stephica.

I'm going to preface this post with the bold statement of saying that today may have been one of my favorite days of my life.

The St. Louis University students had a free two hour bus tour today of Madrid this afternoon on a double layer bus which I sat on top of in the open air. It was so cool sitting up there minus the tree branches that kept hitting us in the face--ha. This city is absolutely beautiful. The architecture is unlike anything I've ever seen. Very romantic, very detailed. Most buildings just look like beautiful works of art and I can't believe they're actually used for something other than looking at. Downtown Madrid is very busy and fun and full of people, beautiful buildings, clubs, restaurants and shopping shopping shoppinggggg which will get me into trouble later on. It was funny to see a TGI Fridays, Starbucks, and literally Spainards are obsessed with putting Burger Kings everywhere.

Before the bus tour I took the metro to meet this gal Stephanie for lunch. I am so good at taking public transportation-something my parents most definately never thought I could accomplish. I was smiling the whole time becuase I was so proud of myself for being so metropolitan. On metros people just stare at you, and when you notice and glance at them they don't look away like they do in America. So blatant, so awkward. I'm foreign, it's so cool being foreign!
Stephanie and I grabbed salads and lemonade and apples from a local grocery store near our school, SLU, and just sat outside at a table. Besides being mercilessly assaulted by bees it was very nice. She goes to Wake Forest (the, like, one school that Baylor beat in football) as do a lot of people on this trip. She is pre-med, has traveled a lot of different places, and even worked in a hospital in Haiti this summer. We sat by each other on the bus and accidentally introduced herself to the girl in front of us as "Stephica." We are going to be GREAT friends I feel.

After the bus tour, I was in dire need of a nap. However, wanting to fully be a Spainard and immerse myself into the lifestyle I realize that Spanish people like never sleep. So instead, Stephanie, these two gals, Bailey and Mel and I sat outside and drank wine in the city. We met a few other people, and literally just talked for hours. We went to another bar right by the school and had a few more beers and free tapas. Yes, it was as enjoyable as you can picture. We all decided we want to go to Oktoberfest in Germany in a few weeks and are looking into hotels and flights. From what I gathered Oktoberfest is basically a big beer celebration. Who wouldn't want to celebrate beer?

Stephanie knows someone in Ireland that she wants to stay with and I invited myself along, so that may be a future trip. I also really want to go to Amsterdam for a weekend, this crazy Spanish Island called Ibiza, France, and Italy would be great. We'll see how far my budget takes me, but it's nice to meet some girlfriends that I can travel with and just grab tapas and wine!

I rode the metro home at about seven-thirty and arrived just in time for dinner which we have every night at eight. I met some spainards on the way who were all wearing soccer shirts and had a conversation with them and took a picture. They were celebrating the world cup--haha still. My roomates were already sitting at the table when I got home. We had spaghetti and then our senora made crepes. YUM. Home-made crepes with chocolate inside was literally the best thing. I must begin my gym membership tomorrow. Priority. The gym is just a few buildings down from my house and is very nice inside. My senora says she uses natural cooking oils and likes to cook healthy meals "porque no quiero los chicas gordas!" (I don't want fat girls!) Hilarious. She's very funny. We met her daughter tonight who is getting married next week! I'm really holding out for an invite. The newly weds would then travel to New York for their honeymoon which I thought was very funny but apparently is a popular destination for honeymooners from here! Surprising.

SOOOO last night. I took the metro with my roomates to a fellow SLU student's apartment that they know from wake forest. We met like forty people there and then we all walked to the metro to go out to a street called "sol" which is a very happening place to be. Bars, shops, restaurants, clubs. It was probably pretty funny looking watching forty ish Americans caravanning together down the streets and in the metro. On the metro I had a conversation with this grey-haired man asking him about Spain. He was very nice. Many people are so willing to chat and help with my Spanish and talk about their country.
We arrived at sol at two am or so and there were people everywhere. We went to an Irish pub that was literally packed like shoulder to shoulder. We danced and had some drinks and I asked the DJ if he had Britney Spears which sadly he did not. It is so funny that everywhere you go, in stores, on the metro, clubs people are playing American music. We all taxi-ed home at like five am. WHAT a great first night to go out in Madrid with my roomies!

I have classes tomorrow morning. I am currently sweating to my sheets--it's so hot. No air conditioning! Gosh it's like my house in Colorado. Spainards don't believe in air conditioning and neither do my parents. I am SO Texan in using utilities. Air conditioning is a blessing.

Hoy fue un buen dia! Buenas noches!

i just brushed my teeth. i just combed my hair. i just walked to school. IN MADRID

So you know how people overuse facebook status updates, twitter, etc? Going to the gym. Going to bed. I just breathed. I can add in Madrid behind anything I do and it will simply be awesome...so doesn't apply.

Orientation was today. Our senora walked my housemates and I to the metro. Our first metro ride was yesterday and the people at the desk where we bought our ten day passes terrified us as they kept saying we were going to be robbed with our large purses and naivety. And so we looked even more American clinging to our purses and huddling together.

When we arrived to campus our senora left and we split into groups. Orientation wasn't my favorite. We basically sat in a room for three hours while people repeatedly said make sure you read our SLU school website as they read the website to us about three times quite thoroughly. Met a few more people, finally bought a cell phone I can use in Madrid on my way home. After orientation I lost my roomates so I took the metro BY MYSELF. and didn't look or get lost. I bought a spanish cosmopolitan magazine and casually looked at that with my map open inside of it so I didn't look so touristy. I was so Spanish. So chic. So blending. Haha. Stopped and bought a few things in the neighborhoods by my house. Theres quite a few stores.
I went into Sephora and this gal put makeup on me and tried out new looks. We were trying to chat in Spanish. It was fun!

The campus is very small, there are four buildings. There are two universities (i think?) around us. Its a big university district within a twenty mile radius so there will be a lot of students. Since orientation was very disorganized and our tour guide left us for forty five minutes I went to a bar and had a beer. The bartender gave me free tapas! That was nice. Of course they had soccer playing in the bar.

I will be taking five classes this semester. I may add or drop a few? So far I'm taking three Spanish, one communications, and Flamenco dancing, which will be SO great. I can only imagine my rhythmic mom trying to Flamenco. Terrifying. :) I miss you Mom!!

Last night falling asleep was different? There's a plaza right outside my window with a water fountain that shuts off at midnight and kids that shut off never. There are literally five year olds playing soccer and screaming at one thirty am. I'll get used to drifting off with a small battle playing the background.

Senora cooked dinner again for us tonight which she will do every night. Yesterday we had some kind of tapa with cheese and ham. Tonight I'm pretty sure we had hot dogs with rice and eggs covered in spaghetti sauce with a fancy spanish name. Funny how culture is sometimes.

traveling to madrid....

...was completely insane. Being a shoe lover, my bag weighed eighty pounds. The first one. The second weighed a solid fifty. In America, we the consumerists are totally fine with having people pay for things, like extra shoes in a bag for four months. In Spain, that's not alright and they have weight limits. Long story short, simply becuase I don't really want to remember this terrifying experience, I had to buy another suitcase and the whole traveling expidenture cost me about five hundred dollars.
Two airline check-in ladies sympathized and watched my luggage while I LOVED my shoes.

...Foreign people are ABSOLUTELY beautiful. I was quite intrigued sprinting through the airport on the hunt for a suitcase.

The plane ride was long. Met my row of people and talked for hours, read cosmo, and pretended to sleep. Turbulance was like a rollercoaster. Drank red wine with dinner, and while I didn't think I enjoyed red wine it became surprisingly more delicious the more I drank. "Surprisingly?" Each passenger recieved their own bottle. Fantastic.

Spain is beautiful. My taxi driver drove about one hundred miles per hour and faster to get to my host family. Senora Paz, who I am living with, is so cute. Only speaks Spanish. I am sharing a room with another gal who has never taken a Spanish class. Our room overlooks a beautiful garden and plaza. I have the bed by the window...yes.

I live with four other gals, three are best friends. They all have boyfriends except for one. Forrest will be happy...hahaha.

This will change my life.