***2,000***

*****2,000*****

I know I haven't done one of these posts in awhile but between getting settled in and starting work, I didn't even realize that I had passed 2,000 views!!! I remember the first day I started my blog, and how I was so happy to reach 100 views, now I have over 2,000!

Thanks to everybody for reading my blog and keeping up with my adventures in Spain :)

A "Real" Blogger

Since I began the process of applying to the program to teach in Spain, I have known that I wanted to start a blog to document my experiences. For months I read other blogs daily, made notes of features that I liked and disliked, and thought of possible posts that I would like to share.

At first, blogging seemed sooo easy--just pick a pretty background and write about whatever you like. Although I have to admit that Blogger has been very easy to use (especially for someone whose use of the computer extends to skype, music, and the internet), I've learned that blogging is so much more than I thought it was. While you have all of these great ideas for blog posts, things get more difficult when you have to decide whether you want to write long, thoughtful posts, or short, informative or even funny posts. Then once you know what type of posts you want to write, it's amazing how hard it is to actually continue to post regularly.

 That being said, after all the trials and tribulations, I now feel like I am officially a blogger. I have been featured on another blog, made some "blogger friends," and have been welcomed as a member of 20 Something Bloggers --an international group of ummm...bloggers in their twenties ;)

  

For all of you bloggers out there, when did you start to feel like you were a real blogger?

Featured

I've got some exciting news!!!! For the first time, I've been featured on another blog!!!  Cathy, one of my first "blogger-friends" (by the way Cathy, we're now blogger-friends) has featured me as her first ever Reader Spotlight! 

Cathy had a great idea to feature one of her readers every month and I was lucky enough to be chosen to be her first featured reader. Head on over and check out her blog, Mi Nuevo Capitulo...My New Chapter!

5-0-0

***500***

We've just passed 500 views!!!! I know it was a little slow getting here due to my very irregular posting habits, but now I've had over 500 views. Even though I know that this is still a small number of views in the blog realm, it means a lot to me. I love following my audience stats and seeing where my readers are from--so much in fact that I've added a live traffic feed to the left so everyone can see how diverse the audience is.

It's so cool to me that I've had people read my blog from Jamaica, Argentina, Germany, Canada, and even Australia!! I'd like to thank you all (that might be the first time I've ever said you all instead of yall) for reading, sharing, and commenting on my blog! 


Let's see how quickly we can reach 1000 ;)

"Llena"

Sorry I've been sort of slack with my "Spanish Word of the Day" post. I kind of just slipped a word (llena) into my post yesterday, but today, it gets all the glory it deserves---aka, one whole post dedicated to it on my so-so great blog ;)

From wordreference.com:

lleno,-a (yay-no; yay-na)
I adjetivo
1 (colmado) full (up)
luna llena, full moon
2 (superficie) covered: está llena de manchas, it's covered with stains
3 (gordito) plump
II m (en espectáculos) full house
♦ Locuciones: figurado de lleno, fully: se equivocó de lleno, he went fully wrong

Llena literally means full, and can be used to describe anything that is full. If you're at dinner and don't have room for dessert, you would say "estoy llena" or I'm full.

100

100!

I just passed 100 views!!!  I know this is a small amount of views in the "blog world," but it's still exciting to me :) Let's have a drink to celebrate...

Blogging advice???

This is for all of my blog experts out there! What is your best piece of advice about blogging?? I have been blogging for all of ummm...two days, so I haven't really learned my way around the blog yet. For example, I have added the gadget for followers, yet I've had multiple people tell me they tried to follow my blog but there was no link :( Is this just a "computer glitch" or can I fix this? Any and all blog related advice is welcome!!!

Ingles o Espanol....English or Spanish

Un resulto de mi habilidad de hablar español  es que tengo amigos, en los EE.UU y en España también, quien solo puede hablar español. Quiero compartir mi blog con todos, pero no se en cual manera. ¿Debo escribir todos de mis mensajes en ambos ingles y español? ¿O debo crear un otro blog solo en español? ¿Qué piensas? ¿Qué debo hacer??

Sueños de una what???

From wordreference.com:
 Sueño:

2. (ilusión) dream;
   la mujer de sus ~s the woman of his dreams;
   sus ~s se hicieron realidad her dreams came true;
   ser un ~ (fam) to be divine (colloq)

 Moreno,-a

I adjetivo
1 (de pelo) dark-haired
(de piel) dark-skinned
pan/azúcar moreno, brown bread/sugar
2 (bronceado) tanned
ponerse moreno, to get a suntan
II m,f (persona) (de pelo) dark-haired person
(de piel) dark-skinned person

When choosing a blog title I wanted it to reflect both myself and the content of the blog. The majority of this blog will be dedicated to my experiences in Spain so I chose the word sueño, or dreams. I chose morena because this is one of my favorite Spanish words. 

Usually when I speak Spanish to native speakers, no matter what I say their first response is "de donde eres (where are you from)?" Not to toot my own horn (toot toot) but through studying abroad, and working in a position that requires me to speak Spanish everyday, I have developed a fairly high level of proficiency in Spanish. Although Spanish speakers come in all complexions and from all over the world, for some reason when I speak to people, they get this look on their face like "wtf? Where did this morena learn to speak Spanish like that?"