty awesome. It is every thursday night from 7:30-about 8:45ish. Our teacher calls himself El Capitan and dresses every week in his button down shirt and cowboy boots. He's pretty awesome. What could make this even more awesome, you ask? Well, when we have tests (like tonight) not only are we graded on our knowledge of the dance, but we can also text in votes for other classmates American Idol-style. That's right. Awesome.
I'll go back to my Harry Potter geek-out now........

Going to the Gym

So I was thinking about going to the gym.... but I don't want to. I have recently been trying to go more often, and by that, I of course mean THINKING about going more often. lol I mean, really my plan is always to wake up by 7:30 (ewww), head to the gym, shower, eat then head to my stats class (ewwwww) monday, wednesday and friday. On tuesday, I can delay all that by an hour cause my class starts at 10:30. On thursday, I don't have class till 3, so I plan to  go around 9:30. Sometimes, I even think to myself that I will also go at night for a little bit. Lies. This gym plan almost NEVER turns out. I mean, its sunday now, and the last time I went to the gym was on thursday. To be fair, I know I worked out well since I was still in pain on saturday. haha
I mean, seriously, life just gets in the way. I feel like I don't have time to spend in the gym when I have 3 tests looming the same week. When I have several consecutive days of work, I feel like my schedule has been disrupted and I need more time to rest than for working out. Ugh!
Another thing is eating right. Who has the patience for that? Especially when you're in college? That, or maybe I just don't have the will power. I mean, take Thursday for example. I decide to do my dad's variation of the atkin's diet until thanksgiving (basically just eating no actual bread products) starting on Wednesday. Thursday, I am at a field day (thanks to Veteran's Day) when the group in charge shows up with some boxes of pizza. I'd downed a whole slice and moved on to some fun games till about 30 minutes later when I remembered that pizza crust is, in fact, bread. Silly me. Last night I ate some rice too. *sigh* Oh well, maybe one day I will figure it all out. :) For now, bring on the gym!

I love anime.

So one of my favorite things to do if I have enough free time is sit back and watch some good Anime. If you don't know what that is..... it is kind of like Japanese cartoons, but for adults. Usually (probably always but I am not sure) they start out as comic books called Manga (sounds like Mon-ga or Mawn-ga). Like I said, this for Adults, not just kids. I am really bad at remembering names of stuff though, so I have compiled my list here. It may or may not be complete, but I will write them down (and recommend a few for those interested).
The ones that are different colors are my all-time favs! The ones that have gray behind them are not my favs, but I highly recommend them!

1.) Ouran High school Host Club

     My favorite! It is really funny and about these boys at a really wealthy school and how they treat one of  the  main girl who is a commoner. I sort of don't want to say to much and ruin some funny parts, but this seriously is my favorite! I can't stop myself from laughing when I watch it! It has a really good english dub, too. :) 26 eps.... I wish there were more!

2.) Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA)

     This is a favorite of anime-watchers so I would highly recommend it! I also enjoyed the dub of this.

3.) Inuyasha 

     Probably a lot of you have seen or heard of the kid cartoon, Inuyasha.... yep, its the same one :) I have seen all of them in a combination of dub episodes, and then later on I had to switch to subs. I really enjoyed the series, but it is pretty simple and is really long.... over 200 eps I think, but they finally finished in last year! 

4.) Sailor Moon

     Another kid favorite! Yes, I have also watched through all of these and there are A LOT of them! Just to let you know, the english version is geared towards kids, but the japanese one is a little more mature. 

5.) Bleach

     Action anime. One again, this is a long one! I think the first couple of "seasons" all have english dub, which I actually liked, despite some people's complaints. You can't find all of the later eps in english dub.... I am not even sure if they are finished making all the eps yet! I stopped watching after about 7 "seasons" or so... the first few are my favorites, though.

6.) Death Note

      Oh, how I love Death Note! This is seriously one of favorites! It is about a boy named Light who comes into possession of a Death Note. If he writes down someone's name in the Death Note, they die. Another boy, a genius who is kind of quirky and goes by L, is trying to track him down. This is a very psychological show and I really really like it! 

7.) Rosario + Vampire

    Very very funny story of a boy going to a school where all the other students are monsters. This anime is hilarious because it makes fun of a lot of stereotypical anime features such as the short skirts, the nose bleeds and many more! 

8.) Vampire Knight

     I enjoyed this. It is about a school where normal students attend during the day, and then another class goes at night, but the night class is made up of Vampires. 

9.) Kyo Kara Maoh! 

    I. LOVE. THIS. SHOW. SERIOUSLY, TOP 5! This show is about a boy who, in the first ep, is sucked into a toilet and ends up in a completely different world  where he is immediately declared Demon King.  The dialog sounds completely ridiculous the first time you watch it, but by episode two, I was in love! I have watched in both English and Japanese.... not all of it is in English so you might want to just go ahead and start with the dubbed version.

10.) Prince of Tennis 

    I was really unsure if I would like this show, but I really enjoyed it! Sometimes it moved slower than I would have liked it to.... mostly because there are a lot of characters, but I really did like it!   

11.) Gauken Alice (Alice Academy)

     Gosh, it has been a while since I watched this one but I liked it! The character s are the younger type, which isn't my favorite, but the idea (that these children have powers called Alices) made for a good story. I liked the anime, but I heard the Manga was better. You should check it out, though. 

12.) Zero no Tsukaima

      Another top five! I LOVE this show! It is so good! When a 2nd year witch is trying to summon her familiar, she instead summons an ordinary Japanese boy into her world and he becomes bound to her as her familiar. It is a story about Magic, adventure, really funny circumstances with the hint of romance.... so pretty much a perfect story :) I had to watch it all at VEOH, though.

13.) DN Angel

   A cute anime. Daisuke Niwa didn't know, but his family holds a secret in the male line named Dark. At the age of 14, they turn into Dark whenever thinking of the girl they are in love with. Dark steals valuables for an unknown reason to Daisuke Niwa. He learns that there is another boy in his class that also seems to have a similar gift, but he doesn't seem to want to be friends. This is not my favorite anime, but I did enjoy it the first time I watched it. 

14.) Loveless

    Yaoi. There are also these battle scenes that involve some form of magic. The manga goes wayyyy more into detail than the show, from what I understand, but I still enjoyed the anime a lot. 

15.) Gravitation

      Another Yaoi. This is a cute show that I really enjoyed! It is about a boy and his band trying to make record labels and the boy's relationship with a popular writer. That is probably a really bad description of the show but..... watch it anyway!

16.) Fruits Basket

     This anime is really cute. It has to do with a family that bears the curse of the Chinese Zodiac. The main character, a girl named Tohru Hinda ends up living with a few members of that family and is introduced into their world.

17.) Nagasarete Airantou

    While on a ship trying to run away from home, a huge storm occurs. When he wakes up, he finds himself on an Island with only girls living there. This is show is hilarious! I really recommend it!  

18.) Elemental Gelade 

   This is a world of where there are mystical beings called "Edel Raids" which are also weapons. They can form a bond with a human and become an extension of the human at will (hence the weapon). The is a story about a boy who encounters a very powerful Edel Raid and wants to help her get to Edel Garden.  I like this anime a lot. It has action/adventure and a little supernatural.

19.) Wallflower

    Four beautiful guys attempt to make their landlord's niece, Sunako, a proper lady. They think it will be easy but..... well I just can't even explain why it is not easy.... you just HAVE to watch it to see! It was not my favorite form of anime or anything, but it was just so bizzare at times and so funny!

20.) Asura Cryin’

    An action story in which Tomoharu Natsume is haunted by one of his old friends, Misao Minakami. When a mysterious trunk is delivered to him from his brother, things start unraveling and he and Misao begin to learn many secrets about the world they live in.

21.) 12 Kingdoms

    This is an Adventure Story with some supernatural and action elements. A girl is brought to another world to be the new queen of one of the 12 Kingdoms there. This is about her journey to becoming a queen and hat she must do after. This is very good, though pretty old, and just sort of cuts the story off at the end, but I liked it. 

22.) Papa to Kiss in the Dark

    I don't really have much to say on this one. It is Yaoi... perhaps a strong yaoi, or whatever that is called, so if you're into that, check it out. There isn't very much of it though. 

23.) Junjou Romantica

     Same comment here, really. There are a lot more characters in this one, though and the anime is longer.  

24.) Avatar, The Last Airbender  It isn't a true anime, but it has anime-like features. In reality, it is a nick cartoon. This is also one of my favorites. The interesting this about this one, is that kids love it AND adults love it. So if you want to watch something you will enjoy with a younger audience, this one is perfect! There are 3 seasons called "Books." In the story, Aang is the Avatar of their world and has magically been hidden for 100 hundred years. While he was gone, one of the other nations, the fire nation, launched a war to control the world. Aang, as Avatar, is supposed to be in charge of keeping the nations equal with each other.
The series doesn't exactly have "magic," but many of the characters have control over the elements Water, Earth, Fire or Wind.
25.)  Elfen Lied
This one sort of reminded me of the little bit of chobits that I have seen... except more advanced and mature. There were several violent scenes per episode. If you watch the first 10 minutes of Episode 1, then you will have a general idea of what to expect during those scenes... it's not all like that though. It was pretty short and I thought the plot line was pretty good, so I guess I am giving it a good rating! :)

26.) Kekkaishi
Loved it! It sort of reminded me of inuyasha....except it didn't take them 200+ episodes or whatever to go anywhere plot-wise haha. In other words, it was better than inuyasha. I recommend it!
27.) Skip Beat!
Also loved this one! It was very funny and I wish it didn't end... of course they might be making more that I just don't know about. They ending they had wasn't very satisfying.

27.) Cowboy Bebop!
This was a good watch. Its wasn't my favorite or anything, but their characters were amusing and the story line was all right. It is not very long, so watch it if you have the time!

28.) Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan aka Nurarihyon no Mago
Liked this one!...Just wish it was a little more "grown up" you know? The main character is the heir to a Demon Clan... but he is only half Demon himself. He has to balance his human life at school with his Demon one and decide if he will take up his position at the head of the clan or not.

29.) Fairy Tail
Currently on ep of 73 out of... well, lots more and I love it!! The characters are quite hilarious. It is a show where there are magical powers and abilities. Wizards form Guilds and take on jobs to earn money. I highly recommend it! I'm having to watch most of it subbed right now and it is really good, but in the few dubbed eps I watched, it was just as good... also, Hikaru from Ouran does Natsu's (the main character)voice!! Try it out if you like the action and magic, but are also in the mood for a good laugh!

Dangerous Duck Dash...a UCF Homecoming Tradition

SPIRIT SPLASH!!!!!!!

THIS is the line for Tshirts at SPIRIT SPLASH!.... these are seriously the most popular Tshirts the whole year! Yeah.... that line goes alllllll the way past that buidling. They give the shirts out at 12..... I got there at 10 :) I got a shirt!

BAM! Awesome shirts! The theme was UCF on the Big Screen....hence Jaws. And now.... the students all gather around the pond and wait. The school usually brings out the former Mister and Miss UCF as well as a former UCF person who is well know (like a Senator). Then our cheerleaders and dancers and band preform (as well as Knightro of course!)

This is the Pond. Usually there is water squirting up, but for Homecoming they turn it off and make a barrier painted by different groups based on the homecoming theme. Notice ALL THE STUDENTS! Let me just take the time to tell those of who who don't know.... there are OVER 40,000 students at UCF!

Yeah, There were allllll sorts of crazy things going on! haha

IN the water! My Camera is waterproof so I took it in! THAT is Knightro! He's hard to see, but he was crowd surfing in the pond. (He's a Knight).

And a crowd-surfing whale too! :)

Yes, it was verrrry croweded. One of the other highlights of Spirit Splash is themed rubber ducks that are thrown out into the crowd... sorry I don't have a picture of them this year, but they had cute little popcorn and drink containers to match with the movie theme! I caught one!.... which is harder than you would think! Imagine competing with huge, strong college boys (who all also happen to be taller than me). I think I have bruises, but it was TOTALLY worth it! (This is was the inspiration for my very creative blog title lol)

Soooo.... that's SPIRIT SPLASH! Awesome, right? I have more!.... A VIDEO! Check it out! It is short, but you will get the picture ;)

 

Well, that is UCF's favorite tradition! Hope you enjoyed it! 

Followers

Okay, so I know I JUST posted something, but then I found this nifty little area where I can see stuff about who is viewing my blog. Check it out! This is sooooo cool!... I mean, I am not sure I can trust these statics... like why would 14 people in China have stumbled upon my blog? I have never even mentioned China, I don't think! It is still kinda cool though :)
Sorry for the way it looks, the sizing is all wrong, but I hope you can read it fine :D

No-knighters

Thats right.... did you see what I did with that title there? I Turned No-nighters (the original intention) to No-knighters.... cause I'm a UCF Knight and thats what we do.

Anyway, this is my study break. yuck. That's right, its 12:31am and I am blogging for a study break. I have a test tomorrow plus a group meeting about a project for that same class. Ugh. Actually, I have had SUCH a full week. On Monday, I had several things due online, then Tuesday I had a Medical Terminology Test and work that night. Wednesday, I THOUGHT I had a Spanish paper due and seriously spent probably about 7 or 8 hours on it (between Tuesday and Wednesday) BUT as it turned out, I still have a week! Not such a big deal EXCEPT for the fact that I could have been studying for my test tomorrow! Ah!.... actually, I mean today! This sucks! I have had an average bedtime of 3:30 am on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and now tonight BUT and average wake up time of about 8:30am. :/ I am running on empty here. Actually, It does suck, but I don't really notice too much of a difference during the main part of the day as long as I keep eating stuff! lol PLUS, to top off my misery, it is homecoming this week! (Hence the Night to Knight shift) and it has literally been a No-Knighter for me! I haven't been to a single homecoming event nor will I get to go to any other ones except Spirit Splash on Friday. Thankfully, this is one of the most important ones. I will be sure to update you then :)
After my thursday classes (which run until about 9pm) I get to enjoy a little frozen yogurt at Ikiwi (yummmmmm) and then hopefully catch up on a tv show or two then beddddd!.... until I have to get up for spirit splash the next morning, but again, more on that to come!
As for other important news: the 7th Harry Potter movie (part 1) comes out in LESS THAN A MONTH!
I really don't know what to expect from it since I really disliked the 6th one but we'll see. I will always love the Harry Potter books anyways <3
hmmm, I guess that is it for now. :) Hope you enjoyed my newest woes. haha Probably pretty boring but hey, it sure is fun to rant a bit! =]

Vows

It is 3am and I am still awake.... should be sleeping, though. Today I went to a college church group called kaleo. I was pretty good, nothing amazing. The pastor, Dan, had this strangely Amish-like beard.  His sermon was about the topics of the love between a bride and groom and the symbolism in marriage ceremonies that come from the bible. Afterwords, he told us that it was his 13th wedding anniversary and he was surprising his wife that night by renewing their Wedding Vows. She had been in another room with their two girls. He had four or five of his friends there to be the wedding party and the pastor too. She had no idea beforehand! AND, what was even more awesome, was their little reception they had complete with pizza and cake. They even got to do their "first dance" over again (to the tune of "A Whole new World" lol).
They didn't say write their own vows (obviously, since this was a surprise for the wife) but I thought it was still a really cute idea. I felt a little odd being there with me two other friends since we didn't know them before, but they didn't seem to mind! haha
Just thought I'd share. Peace Out. Gonna watch some Phineas and Ferb till I fall asleep.

Forgeting Sleep

Ahhhh HeAdAcHeEeEeEeeeEe. :(
So to shed a little light on what I can only assume to be a typical experience for most college students.... the all-nighter.
Of course, it wasn't really an all nighter, I did get a liiiitle sleep. You see, today (well, by now it is probably yesturday).... monday, I mean, I had a Statistics test and a Spanish Test. Plus, Monday I have my Accounting homework due via the web AND I a Spanish essay due. Then, on Tuesday I have a Health Care test. Soooooo..... I stayed up till about 3/4am-ish Sunday night then woke up Monday morning @ 7 to get me study on before my 9:30 am Stat test. check. After class, about 10:30 or so, I settle back in my room for some quality Spanish writing. essay check. (insert rapid food break) about 12:30ish.... get distracted.....1:30 Study my actual spanish notes for the test. 3:30.... head to campus. 4:30 test. check. 6:00pm head home. food. 6:45.... The Current, my bible study group thingy..... they had ice cream this week....  :) ...... 9:00pm home. reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaadddddddd. 12:15am.....nowish. bedtime snack. bed. 8am.....wakeup.....stuuuuuuuuuudy. food. stuuuuuudy.....2:00pm head to campus. 3pm test. 5pm back home. food.  7:00pm..... kaleo(sp?) this other church group thingy....miss Glee.... 9pm home....accounting hw.....11pm....misc. tv......midnight. pass out.
What is the hardest part about all of this?  1.) NO FACEBOOK DISTRACTIONS and 2.) RESIST THE NAP TIME!
Welcome to my life. I'm here every Monday through Tuesday :P lol
Good night.

Academic Advisers

Do you ever get the feeling that the Academic Advisers that schools like to recommend so much really don't know anything? Obviously this is not true for all academic advisers, but the ones I have been to the past couple of years have definitely given me that impression. It starts when you receive an email or a notification that you have either been assigned an Academic Adviser (I'll call them AAs from now on) or that you should come visit their offices to see one. Then, you decide "hmm, maybe that would be a good idea" and go in. When you sit down with them though, they give off the air of "and why did you came see me, again?" which is totally opposite how they should be making you feel. Besides that, I feel like they never actually give me any useful information. I mean, one adviser the other day was going over  my degree audit with me during my meeting. There were two sections that  listed how many credits I had left but they both said a different amount. When I asked her why they were different, her exact reaction was : "uhhhhh..... I don't really know." Wow. On top of that, I have two majors, but no officially assigned AAs. Is there something wrong with that picture? 

Love Song for a Savior

I don't just decide to post lyrics very often, but I really like this song. It  is by Jars of Clay.  I have been listening to it a lot recently for this thing I am working on, and I thought I would share it here.  :)

"Love Song For A Savior"

In open fields of wild flowers,
she breathes the air and flies away
She thanks her Jesus for the daises and the roses
in no simple language
Someday she'll understand the meaning of it all

He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call her and she will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and she'll pray,

"I want to fall in love with You"

Sitting silent wearing Sunday best
The sermon echoes through the walls
A great salvation through it calls to the people
who stare into nowhere, and can't feel the chains on their souls

He's more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on our lips
Someday we'll trust Him and learn how to see Him
Someday He'll call us and we will come running
and fall in His arms and the tears will fall down and we'll pray,

"I want to fall in love with You"

It seems too easy to call you "Savior",
Not close enough to call you "God"
So as I sit and think of words I can mention
to show my devotion

"I want to fall in love with You"

Love + America

I haven't updated anything on here in a while! well, today is not super exciting, I guess though. I really just have to study study study for a test later today. It so getting so hard to keep up with my homework AND tests! Ah!
Butttttt, hopefully this will start to come together soon! :) I've already got Sigma Phi Lambda going so that is awesome! I love my sisters!
Something I have been thinking about: Patriotism.
When I was in Spain it was obvious that, despite knowing they had flaws, they thought Spain was the greatest country ever to be a part of. That all had the  jerseys, the flags..... anything red and yellow in general lol  But here, is a different story. This past weekend was 9/11 and I didn't see any of extra "American Stuff" in stores. And I looked. In the end, they handed out about a million tiny flags on our way into the football stadium later that day, but I was still a little sad. I guess after seeing the amount of love the Spanish have for their country has made me a little jealous that we don't share that feeling about ours. So let me just say that I really love our country. It is not perfect in any way, but I do love the USA. I love the song Proud to be an American by Lee Greenwood...even tough it doesn't bother mentioning my dearest Florida lol.

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my family by my side.

I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

And I’m proud to be and American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

Sterling

I am moved into my new apartment! yay! I got here yesterday but I am STILL not completely unpacked, though. ugh!
Sterling is really nice though, despite just a few problems. The apartments are great, but we don't have a microwave :( I thought one of the girls that was coming had one, but they aren't even living here anymore, so no microwave. I am off to the store later to check them out. Also, I am a little worried about the parking. There is a parking garage for residents, but I don't know how many parking passes they give out. Hopefully, they don't give out MORE than the number of spots! Plus, I am not sure how much visitor parking there is.
Oh, and I don't think I mentioned it before, but every bedroom here has a flat screen tv mounted on the wall! Sweet! AND they also gave us an ipod thingy that plays your music THROUGH THE TV! I think it might even play you movies and stuff through it. :D

Home Again :)

I'm Home!
I just flew in yesterday! It was a loooooong flight. Malaga-New York JFK-Atlanta-Jacksonville
What was interesting was that the first thing I saw that really made me feel that "home at last" feeling was the sight of a football field from my plane into New York. Weird, right?

You know what was really weird, though? The food on the plane! Okay, first.... some sort of lunch meal. I gt a choice between chicken and spaghetti. Since the chicken hadn't tasted to good on the way over, I went for the spaghetti. It was an Alfredo-based sauce that had some tomatoes and onions spread around in it too. No meat. The two women sitting next to me both got vegetarian meals. Fish. Now I don't know how much of a choice they had in their meal, I would assume they had none besides that general "vegetarian or not" choice,  but some vegetarians eat fish, some do not. Furthermore, since MY meal was definitely meatless, what is wrong with NOT having a separate Vegetarian meal and instead just letting them choose the Spaghetti option over chicken?
Okay, okay. Weird but just a fluke, right?
When we were closer to New York, though, we got some more food.  Again, they brought out all the vegetarian options..... some tofu looking thing, and then everyone else's food (there were no options). Mini pizzas. Mini CHEESE pizzas. In case you don't understand the point I am trying to make here, let me stress again that they were Mini cheese, MEATLESS pizzas. Seriously? I am not sure why vegetarians would have a problem with that. What was especially funny, was that both the women beside me seemed to be of the same opinion, gazing longingly at my (also vegetarian meals) while they ate theirs.

Enough with the airplane stories, though... I am both happy to be home, and sad that I am not in Spain.
I didn't really have good internet the last few days I was in the country, so let me outline what happened for you quickly:

After the program was officially ended, the students all went their separate ways. We did have fun at that last dinner, by the way (which, just to let you know, Monique did NOT show up at). The next morning after that, I packed all my stuff up and headed with Haven to a nearby hostile. She is staying there for a week or more, but I only had a couple extra nights. The Hostel was up above the Alhambra...which involves trekking up steep hills, by the way with all of our luggage. The Hostel was nice, though not air conditioned, and had a roof-top pool. At dusk, music would play from the Alhambra and Haven and I would watch the sun set while bats flew around in the sky. It was great! So those were my last days in Spain!

I'm home again, and like I said, I am both happy and sad. I can't wait to get back to UCF, though, and hang with all the Granada buddies that will be in my Spanish classes! :)

Exams in Spain

EXAM WEEK in SPAIN!!!!
:/
D:
:(
>_<

Okay, I guess I am finished with the exam faces. haha
But I DO have exams in these next two days though (it is Wednesday now, by the way). I have my History Exam, Conversations Exam and Civ and Culture Exam Thursday THEN, on Friday, I have an Oral Exam....more like an interview, with Thompson and a presentation about Madrid for Civ and Culture. yuck. I don't think they will be very hard, but I would just rather not have to do them, of course! Oh yeah, we also have a fancy dinner on Thursday night with the whole group. I think that should actually be fun..... except I will have to wear the only dress I brought. Oh well. :) What IS interesting, is that we are doing Superlatives. You know, like "Best Dressed" and "Worst Smile" (okay, maybe not the last one). That should definitely be interesting.
I just had dinner, by the way, and it was REALLY good! It was just rice mixed with egg, shrimp, ham bits, peas and (yucky) carrots. It was yummy, but I wish we could have had more. In fact, I was just thinking about going out for some ice cream or something.

ROAD TRIP IN SPAIN

All right, you better brace yourself cause this could be a long one!
So, Road Trip. Well, a girl in my program, Stephanie, is doing Grad work for Thompson while she is here and has to collect a lot of Interviews (or Entrevistas). She really had to go back to Sevilla for more data and decided to rent a car.... hence, Road Trip. At first, only I was going to go with her, but that changed later.

Okay, so Saturday Morning:

We start out in Granada. My entire group actually had an excursion that day to Almunecar and to Nerja. We met them at the desginated place, but we rented the car that morning and just followed the bus. On this leg of the journey, it was me (of course :D )and Stephanie and Jeff. It was petty fun following the bus. We had some awesome boy band karaoke going on as well as some 70s playing.

Almunecar:

Here, we stopped to look at some Roman Ruins and an old Moorish Castle, Castillo de San Miguel. It was pretty cool stuff. I don't remember the exact years of it all, but the Moors invaded during the 7th century I believe and the Romans were there before that, so that gives you a pretty good idea.

Nerja

We stopped here to visit some caves. They were also pretty awesome but I never really got the full history of them, so I think I like the caves at Gibraltar better. I know that these caves are really old though.... some remains might have been found in them.... remains from one of the phases of evolution I think.
I think it was in Nerja that we also spotted the remains of a Roman Aqueduct. How cool is that?!
After the caves, we had a buffet lunch with food in epic proportions. You think I'm kidding, but I am not.
Then, after food.... Beach! I did not really get in because we were planning on skipping most of the beach time so we could go ahead and start our Road Trip.

Which brings me to...... ROAD TRIP!!!!!!
Okay, so during the morning, we had picked up two more for the road trip: Frank and Stephanie Pego (called Pego). Jeff, in case you are wondering, did not actually go on the full trip with us, he just rode with us on the way there. LAME. haha, just kidding, he just didn't want to spend too much money.
ANYWAY, so the four of us set out! We were generally heading towards Huelva to see Columbus' ships but to be honest, that was pretty much as far as we had gotten in the planning portion of this trip. Not very long after we had left, though, we drove under a Cable Car line that was passing between a city just below us and the top of one of the nearby mountains. We went there. We literally pulled into the next gas stop and turned the car around to go searching for this Cable Car place. Why? Just because we could.

Arroyo de la Miel

So as we drive through this city using the Cable Cars to navigate our way to their base, we noticed there was some sort of Fair going on. When we parked, because the Fair was right next to the Cable Cars, I realized it was an entire Theme Park. Cool! We didn't go in, though. Instead, we headed over to check out the Cable Cars and decided to go up. It was pretty cool. We all shared on Cable Car which took us to the top of one of the Mountains. It felt AwEsOmE up there and had a really great view of the Spanish coast line.
As soon as we stepped off the cable Car, Frank spotted a sign that said if you drink two beers up there, you get a free hat. Stephanie and Frank drank the Beers, though I think Pego might also have helped a bit. The lady up there was nice, and gave both Stephanie and Frank a hat.

So after the beers, we walked around to check out the mountain.... they had birds there! And I am talking about BIG birds..... like Eagles, Hawks, Vulture, Owls. In fact, they had an entire BIRD SHOW! A FREE bird show, more importantly. Before it started, we hiked up to the top of the mountain and the view, once again, was really amazing!
So, the bird show. It was pretty fun to watch. The guy in charge, aka Stephanie's new Crush lol, would first speak in Spanish and then in English. Later, he told us that his mother was British and his Father was Spanish. 
During the bird show, Stephanie got to wear those thick gloves the bird people use and hold one of the birds.
So the British/Spanish guy.... he told us about a German Beer-fest inside a nearby castle. Well, Frank, Pego and Stephanie were alllll interested. We headed down the mountain (using the super cool cable car, of course) and set off!
Yeah..... we got distracted. First, we saw a sign for a Hard Rock Cafe and we thought we would sort of head in that direction.... then we got lost. Well, it wasn't really lost, but we did miss the exit for the Hard Rock, so instead we just kept driving.

Estepona

We were getting hungry. We started pulling off and noticed a stadium with it's lights on full blast. Naturally, we kept driving. JUST KIDDING! We pulled in of course! Stephanie let Frank park the car because we had to drive it over a curb and then we headed inside to check out the locals practicing their soccer game. It was kinda cool. I felt sort of sketchy with all four of us just standing in the bleachers watching them practice, but oh well :)
Afterwords, we decided to head in search of some food and possibly a place to stay.

We stopped in at this one restaurant/bar and ordered some tapas. The waiter was wearing this outfit that was  ketchup-red and mustard-yellow, earning him the nickname of "Ketchup and Mustard." When Ketchup and Mustard figured out we were students from the USA, he called his buddy over who happened to be from Indiana. What are the chances? This guy had come over a few years back and decided to stay. They both gave us directions to some hostels/hotels around and we set off!

Cute pet Ferret we encountered.

Now Estepona is located right on the coast, so as we walked down the road, we were walking parallel to the Med Sea. Of course, since it was around 11pm or so, we couldn't actually see very much of it, but it is still pretty cool. A street or two over, we stopped at a hostel to see if we could stay there..... except, we didn't know how to get in. It was located above a cafe and there was no clear entrance. The cafe guy told us to sit and wait at his tables and the person from the Hostel would come down, We waited. And waited. and might have kept waiting..... but we were impatient people. PLUS, there was this creepy-to-the-max guy sitting at the counter of the cafe and kept throwing us dirty looks.... of course, thinking back, his face might have just been arranged that way permanently in which case he wasn't really creepily glaring at us every time he looked over, but who knows? In any case, we left. We found another hostel about a block over and it was really nice! We got two rooms, but they were joined together with one bathroom, for about 20 each. It was a really nice hostel, though. It probably could have been a low star hotel, as a matter of fact. We stashed our stuff and then went out for some ice cream on the beach of the Med Sea. The water was cooooooooold. No, I did not go for a late night swim, but I walked around about up to my calves. Frank, however, did take a short swim. Literally, it was for only a minute or two, before we went back to our hostel to sleep.

Next Morning:
Breakfast at a cafe then an Out-Door Market before heading off again!

Huelva

We FINALLY made it to Huelva! Yay!.... but it still took us like an hour to find Columbus' boats!
First of all, it was a Sunday. SO MUCH STUFF SHUTS DOWN ON SUNDAYS!!!!....which is weird since MOST Spaniards aren't actually PRACTICING their religions.
But we eventually found them! THEY WERE...... so small. That's right. Small. Tiny. In fact, I am pretty sure I would not consider crossing the ocean on them. The smallest one, which I believe is the Nina (but I could be wrong), was probably smaller than a typical city bus would be. yikes! We wondered around the area a bit.... they even had nude native American statues to represent the New World Area. THAT was super exciting. *insert sarcasm* lol So, back to:

Sevilla

We stopped here for some food and for some Entrevistas for Stephannie. It was here that we had to decide between going south to Malaga for some beach time the next morning before heading back, or instead swinging over to Cordoba, another of Andalucia's provinces and major cities, then on to Jaen the next day on our way back to Granada. We chose the Cordoba route.

Cordoba

We got to Cordoba that night and headed out in search of a hostel or hotel. We quickly learned that Cordoba was NOT designed with vehicles in mind. In fact, Cordoba is very very very very (you get the picture?) old. They don't even have bus tours there because they can't navigate the roads. Our time spent driving around in search of a place to stay involved tiny one way streets, streets that we THOUGHT were streets but were really just walkways, huge circles to just end up right back where we started, and an exciting police pursuit. Yeah, I am actually not kidding about that last one either, though it was not, I repeat, NOT us being pursued. Eventually, we settled on some low ranked Hotel.... partly because it was the same price as the hostel, and partly because we didn't know if we could find either one again if we left. This place was also pretty nice. We stayed in two separate rooms this time, each with our own bathroom.
In the morning, we set our for breakfast, an atm stop then off to see the sights!

Actually, we only really went to one place in Codoba, which is the Mezquita..... this HUGE cathedral. Okay, to give a short and certainly not detailed enough description: Roman temple turned Christian temple, turned HUGE MUSLIM MOSQUE from the 8th- 12th century, and then, instead of building a new cathedral after conquering the moors, the Christians just converted the Mosque into a Cathedral. Really Old. Really Huge. Really Beautiful.

Jaen

After Cordoba, we drove for a wine tasting in Montilla, then onwards to Jaen. Jaen seemed pretty cool, but to be honest, we didn't really have much time to stop or anything. We took some pictures of the surrounding area, but by this time we really needed to be heading back for classes and stuff.

Granada

Well, seeing how it was Monday and it was a school week, we headed back to Granada. Stephanie and I let Pego and Frank out close to their houses and then tried (and failed for almost an hour) to navigate the streets of Granada. I flagged a taxi down New York style after we dropped the car off and we were headed back to school!

End of road trip. To be honest, there was a lot more I could have written, but these were all the important parts, I promise!!!!

More Days in Granada

Hey.
It is Thursday night (10:04) if you wanted to know.... I wish it was friday!

So I went to that Cathedral and the Capilla Real where the remains of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand are. No pictures allowed, but I got one anyway. It is not exactly the perfect picture, though, since I had to be sneaky and people from my group kept getting the way. Plus, I hadn't actually charged my camera so the battery was pretty much running on empty. Oh well, at least my stalker picture-taking has paid off at last. (Kristin, this comment was for your benefit. Stalker pictures ARE worth practicing. *cough cough*)

ANYWAY, The cathedral is HUGE of course and was kind of cool to walk around in.it was actually totally different from the cathedral we visited in Sevilla. This one is all white and super spacious on the inside. All the lighting is like natural sunlight...none of that dark Gothic stuff.



After that, I had to go work on my group presentation power point. Immigration = Blah topic. Not really, I actually think we did pretty well. I put up a slide of all those racist jokes we all love (you know, the "How many Mexicans does it take to screw in a light bulb...." ones) as well as a similar slide of popular jokes about religion. Those were both a pretty big hit.
In other news, I bought TWO pairs of shoes today  XD
One pair is purple heels.... AWESOME, though slightly higher and narrower than I usually wear. Still love 'em though!
The other pair is just plain white flats but I liked them. I will NOT be wearing them around Granada though because my feet always get so dirty here!
As for food today:
Lunch.... Broccoli and potatoes
Dinner.... Soup (some kind of broth with noodles), egg with those hot dog-like (but better) things mixed in and a few potato chips. And Yogurt.

So this weekend I am going to Nerja for at least part of the day on Saturday... still unsure of any other weekend plans. I wanted to go White Water Rafting but that has been canceled. One girl is going back to Sevilla and I might go with her. We would see some more sights there and then hopefully travel around to some other smaller places. We both want to go to Huelva, which where Columbus sailed from! They have replicas of all three ships from his first voyage that you can go on.

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to mention this..... most Europeans consider there to be 5 continents. I think it goes: Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas (all lumped together). They either discount Antarctica or maybe they just lump it in somewhere else. Isn't that interesting? You would think of all things that we would agree on the number of continents.

No queso por favor.

Hi again! I know, I know it has been a week since I posted but whatever :)

On Friday my computer decided to stop charging, or I guess what actually happened was that my chords decided they would stop charging the computer. And it died. PLUS, I went to Sevilla this weekend with my group and I wouldn´t have had internet there anyway.

So, Sevilla. It is HooooooooooooooT! It at least reached 48 Celcius which, if I remember correctly is around 114 US-wise. We went to this one place called Plaza de España and they said that it was used to film a scene from one of the Star Wars movies!.... the guide had no idea which one, of course. So that was pretty cool. I also saw Christopher Columbus´tomb.

The first night, a group of us went to a sit-down Dominos. We ordered a four cheese pizza.... MISTAKE. Apparently they use some type of cheese not very common in the US and it was nasty! Literally, it tasted rotten. They brought us a different pizza though which was nice of them. That pizza tasted fine, thank goodness. We played Phase 10 in the hotel after that.

The next day, I set off by myself to a town called Caroma. They have the ruins of a Roman Necropolis and amphitheater there as well as some sort of old fort. It was pretty cool to see, though nerve racking to be all alone!
That night in Sevilla, we played more cards. And, we managed to watch Aladdin, Pocahontas and part of Toy Story 2 in Spanish. Awesome!

So.... that was the weekend.
Monday. Pretty much uneventful as far as I can remember. I did get to watch True Blood, though, which was awesome, as usual. And I finally got to Skype my mom and Aunt Stacy which was cool.
Tuesday. el mismo. I got to Skype my dad, though, who is in Korea for business. He doesn´t have a web cam with him, so it was more or less like a phone call.
I did get a universal charger for my computer, except it doesn´t actually charge. It gives just enough power to turn it on.Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.
Today. Well, I gave my presentation today about why the US should have an official language. Super fun. I am going to this HUGE Cathedral later as well as something called the Capilla Real. But after that, it is back to work because I have a group presentation tomorrow on Immigration.
And by the way it is 12 : 46 local time.... none of that 3 am stuff. My poor computer is all confused about what day and time it is here.  :)

Here are some pics from the hiking (or scenderismo, as we call it here) that I mentioned in my last post:

Una Hamburguesa

Hola! It is 12:29 and I am in the school computer lab right now waiting for class to start... I still have an hour! Today, I am supposed to be going on a hike above the city... exciting, I guess :)
Last night, we had hamburgers for dinner! They are not really my favorite but that is okay. We did have watermelon during lunch though which WAS exciting. We also had Paella for lunch but it really wasn´t that good... I think one from a restaurant might be better. Don´t get me wrong, it was tasty, but I think it came in a bag and she just sort of mixed it all together and cooked in like Rice-a-Roni (if that is how it is spelled).
I am already sort of hungry but I won´t be eating lunch for at least an hour and a half. Since one of my classes was canceled today, a group of about six of us stopped in at this bar for a snack on our way to the building. I only ordered some Pineapple Juice (sooooo good!) but I also had a piece of a churro while I was there. I meant to bring some bread with me to snack on but I forgot it :(
Oh well, guess I will just wait for lunch.

On a side note:
There is tons of graffiti all over the city...apparently they like it! Check it out!

The "Rock" of Gibraltar

So you might have noticed the quotations around the word Rock in my title.... well if you have never seen Gibraltar, you might not be aware that it looks much more like a mountain!... especially to us Floridians who are used to everything being flat flat flat.
Take a look:



Okay, so a couple things you might want to know about Gibraltar that you didn't know already:
1.) Gibraltar is considered a part of Great Britain. It uses their currency AND even has the red phone booths.
2.) Gibraltar is at the southern tip of Spain. In fact, it borders the Spanish town of La Linea. The picture of Gibraltar from farther away (up above) was actually taken from Spain.
And the picture below is of the Spanish mountains that end where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet.

3.) You are able to see the mountains of Africa from Gibraltar.... weather permitting. It is very misty there but this is one of the clearer pictures I have.

4.) Gibraltar has an ANCIENT history.... some think that references to the Gates of Hades from stories about ancient Greek heroes refers to the caves in the mountain. Plus, that area of Spain is one of the first to be populated, not to mention the influence of the Moors and the British.
5.) The entire mountain in filled with Apes that are completely free to roam around.

This Ape, named Gregory, actually took my friend's backpack off of her back and unzipped it to look for food that he smelled. He ate all of her snacks and she couldn't do anything about it! Apes were all over just wondering around freely.

It was a pretty interesting trip, all in all. The bus ride was about 5 hours each way and cost about 20 euros.... not bad. In Gibraltar, though, they use mainly British Pounds which is more expensive. They would let you use Euros, but the hiked up the exchange rate. Many of the people there spoke both English and Spanish, which was pretty interesting.

We stayed in Gibraltar Saturday, got two hotel rooms and then left on Sunday morning.
There were 5 of us total, three girls, two boys, so the hotel situation was a little iffy.  Europe is not big on more people sharing a room than they paid for, and are often not fans of letting guys and girls share rooms together. We ended up finding a place with 3 beds in one room and a room with 2 beds which was perfect. The restrooms where shared at the end of the hallway, though.