UPDATE!

So first off - SORRY everyone that I haven't updated this in about a year and a half but it's been pretty crazy around here recently...

the story begins with LONDON...



It was a TON of fun! We packed in everything we could! Harriet - one of mike's former flatmates (who lived in Sarah's room actually back in the day) let us stay with her and she was so great - she took us all around and put up with our touristyness (yes, that is now a word - don't question) and it was really cool to see all these places that I've only seen pictures of!
fyi - the old men in the video were in a modern art museum and they're wax figures in these wheelchairs with scensors on them so they don't crash into anything - it was kind of creepy how realistic they looked!
We got to see the changing of the guard which was very cool and we got SO lucky because just as we were crossing the street they started herding everyone to the sides so they could march on through and we were RIGHT in the front! And that's a big deal because it was PACKED there.

The next weekend Harriet came out to visit us along with a few other guests which include the following:

Mike - my brother
Aubrey - Mike's girlfriend
and
Corissa - my roommate at CSU

So needless to say we had a full house but it was SO much fun with them all here! We pretty much lived at Retiro during the days and went out at night to random bars and clubs and Mike got to remenisce about the good ole days when he lived in this fabulous city. Corissa pretty much fell in love with Madrid and I think I've finally succeeded in convincing her to study abroad becuase pretty much it's one of the very best experiences of my life. As everyone else left, Em Po came to visit me too! We pretty much did the same sort of thing - lots of Retiro and lots of fun nightlife! But we also went to the Prado Museum (famous art museum) and we took a tour of the Palacio Real and it was so beautiful and intircate but unfortunatley you practically get jumped if you take pictures so I don't have any of those for you... sorry! It was SO fun to have everyone here - it was such a great fresh taste of home for me! Po left this morning and my parents just arrived yesterday - this was a giant mess - thank GOD Em was there to help calm me down or, as she said it, "my stress level would have elevated to an outrageously high level" or something along those lines... okay here's the story..
All you Colorado people know that there was a massive snow storm the other day and school got cancelled and yay no class but boo no flights - so my parents almost couldn't make it but somehow they got on a different flight and relayed to mike their new itinerary and mike told me what time to pick them up - which was at 2:15 in the afternoon - so Em and I go to the airport and sit and wait for everyone to get off this plane - eventually there was NOBODY in the terminal and some worker guy there asks me what flight we're waiting for so I tell him. He then proceeds to tell me that everyone on that flight has already left. So I'm thinking, "Oh God, they must have walked past me... or did they miss their flight...? or are they stuck somewhere...?" I have no idea but I'm panicking. We decide to take the metro back towards my part of town and check and see if they got to the hotel. Nope. not there. I ask the people at the front desk and they tell me they haven't checked in yet - I panick again. Emily suggests we go get food - which helped haha except on the way, since I was all nervous and worried, I ended up yelling at some guy who hit on me on the street because I just really wasn't in the mood for that at the moment. Finally at about 6, they called me from a payphone and explained that their plane had changed yet again and they were fine and they were going to the hotel. And all was right in the world.

OTHERWISE...
Things are going really well still - my birthday is coming up and I'm really excited because I'm leaving for Morrocco that day for my spring break!!! YAY!
Schools going well - that's what I'm here for after all - and I'm really improving with the espanol - I think. I hope. But yeah I had my first test last week about architecture actually... and knowing absolutley NOTHING about it in english made it a little more difficult to learn in Spanish but it's actually kind of interesting. I feel like a nerd saying this but I really like having class in Spanish - I feel like I'm multitasking or something. These classes aren't exactly the most important classes of my life but I really enjoy listening to people speak spanish just so I can hear it and learn from it. And sometimes I talk but I get intimidated really easily in that sense haha

I hope everyone's doin well - I hope life is good!
Love you all!
besos!