Pancakes and Parks

So I had a pretty fun week! Despite my intimidating first week of school, I'm SO happy and I've met some really great people!
Wednesday night I went to this bar with some of Mike's old friends from Spain (Diego and Carlos) and some of my friends from my school. The bar was crazy - it looked like you were in this cave and you all share these fishbowl drinks that they pour from the ceiling! It was insane...
Thursday night we went to a club called Joy and we had this giant group of people there with us and we danced until 5:30 in the morning! It had 3 floors and it was packed!
Friday I just ran around and some friends and I went to this cool little restaurant for lunch - but while we were walking there we walked past this bar and these people were off to the side and shouted at us that they were Real Madrid players - but I don't think I believe them because we ended up talking to them and - yeah, I just don't think they were - nobody else said anything about them or even looked twice and how would I ever know what the players actually look like???
Valentine's Day was Saturday - and despite my hopes that escaping to another country would cure my hatred toward love - especially on this day - I still saw a disgusting amount of adorable couples everywhere I went. But honestly, it was a really great day! haha It was my flatmate, Gabriel's birthday and he wanted an American breakfast as his present - so Sarah (flatmate) and I whipped up some pancakes and bacon for everyone - neither of which ANYONE had ever had and they were so appreciative - it was incredibly cute. Gabriel told us "dis was de best brefas (pause) I 'ave ever 'ad" (translation: this was the best breakfast I have ever had - in case you didn't get that...) Then Sarah and I went to Retiro park - it's absolutely breathaking - it's so beautiful. And we just sat there for a long time - doing nothing at all and it was great. It was a beautiful day - sunny and warm and perfect for walking in the park. Then we went to coffee with some of our french friends and we hung out with them for the rest of the night along with the argentinians. By the end of the night we were all salsa dancing in our flat and it was so much fun! And I will have you know - that, yes, there is an old bald man who lives below us because I saw him - and no, he did not come upstairs and try to fight us. Don't worry, dad.
Other than that, my weekend is finishing up - I've done just about nothing today except homework and sleep and eat and I'm just fine with that - I needed a day to do nothing.

HOLY TOLEDO!

That's right -We went to Toledo! It was really fun, as you can see! I just threw this little thing together to give you an idea of what we did and what we saw - it's kind of shaky and bad at some points because a few of the places we went to didn't allow cameras - and... well, let's just say I'm sneaky like that.

Otherwise - I have some big news to tell everyone. All my friends told me I'd fall in love while I'm abroad - and - I have - I am in love. with. Madrid.
This is the most amazing city - my flatmate, Sarah - the only other american in my flat (and the only other girl, I might add) and I have decided that this is the kind of place where you can just walk out your door and you're astounded by what's around you. It's beautiful. Everyone I've met is wonderful - I LOVE the people I live with - they're all so fun, and i have a french friend really fantastic !!!!!!!!! moreover, he's so cute !!!!! and so smart !!!!! The perfect man !! a french lover !! I'm in love !!! -okay he just walked in here and wrote that... and no - he is not my lover in any way haha

So ANYWAY...
I just started school this week and all my classes are in Spanish - I'm in advanced spanish which is quite difficult actually and kind of overwhelming but I think I'm just too proud to go into a lower class so I'm staying and that's all there is to it. But I'm taking a spanish class, Spanish cinema, a communication of the masses class, themes of modern day spain or something like that, and art and civilization... and I'm really excited for them!

Well I love you all so much and I miss you all so much!
I hope things are going well for you - please take care.

The Journey to the Center of Madrid.

So obviously I made it okay and everything turned out well.  But I just thought I'd throw something together since everyone I know is at work - and I can't leave the apartment because I don't have a key to get back in!  So I edit.

Enjoy my journey - about 12 hours in 2 minutes and 24 seconds.

I'm here!

So I made it to Madrid and life is good!  But I definitely have some stories to fill you all in on!

First off it was really hard to say bye to everyone; especially my family, but I guess that has to happen for me to leave, right?  Well anyway, my padres took me to the airport and walked me in and we waited in line for the ticket lady person and while we were waiting we overheard them saying that my flight was overbooked and they are giving people offers to take a different flight.  Well I really didn't NEED to be in Madrid until the 3rd so I was like, "if they give me a good offer (like a free ticket somewhere or something) then there's no reason not to take it"  But when we got to the counter she didn't offer me anything so initially we were kind of bummed.  But then, as she hands me my ticket she tells me that she upgraded me to club - not first class - but still WAY out of my price range - and I didn't have to pay a thing!  Yeah, so I didn't even know what club was so when I got there it was pretty surprising to see this chair with walls in between it and the other chairs, a footrest thing that I can just pull down, a pillow and blanket that didn't smell like vomit, my own personal pop out tv with unlimited movies, music, television, etc.  And as soon as I got there a stewardess was taking my order and it was pretty unbelievable!  That was the moment that I decided I must become rich so I never have to fly business class again.

So needless to say, that flight was wonderful.  That one took me straight from Denver to London and then in London I caught a plane to Madrid. That flight wasn't as glamorous, but I did get my own row... yay?

Customs was so easy I didn't even know it was customs...

Then I went to the empty baggage claim and waited there forever for my bags - but that's Spain for ya, right?

Once I arrived in Madrid, one of Mike's friends there, Diego, was supposed to pick me up.  But when I walked out, I couldn't distinctly remember his face (I had only seen pictures from facebook) and I was so overwhelmed with everything - I just couldn't find him!  So I went to a pay phone and called him and we found each other and all was well.  He was really nice - he speaks English really well and he drove me through the city - which was absolutely wonderful - but it was siesta so it was DEAD.  For those of you who don't know what siesta is - it is only the best invention on earth.  Basically the whole country gets nap time.  So anyway, Diego then took me to one of Mike's other friends' flat.  Her name is Majo and I'm living with her and her flatmates for a few days before I can move into my flat.  After a long and tiring trek with my bags up streets horribly similar to san fransisco, I arrived at Majo's.  But she was off to work so it was a quick hello and goodbye for her and then... I took a nap.  Oh, how I love Spain.

I woke up a while later and decided that I should probably be social and say hi to the other people who live there.  Everyone was so so nice!  There's an American girl, Julie, a French girl,a also named Julie, a Chilean girl, Yasna, and her friend, Nicko, is staying with them for the moment... and there might be one more - but I haven't met them yet.  So I start talking with them - mostly in Spanish - the Julies both speak English so they'd help me out a lot but it was good to practice.  Then we made some dinner and met Majo at one of their friend's birthday parties, which was really fun and I met a lot of people.  They stay out really late in Madrid - thank god for that siesta - but I was still pretty tired and went back with one group of people while the others went out to go dancing - I just couldn't do it!  Getting to sleep was no problem, but I woke up pretty early and now I can't go back to sleep - which really isn't fun at all...  Today we're going to this street market they have on Sundays called El Rastro  - and God knows I'm going to blow some money there... 

Well sorry I just wrote you all a novel here - but I figured, it's my first day in Madrid so details are allowed - I probably won't write this much in the future haha