Tuesday, September 28th

with my silly bands from Gracie

Today was a longer Tuesday than normal. Because of the strike tomorrow, we have to make up all of the classes we’ll be missing. So today we had class from 9 am to 4 pm basically straight because we added an hour and a half of grammar to my break. I didn’t get to go home for lunch =  :-\, but my senora made me a sweet bocadillo with tuna and tomatoes = :-\.

I did open up my letters from my mom and found silly bands from Gracie Hyde, the little girl down the street at home. I was so happy! :) How sweet of her! She sent me a yellow duck (APO) and a green trumpet! :)

After class I had my first meeting with my new intercambio de lenguas ("language exchange"). Her name is Elena and she's awesome! She's 24 years old and seems super sweet! I think we're going to have a lot in common and have a lot of fun together! She invited me to go out with and her friends sometime! We exchanged phone numbers and plan to hang out sometime next week! Her level of English is really good and she kept complementing my Spanish! I'm really excited to work with her! :) Plus she lives super close to me so if we do go out some night I'll have someone to help me get home!! hahaha :)

When I got home I spent all of my evening working on my blog, and I'M FINALLY CAUGHT UP!

For dinner we had a guest over. I have no idea who it was, but she was nice. haha! We ate two different types of pizza, sardines, chirizo, salad (tomatoes, tuna, ham, potatoes, bacon), and bread. It was so yummy! I had so much, but once again I didn't eat enough for Abeulita! I'm seriously going to explode one of these days! It was a struggle to put my jeans this morning!! UGH! Oh well... I'm enjoying myself and eating great food, so I guess there's always later to exercise! haha!

After dinner I've been working on my blog and trying to figure out details for Katy and I's trip to Morroco (Africa) this weekend! I've also been watching tv with my sister and my senora! So much fun! :)

Oh and I figured out what I'm buying all my girl friends for Christmas! :) Can't wait!! I've never seen "this" in the US!!!! :) Get excited! tehehehe!!

Monday, September 27th

Today I had classes like normal. So many students left last week, and I guess there's not more students at the same level as us, so right now it's just Katy, Marie-Luise, and Karo Lina. Marie and Karo are from Germany. They are super nice and a lot of fun. Small classes are more difficult because we have to talk a lot more and work a lot harder, but I like it because I can tell I'm learning more than when we have a fuller class. Also the teachers are able to tailor their lessons to our needs a little easier.

delicious pastry

After class (6 pm), I rode the metro home and made friends with a two year old. She was so stinking adorable. I started making faces at her and mimicking all of her arm motions, which she thought was absolutely hysterical. Her giggles had the entire metro tram smiling! :) I seriously considered skipping my stop so that I could keep playing with her. She literally reached for me and started crying when I got off the metro. Make me look forward to having my own kids/my own classroom! :)

When I got home my abuela and I got in another little tiff. Once again she thinks I'm going to starve to death! I just flat out don't understand how people eat so much here!! I'm eating like 3 times the amount I eat in the United States! It's nuts!! She made me come into the kitchen with her and she showed me a mountain of pastries and lots of fruit and told me I had to eat something! Even though I wasn't hungry, I ate this really yummy chocolate filled pastry! I'm pretty sure that she went out and bought more pastries special to try to make me eat them! She literally asked me if I was afraid of getting fat and told me to tell my parents that if I starve to death it's my own fault because there is plenty of food in their house! hahaha!!

For dinner we had the BEST rice dish! It had all these vegetables and different meats like shrimp and bacon and calamari. Delicious! :) I can't even remember what else we had for dinner because the rice was SO good! :) Yum Yum YUM!

After dinner I found last weeks Glee episode! Finally I'll be able to watch it!!! I was so excited because most of the websites I usually use only work in the United States! The only problem is that the darn thing didn't load  FOREVER so I'm going to try to watch it tomorrow! :)

Sunday, September 26th

Because I got home after the sun was up, and literally went to bed at 7 am, I slept most of the day. It was a really odd sleep though because I keep waking up and feeling wide awake, so I’d read about 5 pages in my book for class, and then fall back asleep. Between sleeping and homework, my Sunday was a very lazy day! :) 

Saturday, September 25th - Karousel - La Riviera

waiting at the bus stop

Saturday, after we got back from El Escorial, I took a hearty nap and then got ready to go out for the night! I picked up some beverages from the local “Chinese Story” (that’s literally what they call the corner grocery stores), and headed to Puerta del Sol. In Sol, I met Katy and we took the metro to Mikaela’s house. Verena and Iman were also there and the 5 of us had a blast laughing, playing games and listening to music! 

Iman, Mikaela, Verena, Me, Katy

We were on the guest list for the club Karousel so we went just before 1 am, got in free and got a coupon for a free drink! :) The club was crazy! There were so many people there and it didn't close until 6 am! There were also all these "entertainers" on stage. Pretty crazy if you ask me! Definitely way different from clubs in the United States! Our professors said it's normal here in Europe though! When in Rome?? hmph

new friends :)

We danced, danced, danced the night away! Around 3 am there was stage show that lasted around 45 minutes. It was crazy. Some how we ended up being front center stage! We made a bunch of new German friends (I'm seeing a common trend - I attract German girls! haha!) They were all super sweet and I even caught a few of their names and added them on Facebook! We have plans to go out again and they might even join us on some of our weekend trips!! :)

Mikaela and I :)

Around 4:30 one of the girls in our group got "sick" in the club, so Katy and I played "Mommy" and took everyone home and put everyone to bed. By that time it was getting close to 6 am, so it wasn't worth taking a taxi. So Katy and I started the 20 minute trek to Principe Pio, the closest metro. Taking the metro home at 6 am was quite the adventure. There were only a handful of people riding it. In fact there was only one other guy in the tram with me. We both kept nodding off and laughing at each other. All in all, it was a fabulously fun night!! :)

during the stage show

Saturday, September 25th El Escorial

El Escorial

Today I got up early to go to El Escorial with my school. It was just Katy and I, and then a few German girls and two guys. It was a blast!

We met at a different bus stop than the last time. Naturally I miscalculated the metro and was late. Go figure. I'm really going to have to figure this business out!! We rode the bus for about 45 minutes. Katy and I read most of the way there.

mountains

While walking through the city, my clumsy self managed to slip and fall on my bootay and therefore struggled to climb up the stairs all day. To make it better, I was told the word "culo" whats for my butt -- while that is one term for your behind... it's not the word I wanted to use with my grandmother. Fail.

in front of the church portion

Anyways, during the morning we walked around the art and architecture museum, the palace part, the hall of wars, and the king's family's quarters. We learned a lot about the history of Spain! The whole building is so pretty and I was super bummed that I couldn't take any pictures inside!

we're goofy :)

When we took a break for lunch, Katy and I had a picnic outside of El Escorial. There was a wedding getting ready to start so we got to see all of the pretty dresses and head pieces! After our picnic we went on a mission to find some coffee! :) Thankfully we found some (and some churros)!




After lunch we toured the church (AMAZING!) and the library. Overall, I really enjoyed El Escorial! It was so beautiful!! :)

Friday, September 24th

Rough morning. Staying out all night makes it hard to wake up. I grabbed a coke on the way to class and dealt. All but one of my classmates had gone out the night before, so that made for an interesting class. It was the last day for a lot of my classmates, so it was super sad! :(

After class I went home and laid around all day. I got a bunch of homework done and ended up going to bed early. Italian boy (his real name is Antonio) asked me to go out with him and some friends, but I fell asleep before he got done with dinner. Oh well. You win some, you loose some. 

Thursday, September 23rd

New Friends :)

Thursday morning I felt a million times better than I had Wednesday morning! I went to class as normal, came home and ate an awesome lunch (chicken and rice! :-D), went back for the rest of my classes, and then finished all my homework as quickly as possible.

At 8 pm I had an "intercambio de lenguas" ("language exchange") with the brother of my senora. For a language exchange, you meet with someone who wants to learn your native language (and you want to learn theirs) and you speak with them. It's like free lessons for the two of you. My senora's brother, Juan, is an engineer. With his job, a lot of the manuals are in English, and therefore he knows a lot of formal English words that are specialized to his job, but he doesn't know a lot of conversational terms. Because of this, he asked me when he was over the week before if I'd be willing to meet with him once or twice a week for a language exchange. I told him that Thursday nights at 8 pm worked the best for me, so here we are.. Thursday night at 8.

Karaoke! 

When he got to the house, I was eating dinner (SUPER early, so I ate by myself, but I wanted to be able to eat before I went out for the night), so he showed pictures to my senora and my abuela. They had a family reunion that weekend so he had just printed off a lot of old pictures of their family. I felt bad that he had to wait a few minutes for me, but they all seemed very entertained so at least it wasn't too bad.

I WILL SURVIVE :)

For the exchange we took a walk around the block. He had to pick up a flash for his camera from a friend that lived near by, so we went to his house. I met his daughters and they were super sweet! Since the friend wasn't actually there, we ended up meeting them at this restaurant that was down the street. He jokingly introduced me as his new girlfriend and his friends thought it was hilarious. haha!

Bad Romance :)

Afterwards we went to this little coffee shop and each got a coke. He showed me pics of his family (he has two adorable boys - 19 and 21.. Think they need help with English too??! haha!) and we talked about my school and such. All it all, it was a really nice evening. We talked mostly in English, but that was alright with me. I like feeling like I'm really helping someone. I also learned a couple of new terms. One of which is for a city "block" - "manzana". Yes. That is the same word for apple. How odd? I don't get it either. Oh well :)

After our language exchange I had a cultural activity to do with my school -- Karaoke!! He offered to drop me off on his motorcycle, but it was raining so I ended up taking the metro so I wouldn't get soaked getting there.

Karaoke was amazing! This adorable Italian boy from my class bought me a mojito. :) The sad thing is that he left on Saturday to go back to Italy. :-\ Oh well.. Katy and I had fun looking at him in class while it lasted! Wow that sounded creepy... Moving along..

Party In The USA

Even though I swore I wouldn't, I ended up singing a few songs. In groups of course - don't worry people - I know better than to tackle a microphone solo!! We sang I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor), Bad Romance (Lady Gaga), and Party in the USA (Miley Cyrus). I Will Survive was a BLAST, Party in the USA didn't go over quite like we'd hoped (chorus was fun - but the verses were a little shaky lol), but we rocked out to Bad Romance! We literally had the whole bar dancing and singing with us! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!





I was having so much fun that I completely lost track of time. Instead of leaving around 11:30 like I'd planned, I glanced down at my watch and it was 1 am!! As we were leaving, our professor, who was in charge of the event, started singing some Spanish song... alone. We felt bad because it was super slow and NOT the song she was looking for, so all of us girls sang along with her! A bunch of classmates tried to get me to go out after Karaoke with them, but between being sick and the metro closing at 1:30, and my issues with night transportation in the city, I opted to go to bed! :) Overall it was the funnest night I've had in a long time! I'm so glad I didn't chicken out and not go!! :)

Wednesday, September 22nd

Mikaela and I in Sol

Wednesday I woke up and felt like poop. I was absolutely exhausted. At that point, I knew that I couldn’t make it through 9 hours of classes, so I had to choose to either go to my morning or my afternoon classes. Since my electives are in the afternoons and are more difficult to make up, I emailed the program director and told her I wouldn’t be in during the morning.

mariachi band 

After sleeping an extra 4 hours (making almost an 11 hour sleep night instead of the 6 or so I’d been getting), I felt WAY better. None the less, I allowed myself to wear basically jammies to class (totally acceptable in the states, very much frowned upon here).

Sponge Bob lol

After our education class, Mikaela and I went to Corte Ingles (remember - think super walmart + department store + everything you could even need in one location) to buy some school supplies. So far I'd been surviving off a single notebook. I realize other people love notebooks, but I hate them. I hate having to commit to the order of the pages and it also drives me nuts not to be able to insert handouts with the appropriate class day! So $25 later, I had 4 new, pretty binders, lined paper (NORMAL AMERICAN KIND AND NOT GRAPH PAPER!!), and an assignment book.

After leaving CI, we walked around Plaza del Sol for a little while. There was a mariachi band and plenty of street entertainers! After laughing at all the different shows, we went our separate ways for the night! :)

We were supposed to meet up later in the night to go to 100 Montanditos (because it's Wednesday DUH!), but since I hadn't been feeling well in the morning I opted not to go. I also had a date planned for Wednesday (I know I know), but I cancelled on him too. We're supposed to get together for coffee sometime next week.. We'll see what happens :)

Tuesday, September 21st

before

So Tuesday was another long day of classes. After my literature class though, Mikaela and I decided to do something crazy. For those of you who know me, sit down. : )

Mikaela decided to get her lip pierced and I got my nose pierced!! Mikaela had been looking for places to get her lip done for a while because she wanted it done for her birthday, so she had a list of places that she’d checked out and looked clean and legit. So we went to sol, paid the 12 euros, and did it! I’ve never done anything so spur of the moment and spontaneous before! Although I almost passed out afterwards, I think I really like it. I won’t have the piercing forever, but it was kind of a symbol for myself that I’m an independent girl and I can do what I want. Just to answer the next question you’re thinking, Betsy (sister) loves it, mom and dad do not. I think deep down they like it, but aren’t willing to admit it to me! Dad calls it a bugger on my nose and mom says I have something shiny on my face every time we Skype.

AFTER!!

After getting home from the tattoo parlor, I realized just hour exhausted I really was. The whole crazy week before had finally caught up with me. You were right dad, burning the candle at both ends too many nights in a row kicks you in the butt. Since I was so tired, I ended up going to bed right after dinner.

Monday, September 20th

my massive lunch

Monday my electives started. Here’s what my new schedule looks like:

Monday, Wednesday:

 Grammar: 9:00-12:15

Art and Archetecure: 12:30-2:00

Education: 3:00-6:00

Tuesday, Thursday:

Grammar: 9:00-12:15

Literature: 2:30-4:00

Friday:

Grammar: 9:00-12:15

Skyping the fam :)

All in all, Monday was exhausting. Between having a million hours of classes, and my crazy week with my cousins, I was pooped. For this reason, I took a crazy long nap in the evening and didn’t do much else for the rest of the day. I did get the chance to Skype with some out of town relatives that were having a family reunion in Champaign. Naturally we got out ladles/hairbrushes and sang "The Gambler" via Skype. I know you wish you could be in my family!! ;) But seriously, we know how to have fun! :)

Sunday, September 19th

riding home on the train

Sadly, our adventure in Barcelona came to an end and my cousins had to head back to Germany. Their train left early in the morning. Since my train didn't leave for another 4 hours, I stayed in bed and checked us out. I sure felt like Miss Independent stripping our bedding, turning in our keys, finding my train, and getting myself situated all by myself!

On the way home they played another movie. This time it was called My Mom's New Boyfriend. It was dubbed in Spanish though. I thought it was funny because the title changed in Spanish. Instead if was called "Mi novio es un ladron" which means "my boyfriend is a thief". Regardless of what you'd like to call the movie, I thought it was pretty good! Best of all, I understood the movie for the most part!! :)

my sewing job

After the movie I did some of my grammar homework and sewed up my purse. "Sew" is a relative term. It looks absolutely awful (I've caught people staring), but it's functioning just fine for me! :) Too bad Grandma Wagers didn't join our family reunion ;)

view out the train window

Once back in Madrid I took a nice long nap! :) 

Saturday, September 18th - Barcelona

lunch

Saturday was our big day in Barcelona!! We were all three tired from traveling and hanging out late the whole last week, so we ended up sleeping in until 11ish. Therefore we missed the first walking tour we were going to go to (of old Barcelona), but I certainly wasn't heart-broken. (For those who know you well-- you know how much I value my sleepy time :-D)

street entertainer - he's sitting on a toilet!!

When we finally all got moving and showering and ready for the day, we headed down the street to find a diner. We ended up eating at this cute little patio restaurant. I ate this Hawaiian pizza, which was really odd. Instead of having a "regular" red sauce, it had this funky cheese sauce. It was alright, but I definitely wouldn't  have ordered it a second time. 

Barcelona Cathedral

After lunch, we took the metro downtown to walk around for a while in the city center. There were all sorts of street venders and entertainers. I’ve never seen so many flowers booths in my life! I wish we had more time to shop around because they were selling some super cute, cheap jewelry too. I think there’s a market in Spain too. The only problem is that it’s on Sunday mornings, rather early for this sleepy head. ¡Una día de estos! (“One of these days!”) We also had to be super careful since the street was so busy because European cities are known for being full of pick-pocketers.

with my coffee and coffee ice
cream before our walking tour  

After walking around for a while, we found the Barcelona Cathedral. It was 7 euros to enter and we didn’t have a ton of time before our (free) walking tour started, so we decided not to go in. It looked really pretty though!

Since we were getting a little tired, but had 2 and half hours worth of touring ahead of us, we stopped at a little ice cream shop to get ice cream and coffees. The café con leche is AMAZING here! Naturally I use several packets of sugar, but they definitely give you your money’s worth of caffeine! I also am a super fan of the ice cream here! Especially the coffee ice cream! This one even had little chunks of coffee beans mixed in! YUM YUM YUM!! 

in front of Gaudí's Batilló House

in front of Casa Milà

in front of La Sagrada Familia!!!

 After our little snack, we walked to a nearby plaza to meet the walking tour. I'm not exactly sure what company it was through, but it was a "free" 2 and a half hour walking tour around the city to see different things that Gaudí had designed. (I say "free" because they ask for a donation at the end - we each donated 5 euros.) The tour was totally worth it. Our tour guide was awesome! She told us all sorts of interesting facts about the life of Gaudí. We saw the outside of three houses he designed, the only sculpture he ever designed for the city, and LA SAGRADA FAMILIA!! If you can't tell the Sagrada Familia was my favorite part. I've always wanted to see it in real life, and I was completely stoked to see it!! It was absolutely indescribable. The details of all the sculptures were incredible! The craziest thing is that the cathedral was started in 1882 and still isn't finished! In fact, it's not projected to be finished until the year 2026, but many people believe it will take much longer! It was so beautiful! I hope to go back some day and see the whole thing completed! :)

goofing around

After the tour we got some good old Mickey D's (which turned out to actually be absolutely nasty!! Whatever  spicy cheese sauce the Spaniards like on their bacon cheeseburgers - I DO NOT!) After we stopped by a little touristy shop so Nathan and Luke could get some souvenirs. Apparently the shopkeeper did NOT realize we were related because he advised Nathan to get me drunk and...... Not cool Mr. Shopkeeper. Not cool at all. 

at Park Güell 

After our little shopping spree, we went on a mission to find the Park Güell - the park that Guadí designed. It took us like a year ride in the metro and three hours to walk there. Okay so that may be a "bit" of an exaggeration, but we really did have to go up this MASSIVE hill. This time I'm not kidding. There were literally outdoor escalators to get to the top! When we *finally* made it there, we realized that we were basically the only ones in the park. After looking for a "do not enter or you will be locked in" sign, we continued to walk through the park. We ended up climbing up this mountain-ish thing and had the best view of the city skyline. It was absolutely beautiful -- minus the couple that shared the spot with us. Tone down the PDA please! 

at Guadí's Park Güell

We continued to make our way through the park until we found the famous lizard. Again, I've always wanted to see the mosaic lizard in real life. It's amazing how many dreams of mine are coming true on this trip. Cheesy, I know, but I've literally always wanted to do this. 


After making our way out of the park, we started our trek "home". Naturally we didn't make it all the way there without stopping for a couple of pitchers of sangria in a little side street restaurant. After sipping on our drinks and chatting until the place closed, we headed back to our hostel and went to sleep! :) What a wonderful long day! :)

Friday September 17th

class

After class I had my first grammar test. It wasn't near as hard as I expected it to be, but I was a little confused in some sections what the professor was looking for. The test was all free response/essay questions where we were supposed to use sentence structures/verb forms we'd been learning in class. The problem was, the directions weren't super explicit for the final part, and instead of putting the verbs in future tense (meaning that I was hypothesizing the situation), I put the verbs in past tense (meaning that I knew what happened in the situation.) Confusing? I know right?! So long story short, later on in the week I had to re-write my answers for that question. I was glad that they gave me a second chance. My professor said that my essays were excellent for the way I interrupted the question, it just didn't allow her to evaluate whether or not I understood future tense. Oh well! I ended up passing the test, so it all works out in the end :)

our hostel bedroom that
we shared with 7 other people

After my test I hurried to meet my cousins at the train station. I actually ended up speed running with my suitcase so I found then on the street instead of all the way at the station like we'd planned. The train was just under 3 hours to Barcelona, so we had plenty of time to talk about plans and what we wanted to do in the city. The train also played a movie, Nanny McPhee, in Spanish. I'd never seen it, so I watched it. It was pretty funny, although I had a little language barrier. In the movie, the talk about cutting out the guys "los riñones" for a punishment. Let's just say I didn't realize that those were kidneys. (google translate "cojones" if you must). Between the movie and the amazing sandwich my Senora fixed me (my favorite: eggs and tomato on french bread... don't judge it until you've tried it!!), I was pretty much in heaven.

cousins :)

When we got to Barcelona, Nathan and Luke (my cousins from Germany) had to book their train ride home. While they tried to deal with the train business (which was comical because Luke took a few years of Spanish in high school and Nathan knows nothing), I went to find a Movistar station to "recharge" my phone. Phone plans are different over here. I put so much money on my phone at a time and it tells me when I've almost used it all up. (Kind of like a Pay As You Go plan I suppose). The problem is, they send you text messages in Spanish and the last time I totally misinterpreted the text messages as telling me my rates were cheaper not that I didn't have any money left. Needless to say I was a little big freaked out when my phone all the sudden didn't work. You live and you learn.

notice we are soaked. BOO!

So after The Train Station Fiasco, we attempted to find out hostel. A rather large feat.. Metro=no problem (although it was 1,80 euros instead of 1 euro in Madrid). Then we followed the directions the hostel gave us and ended up fairly lost. Basically we just didn't walk down far enough on a street, but whatever. We made it there eventually.

The hostel was actually really nice. I was surprised for how cheap it was house nice and clean the whole facility was. The people at the front desk were also really nice and helpful! If anyone is planning on staying in a youth hostel in Barcelona, Valencia, or Sevilla, I would totally recommend checking out Feetup Hostels.

dinner! YUM!

After we got cleaned up a little in the hostel, we were all starving and ready to get some grub. The only problem was it was raining. And when I say raining I mean like POURING!!! So we used my umbrella and hoped on the metro and headed toward the river. The umbrella failed miserably, and Luke and I ended up getting DRENCHED! The rain was literally coming through the top of the umbrella. NOT OKAY!!!

We stopped at a nearby restaurant, soaking wet, and ordered some tapas and sangria. There were like 5 different options of tapas platers. We got the one with chicken wings, peppers, potato chunks, meat balls, and some other unidentified meats. It was all delicious!

river side restaurant :)

After dinner we walked further towards the lake. By this point the rain had let up some, but the ground was still wet. Me being my clumsy self, totally bit it while walking across the boardwalk. So not only was my bum SOAKED now, but it really hurt! :( Poor me! haha!

We stopped at another river side restaurant and ordered another pitcher of sangria to split. It was a lot of fun just talking and catching up with my cousins! :)

walking through the town center

After the river side restaurant, we walked a ways farther trying to find another cheap place to have a drink. We got invited into this really sweet club, but drinks were 15 euros and there was no one there, even though it was after midnight (the nightlife in Europe doesn't pick up until 2 or 3 am.. when the American bars are closing!)

So instead we ended up taking the metro back to our hostel and resting up for our following day of sightseeing! :)

Wednesday and Thursday, September 15th-16th

Nathan Luke and I
at 100 Montaditos

I spent most of my afternoon studying for my 1st big grammar test that is tomorrow. I studied so hard I fell asleep :-P Teresa had a friend over for lunch. We had oysters and rice for lunch and then chicken stew for the second course. SO YUMMY! :)

After lunch I skyped Dani for a while. We talked about Barcelona this weekend and meeting up! :) I can't wait to see her tomorrow!!!!! :-D

The American Girls

Nathan, Lucas, and I met up at the train station in the late afternoon to get my Eurail Pass and book train tickets to Barcelona for Friday. We waited in line for almost 2 hours before they finally got to our number. We were afraid though that we weren't going to get called and have to come back yet again tomorrow!! :( When it got time to pay, my debit card wouldn't work. So I went to 3 different ATM machines and tried to get money out, but my account was frozen. I was so frustrated! I was also scared that they were going to close (because it was 9:45 at this point and they say they close at 9:30). In the end, Nathan ended up using his card and spotting me so that we could go ahead and reserve seats and not have to come back a THIRD time!! Nathan also texted his mom and told her to call my dad (her brother) and tell him to call my bank.. Some things are just super complicated abroad. Long story short, my bank freaked out when they saw a $454 charge and thought someone was accessing my account! :(

Fire Man

cousins :)

After the train fiasco, we met Katy and Mikaela at 100 Montaditos. The poor girls had been waiting over an hour.. :( For this reason they didn't stay very long after we got there. It was still fun to get drinks and eat dinner with the cousins! :) I'm SO glad they came to visit me!!! :)

THURSDAY

cousins ordering sangria :)

Thursday wasn't too exciting. I had lots of homework to do and studying for my test the following day, so I was kind of a bum. Nathan, Lucas, and I did get the chance to meet up for drinks later in the night. We went to the Plaza de Santa Ana. The boys wanted tinto de verano again, but there weren't any tables on the patio. Luke had never tried sangria, and I told him you can't come to Spain and not have sangria.. So we found a different restaurant in the same plaza with some out door seating and ordered a pitcher to split. It was yummy! :)

Tuesday, September 14th

riding the metro

Today we played Taboo in class! It was seriously the funniest class period ever. Obviously the game was in Spanish.. so i was nearly impossible, but we all had a lot of fun with it! I was amazed how many words we actually were able to explain! :) Sadly we couldn't play Taboo the whole time (or Tabu in Spanish), but our professor promised us we could play again on Friday to see how much we've improved on explaining things (since this week we're working on explaining what an object is without knowing the actual term for it by using presentational phrases + article + "que")!

Luke and I peacing 

After class I met Nathan and Luke in a park near school. We went to this nice little Italian restaurant that had a Menu del Dia. The boys could not believe how much food you could get for 10 euros. Each menu del dia consists of a first place, second place, dessert, and drink. I only ordered a coke, but ended up helping both the cousins eat their meals! :)

After lunch we went to the train station to figure out whether or not I could get tickets for this weekend. Me, being the goofball I am, didn't think to bring my passport. I had a copy with me (which in my defense was sufficient to buy my metro pass and cellphone). So tomorrow we are going to go back tomorrow so I can buy a Eurail Pass and we can book our train to this weekend :)

Nathan and I being silly

When I got back to my house, we didn't have any water! Apparently a pipe burst in the restaurant underneath us. So our water has been on and off all evening. :-\ I did have a fabulous time Skyping with Chelsea and my mom and talking to some other friends on Facebook and through texting!! :) (I can text from my iPod with this app I downloaded when I have internet. My number is 201 426 6298! -- My phone from the states is completely dead so you'll have to text me first on the new number and tell me who you are!! :-D)

Luke and I jumping in Retiro

Around 8, I met Luke and Nathan in Retiro Park. We just sat around having heart to hearts and people watching. We made a new best friend with this bar promoter. His name was  Asizo. I thought he was trying to take me home with him until I noticed the rainbow bracelet he was wearing. My first clue probably should have been when he called Nathan a model.... Asizo also called me a barbie doll. We also met this other boy named Peter from Germany. I'm 99% sure that he was in love with Luke, but we're still debating. I left the boys around 12:30 to go home and eat dinner with my family, do homework, and go to sleep. I believe they graced the bars of Madrid until 4 or 5 am! :)

cousins <3 

For dinner, my family picked up McDonalds. Although the mcdouble had onions on it, I still was a happy camper to have American junk food :) I didn't realize McDonalds had onion rings either so that was a pleasant surprise!! :)