Bull Fights and Red Bull...

This weekend I went to Valencia! It is about a four hour bus ride from Madrid, but I slept both ways so I didn't even realize it. I had my first hostel experience! I was in a room with my five other friends and we all shared six bunkbeds. Tiny and warm, but not too shabby, there was wifi? The only downfall was the community bathrooms and showers and walking in a towel getting catcalled at by strangers. A little terrifying.
We went to the beach right when we arrrived and surprisingly there were not very many people. Spainards take their month vacation to the beaches in August... Even more surprisingly women were taking their tops off left and right. European. I'm obviously American and will be enjoying my tan lines.
Once on the beach we all gathered under these cute beach hut sombrero type things. I chugged three redbulls (why?) and was a machine.
I saw a group of people running along the beach and decided to join. They were a high school cross country team and I was chatting in Spanish for about three miles up and down the beach. SO fun. This blonde gal in front leading a cross country charge and passing by my group like five times left and right... ha their only English phrase was BYEEEE JESS when their workout was over. Running companions.
Afterwards I played a game of soccer with some Germans in the sand. I kept trying to speak to them in Spanish and they kept having to remind me that they speak English. Ha the language thing is already hard to switch on and off. After that I played beach football in the water. So many activities. I overextended my knee or pulled some muscle at some point and was limping the rest of the weekend. Probably worth it.
I'm a very low tolerance person and so three red bulls had me WIRED. I passed out face down in the sand a few hours later. Face submerged in sand. Ultimate caffeine crash. It was a sight.
That night, I stayed in for a bit while everyone went out. Getting broken up with by someone your in love with is probably the worst experience. Cried to my fabulous mother via skype. Technology rocks. She does too.
The crew came back from apparently a terrible paella experience and dragged me out. We went to some crazy club and danced on couches and all along the wall they had this ledge to dance on. I went home in a taxi with Stephanie and decided eating a buffett was a good idea at four am. Comfort food? I woke up on a sandwich sticking to my back in the morning. Kind of smelled like old Taco Bell? Sick.
When we finally emerged from our styrofoam hostel beds we went to a plaza nearby and ate delicious crepes. There were fountains and little kids playing with pigeons. Beautiful sight. We walked over to the 15th century gothic style cathedral, went inside, and walked up the bell tower. We saw the whole city of Valencia from there as it is the highest point in the city. Stephanie and I shoved our note in a crack on top--every city we go to! such nerds.
We decided to go to the beach again becuase it was SUCH a beautiful day. I feel like I unfortunately saw more boobs this time. There were little tents set up by the beach so all the gals went shopping. This one lady named Lolo kept putting bracelets on my wrist so I bought five. Why am I such an excessive person. Accessories make the woman! We relaxed that beach time, no sporting events since I was newly handicapped.
We took a tram (not a metro- becuase if you dig there would just be water.) to the largest aquarium in Europe. These extremely nice Spanish ladies were chatting with my friend and I and told us all where to go.
It literally looked like a different planet--the architecture was UNBELIEVABLE. Like star wars kind of. Ultra modern. The aquarium was part of this like strip of museums. There was clear blue water all around, large large buildings. Honestly can't explain it. Goggle Valencia. I saw a six person bike, and would've indulged in that fantastic activity but there was a show at the aquarium we wanted to catch. On our way to the aqarium we passed this lady laughing hysterically at her husband who was wearing her high heels and she was wearing his shoes. They had switched, and it was the funniest sight. They had to be drunk. It was a ridiciulously funny scene.
Inside the aquarium there were all of these tunnels with water and fish all around you that you could walk through. The sharks exhibit had one as well. There was a dolphin show that we watched and it was unbelievable. I felt like I was at seaworld. Dolphins are so strong. They were jumping so high in the air and throwing their trainers in the air. How do you get into that? "I'm a dolphin trainer." Do they get dates?
Everywhere we walked there was this elevator music going on. It was a dream world.
That night we had the most delicious paella. Paella originated in Valencia, so it was a must have while we were there. It's rice and vegetables and meat. Seafood or chicken. I had chicken and it was spiced with rosemary, very delicious.
Overall, it was an enjoyable trip. I'm going to try to not let this break up overshadow what an experience Spain is, and just hope for the best for the future. Who knows, maybe later it will work out. I just feel so terrible right now, but God has a plan that I cannot change. In Mother Theresa's words,"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."
Today I traveled back home and went to a bull fight. UGH it was not my favorite thing, watching a bull getting stabbed to death. First they have this grand display of all the people involved in their fabulous attire. Then, these matadors, like eight of them or so, wave their pink cloths and try to tire out the bull. Meanwhile, these two men on horses come and stab the bull with spears in its back. The bull was like gutting the horse with his horns and while the horses have armor, I'm pretty sure this one was pricked pretty badly. Then the matadors tire him out some more and these other men come out and stab hook like things into the bulls back so there are these things hanging from its back and blood everywhere. Finally the real matador with the red cloth comes out and messes with the bull and eventually submerges his entire sword into the bull so it staggers, falls down, and dies. Mules come and drag the bull out of the arena and blood is all over. It's so gross and kind of sad. HAD to go to one while in Spain though-ah. We only stayed for not even all of two bull fights and then left, not seeing all six. Too gruesome for my taste...
I really wanted a hamburger before that experience, but after changed to craving chicken and went to Burger King for some comfort food. I'm an American forever. They don't have Ranch dressing though and that is a bit depressing.
I'm just going to stay busy, and focus on bettering myself while I'm here. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional and what you overcome will only make you stronger. Right?

I like it when I wave my hands under the faucet and the water turns on.

All of you Americans reading this totally take advantage of the fact that we never have to do anything. like flush or use a paper towel or turn on a faucet. I always catch myself waving my hands under the faucet wondering why it's not turning on. People actually have to pull this metal thing to flush. We have a bidet in my bathroom here that I've been too afraid to use. Some day? Other differences I've noticed while here include a mass addiction to nicotine. EVERYONE smokes cigarettes. My spanish teacher was telling us that a few years ago students and teachers would smoke in class, but that since has been outlawed. I don't recall if I pointed out earlier, but every woman wears high heels, which I really can't imagine how the body can handle that becuase everyone walks so much. I was walking home today from school (didn't get lost!) and this old man probably is going to die tonight at one hundred and three years old, yet he was out hubbling along on the street. Old people walk everywhere-and yes these ancient women are still wearing heels. Incredible. Eighty and ninety year olds.
In America, people accomodate to other people who are walking. They will slightly shift or get out of the way if need be. Here, I'm dodging left and right, having close calls of collisions, people just don't move for each other. One of my girlfriends said she went out the other day and didn't move out of the way just to see what would happen. She and this lady had a major collision and fell...hysterical.
There are unbelieveable amounts of people who are extremely multi-cultural in their backgrounds and where they've lived. I sit next to this gal in my class and she has lived in Mexico, South America, United States, Spain, and some other place for years at a time. Another gal is half Nicaraguan and half German-She's a black gal with a British accent. Mel. Awesome. And she was born in some African country I believe? Everyone has a story like that.
Hi I'm from Loveland, Colorado and I live in Waco, Texas. I don't really know what my heritage is but I believe its German, English, and my grandmother claims she has like a hundredth of Indian.
I feel New York City is kind of the same scenario though becuase there are so many different cultures in one place. Here in Spain it just seem more prevalent.
Most people know more than one language, especially English. A good majority of people at least know a little bit of English, so Spanglish how I usually converse. Usually people speak English to me and I talk back in Spanish to practicar la lengua.
Mexicans and Spain natives are very different in culture, and Spanish people can tell those of Mexican culture right away. My communications teacher traveled to America and he said everyone thought he was Mexican becuase he was speaking spanish, only later would people realize he was European. Accents between the two amongst a variety of other things are very different. I met some Spanish and Mexican students hanging out here and they were talking of this. It was actually Mexican Independence day yesterday and everyone knew it last night as there were hundreds of painted bodies showcasing the flag. It was a SIGHT.
I'm reflecting on identities and culture becuase today we introduced ourselves in my communications class and spoke of identities and self presentation. Everyone introduced themself from their seat and of course I was the only one who stood up in class, as I was one of the first ones to go. This teacher is great though. My next class is political communication with the hairy bellied teacher who strongly resembles a pirate with his long black hair, hoop earring, all black clothes and hand held spanish red fan that he constantly uses. Ha. Quiteee the personality. In my latin rythms class we just finished learning the meringue and yesterday was our first day of salsa. Which I LOVE. Apparently we will be going out to discotechas next weekend to dance?
I've recently booked a trip to Ireland for only 60 euros and will be staying with friends of friends there. I met a gal from Ireland the other night and she said that's during the rainy season, but I'm hoping we will be fine. That is coming up in November, I will go to Barcelona Halloween weekend, and I am going to Valencia tomorrow for the weekend. I am in the process of planning other vacations but it is time-consuming and stressful to get organized. Some people arrived here in Spain with every weekend booked and laid out.

Everywhere I go people ask about my scarred and scraped up knees. Literally strangers. Understandably, I look like I've just escaped a brutal war. Still healing from the battle with a treadmill.
Finally overcame my embarrassment and indulged in classes that my gym has to offer yesterday. I did an abs class and this super buff Spanish woman was screaming Spanish commands and kept turning up the music until the ground was literally vibrating. Really didn't know what was going on. After that decided to calm down with Pilates. I had never done Pilates before and it probably didn't help that my first class ever was in Spanish so I was awkwardly watching people to see what they were doing as they were breathing extra loudly and being super awkward themselves. Not my thing.
My senora introduced us gals to her nephew, and he goes to my gym. He kind of looks like Mr. Clean, and senora was literally trying to marry him off to us. She is SUCH a character! She was telling us of when she traveled to Barcelona when she was eighteen and stayed in what she thought was a hostel. Unfortunately it was a brothel and even more unfortunately she didn't find this out until it was very late at night. She stayed awake in the darkness (no electricity) while people banged on her door asking her if she wanted another man. Terrifying. Will NOT be repeating from her mistake.

I cannot stress enough how infatuated people are with American music, clothes, materials in general. Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" came on last night and this place called Orange bar went insane. Earlier I had met someone named Alejandro and he walked up to me during the song and I pushed him away. Don't call my name Alejandro!

Thursday night is PAELLA night with the senora and I've been anticipating this all day... Cena time!

Spain makes up holidays to stay out all night and party.

...and it is called Noche Del Blanco. In Spain, if someone has a noche del blanco, it means they didn't sleep at all that night. Pase un noche del blanco anoche...i passed a night without sleep last night.
So. Everything stays open the entire night, or more correctly the entire morning. Museums, shops, clubs, bars, restaurants...there are thousands of people walking the streets, live music, there was a giant seesaw and tire swings in the middle of the plaza. Everyone in Madrid is there. Little children running around at 6am. The metro even stays open (usually closes from 1:30-6) and is a party of people that can't stand up and don't realize how to hold on to a pole. I had some terrific spanish conversations about how Americans in Spain so obviously stick out like...an American. I've met some fantastic Spanish people on the metro. There was a large group of students from my school that met up in the plaza at eleven but apparently waited for me for 30,45 min? I didn't know what to wear? We all went to this place called "el tigre" and had the MOST DELICIOUS mojitos I have ever tasted. My mother would be extremely jealous. My cup had a stab wound and was dripping all over me so it was necesarry to be very strategic in how I consumed the beverage. I went to el tigre the other night and brought out my iflip camera. I was practicing my Spanish and basically interviewing people and looking extremely like a tourist. "hola como estas que haces en espana...." obnoxiously fun. They have GREAT tapas that come with every drink complimentary. Papas braves is fried potatoes with this amazing sauce drizzled on top and also one of my favorite dishes consumed in spain..

...after el tigre we strolled for a bit and passed by a club called Joy. I decided it would be impossible to get into free like we did the other night because of our overly large American crowd, even though people wanted us to try to get 30 people inside. yeah right. wasn't feeling a discoteca when there's such a fiesta going on in the streets!
I went out with Mel, Bailey, and Stephanie the other night and I saw the line in front of Joy and decided I was not going to wait in it and was not going to pay to get in. I marched right up to the bouncer and told him this and he not only let us in but also gave me a complimentary drink coupon. I LOVE being an American. College students need to be resourceful with their spending tactics. SO when we all got inside I told everyone we met that it was Melanie's wedding tomorrow and this was her last night of celebration. Free drinks all night plus VIP and a special spot on the floor with seating and such. Who will "get married" this next weekend?? Joy is fun inside, but after Kapital,  it's hard to not compare any discoteca to the infamous seven floor club Kapital. Joy has a few different floors, dancers in gogo outfits, crazy lights, overly large bars everywhere. At one point everyone in the club rushed onto the stage and danced up there for a bit. That particular night ended with me being very upset that Burger King closes at 1am (I love America) and attempting to make a grilled cheese via microwave. Unsuccessful.

So last night we passed on the idea of Joy with 30 Americans and decided to keep walking. Stephanie and I and a smaller group strayed off from the crowd and met up in plaza de sol with Jaime , a dude we met when we first arrived in Madrid who works for this bar that is not overflowing with Americans. We decided to go there for a bit, of course I requested Britney Spears like I did the other time I was there--DJ remembered me and will continue to call me Britney Spears.
The city was still saturated with people at 6am, which is when we decided to head onto the metro. Not before walking into a pizza shop and getting free pizza. Idk if it was meant to be free? We'll blame that on the language barrier?
My senora just walked into my room to grab laundry-wonderful life- and she thinks that me getting in at 630 was early for noche de blanco. What kind of country is this?

A few days ago I had a free afternoon and instead of napping played tourista. I grabbed my spanish tour book and my camera and just began walking. I discovered a small shopping district and movie theaters a block away from my house and will be visiting that area again very soon. Met up with a few people in retiro park-equivalent to NYC's central park for Spain (except ten times more gorgeous) and literally had one of the most enjoyable afternoon/evenings of my life. There is no room for an unhappy thought when your strolling in Retiro Park. There's people jogging, strolling, painting pictures, drinking vino and cervezas, kissing, taking naps, vendors, police men on horses...everywhere. There is a pond right in the middle and people can rent boats and just lounge, drink, boat around. It is a dream world. Large trees, fountains, famous monuments everywhere. And Spain has a sky that is always bright blue, there has maybe been one cloud in it since I arrived here. We strolled and had a glass of wine and people watched. After, the internationally famous Prado museum was having free admission and so we walked there and saw beautiful statues and paintings and tapestries while inside. We only had about an hour left until closing and so there is still so much to be seen. We wandered around for a place to eat dinner and found an amazing location that had a to die for view. The view was worth having a terrible waiter and vendors coming up to our table harassing us to buy overly large plastic sunglasses. Afterwards, we walked to plaza de sol and bought the very famous churros con chocolate. We took them to go, the chocolate was a little bitter, but still an experience. and sat by a fountain in the plaza, ate churros, and people watched. Met some very interesting people, including charismatic Transylvanians and pretty Italians that fell in love with my friend Melanie. I would describe European men as pretty. They're not muscular or "hot" per say like American men. They dress very fashionably and many are very lean and just have pretty features. People were walking around selling beer cans to everyone, my coined line of rejection, "I'm sorry I don't pay for drinks." Stayed for about an hour and a half and wanted to take an early night before our trip to Salamanca the next morning.

Apparently all museums are free on certain afternoons during the week.
This past Wednesday in between classes (I have a three hour break every day between my first and second class) some gals and I went to the Palacio Real becuase it was having free admission all day. The plaza where the Palace is located is beautiful. We asked a man, "puedes sacar un foto por favor?" He answered, "sure where are you from." Obviously are Spanish is excellent. There are The line for Palacio Real was unreal, so we wandered to the cathedral right next to it. Lucky for us, we caught the last few minutes of a service, complete with a strong aroma of incense and people praying and the priest talking. It was very moving and beautiful. The cathedral was built in the shape of a cross and unlike anything I have ever seen or could even imagine. Huge high ceilings covered in beautiful paintings and designs. hundreds of years old.

The trip to Salamanca was yesterday. 830 in the morning came early and i did not sleep the entire night before--so it was extra early and my eyes looked like those goldfish that have huge bubbly eyes. Salamanca is known for being a student city as there are two universities there. The University of Salamanca is the fourth oldest school in the entire world. We toured  another cathedral, the old-built in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the "new" cathedral built in 16th,17th, and 18th centuries. If you saw the massive size and meticulate detailed architecture you would understand why it took 300 years to build. This weekend Salamanca was having an annual festival so there were vendors, dollar tapas and drink stations set up, the famous Spain soccer coach was talking in the plaza, and there were just hundreds of people everywhere. Elyse, Stephanie, and I had lunch and people watched and saw a band walk down the street, a bachelorette party of gals dressed in crazy outfits, and a man with innapropriate fake body parts protruding from his attire. awkward. Our tour guide was terrible and wanted to tell us details of unimportant things everywhere we went. I find it funny that foreign people in their English always say aks instead of ask, no matter what ethnicity.

This blog is draggin on, lo siento, there are so many things that happen in my life here. I literally feel as if i have lived in Spain for a month or two becuase of no sleep and so much going on, but it has been two weeks....Every day is exciting and new. I'm so thankful.

Traveling tales of a dumb american blonde...

...i walked to the gym, jamming to rock and pumping myself up for a run, stepped on the treadmill and FLEW off skinning up my knees and faceplanting on the floor...
AWESOME. Three guys helped me up but I didn't even know what to say becuase of the language barrier, and I'm pretty sure I said one guy was the treadmill and it was his fault? He looked at me like I was an idiot. Understandable.
Casually began jogging like this happens every day in America and afterwards looked down to see my knees gleaming with blood. Fantastic.

School is going super great--in latin rythms and dance we are doing the meringue and a spanish dude came in and was UNBELIEVABLE throwing me around on the dance floor in a beautiful fashion. I saw him with his boyfriend later. Of course, he was wearing a vest.

I finally figured out my schedule and am decently happy with it. Art History in Madrid is taught in Spanish, so that's crazy hard but I'm hoping i'll catch on. My teacher is so fashionable. All of them are, not taking into account my one professor who has a large hoop earing and a very hairy belly that likes to make frequent appearances while he's casually laying in the grass talking about Obama. Ha, a "I am gay and a republican" dude made a comment about how Obama is not a typical black male and a "typical black male" stood up in class and asked what he meant. It was getting pretty heated. Very entertaining though. Stiffled a few laughs while everyone pegged me as the racist girl. I have a feeling this political communication class is going to be like nothing at conservative Baylor baptist university. Someone bad-mouthed Bush. I wanted to kick her in the face. I told them my dad was his pharmacist in his Texas governer years...They know where this patriot stands.

Everyone in my house is getting sick. Terrifying. Will be chugging orange juice soon... as I have no idea how to define "emergen-c" in Spanish terms?
Just booked a trip to Valencia, a gorgeous beach town, for the next weekend with three girlfriends. Will have my first interesting hostel experience. Very happy I never watched that movie...

Decided to go out tonight becuase I stayed in the last two nights and my senora thinks we're wierd for doing that. She told us we needed to go out. It's been two nights? haha... there's a way to make someone feel like they're wierd. Here's another way--
In one of my Spanish classes we were reviewing parts of the body. We were talking about noses. Large, small, wide, thin. This girl raises her hand and asks how to say a "serpent nose." "What would you call someone with a serpent nose?" Everyone turned to her to see if she was being serious and she responded, "you know, like Voldemort." Casual. Of course I sit by her. I'm excited for her to bring her wand to class.

Going out becuase it's wierd not to party on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights so I have things to make up for... Muchas Gracias Senora!!

No Hamburgers in the Museum.

Yesterday I went to Toledo with the school. It was enjoyable and we started the day with a tour for a few hours down the cobblestone streets with legit stones protruding out of the ground...we saw an extremely large and intricately decorated cathedral. Unreal. Beautiful. We weren't allowed to tour it but they had a fenced off section for sinners to just gaze at the beautiful high cielings with statues built into them and gold and paintings and the most beautiful things you can imagine.
We toured an ancient Jewish synagogue named Santa Maria Blanca that was built in the 12th century and is now used as a museum that currently has a famous painter's work inside from the fifteenth century. Toledo is distinct becuase the city encompasses Christian, Muslim, and Jewish culture. Inside the synagogue for instance contained decorations from Jewish artists-they only use geometric designs, never humans or animals, on the archways, pillars, and ceilings. And then in the three main places of worship at the front of the synagogue there were statues incorporated into the ceilings of angels and the trinity and Mary created by Christian artists. European buildings are so detailed down to features smaller than my fingernails.
We went inside this one building that doubled as a museum for the painting named, "El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz"de El Greco or "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz." Beautiful, but wow that thing was on lock-down there were a ridiculous amount of cameras and we were not allowed to take pictures or bring in hamburgers--there was a sign with a hamburger crossed out... luckily I had left mine at home that day. Greco, a famous painter from the sixteenth century, was buried inside the church museum right below his painting depicting images of heaven, hell, Mary, and a man dying down on earth but trying to ascend into the afterlife on good terms. in a nutshell.
Of course there was an American girl who took a picture. Of course. And people were being extra loud in the echoing room right outside of mass. My metro incident was casual, this was a serious offence I even was offended by. No wonder some europeans stereotype Americans. Unfortunate.
Met up with a few people for lunch and listened to some very unepic stories of a gal in denial who thought she was interesting, to put it nicely. However most people at SLU have incredible lives. I also ate lunch with a gal who had lived all over the world in three year spans, including Germany, COLORADO, Spain, and others...she had been born in Madrid and her dad is in the military. And this dude that had lived and studied in Ireland for free due to some Irish man setting up a fund at his school in Arizona once he had made crazy money setting up an imigration station in Ireland.
Bought salmon colored heels that zip up my leg in a cage-like fashion. Excellent.
Sat next to a dude from Morocco and listened to typical "Moroccan music" that consisted of all American artists including Janis Joplin. Dr. Dre is apparently "a classic" in his words in Morocco. People can say they don't like Americans around the world, but they are sadly mistaken when it comes to our music, our fashion, and our food becuase that is prominent EVERYWHERE. People that don't speak English walk around the streets of Madrid in a shirt with an American phrase...comical.
Of course our bus broke down on the way back. Actually it was the bus behind us but we were in the same group and someone thought it wise to utilize the "buddy system" with a bus. Won't write about that, not my favorite two hours in front of a gas station...
Had a delicious spanish dinner with the senora.
Stressed about classes all day today... my schedule is a terrifying mess of unknowns with a deadline on when that needs to be situated.
I did have salsa today though and since we have a lack of boys in our class, only ones that sweat profusely, I got to grind with my teacher. Like legit she put my hands on her hips and was doing some serious hip/butt combo motions. Can you imagine an American professor doing that? Es comico...
At the gym I have a fan club-also terrifying, but is making me more aware of how much I sweat.
It is now 2am and little children are still not in bed and are playing soccer outside below in our plaza... some drunk man is screaming "wooo" and there are car alarms going off.
But I am in Spain. It is beautiful. It is a serious eye-opening life-changing experience, and I am so thankful and happy to be exactly in this moment.

Segovia, job offers, and staying out till people go to work the next day...

While I believe I know the metro station rather well, I did make an epic American mistake in my recent travels. A friend and I were making sure one of our other friends got home safely while the rest of our group went on ahead. We heard the metro train come up and began sprinting through the station towards our friends who were trying to push on the doors and keep them open. Sprinting in high heels, which I'll admit, is a talent of mine, still made me trip and almost lose my ankle between the train and the cement.... regardless still landing successfully on the floor of the train and on the same metro as my group. Will not be doing that again. Stood up in my dress to awkard condescending stares and thought it would be wise to say "no estoy barracha" aka I am not drunk. I have ambitions to represent our country much better in the future.
I had my first discoteca experience this past Thursday night. IT.WAS.UNLIKE.ANYTHING. the United States could offer. The club we went to was called Kapital and it has seven floors each with its own bar, a different decoration scene, and its own music. I was taking pictures. SO American. The gals and I got in for free and were instantly given free drinks. The main dance floor was packed! There were sexy dancers onstage and the gals and I were infatuated with a man in leather pants. We kept taking pictures. How objectifying? oops. Every ten to fifteen minutes smoke would billow out of the cieling and the whole dance floor would be covered in a cloud for fifteen seconds... you couldn't see! It was terrifying at first, but very awesome. The decorations were extravagant. There were nude posters in the staircases, GORGEOUS chandeliers, lights, great designs. Very stylish and modern. At one point in the night, one of the owners told me he wanted me to work there! I told him my Spanish is sub-par, apparently that's not too important. I gave him my e-mail address, but probably won't do that. If I run out of Euros, I know where to go! The top floor of Kapital did not have a roof. There was silk ceilings on the sides with couches and tables under them, a fountain and plants and tables all around. There wasn't too much dancing, but of course there was a bar. I sat and chatted with a man from Scotland who spoke English, a man from Italy who only spoke Italian but it is close to Spanish so that's ok, and a man from Brazil who was trying to teach me Spanish. We were speaking Spanglish. They were all together and I'm not sure how they were friends becuase how would they communicate?? Practiced my Spanish, learned a few more words...
We met quite a few people. Including men who were seven feet tall or more and trying to tell us their height in meters. Getting used to different measuring systems and military style time is a little difficult. I believe they played for a semi-pro international league and I wanted to mail one to LISA!
We danced until the club closed at 6am! I had had my last redbull at like 430...We then took a taxi to our friends house and I took the metro from there and got to my house around 7am. That's normal apparently. I think that's insanity. I was literally riding the metro with people who were just starting their day and going to work.

Friday a few girlfriends and I met up at the school to sign up for a few clubs, eat their Americanized barbecue (the hamburgers tasted like meatloaf?) and went shopping at sol after. There are quite a few inexpensive clothing and shoe stores with awesome, new style that I've never seen before, yet I was so tired I couldn't make any decisions so I didn't buy very many items... The streets were packed and each shop we went into was a new claustrophobic experience.

Dinner was potatos and chicken--SO DELICIOUS minus the bones. Spanish don't believe in "boneless." Our senora ended the meal with a small glass of dessert wine. It was entirely too sweet and too strong. I plugged my nose and took it down when she wasn't looking to be polite. I don't want to offend...

Today we went to Segovia! Most enjoyable experience. We were given a two hour tour through the streets and it was so beneficial to have someone there to tell you what you were actually looking at. The aquaducts we saw were unbelieveable. Centuries old. 60 km long. And only built with rock, no cement or anything. Makes one wonder how it is still standing all this time later? We saw the last gothic cathedral ever to be built in the world and it is GORGEOUS. It is located in the main plaza of Segovia and Queen Isabella was crowned there. We then toured a castle that she lived in with King Ferdinand. 22 Kings had lived in this castle as well and I even got to stand inside the same room that Christopher Columbus had asked the king and queen for money to discover America. That was the greatest experience. We also saw King Ferdinands bed, a ceiling that had over fifty pounds of gold on it, and stood on the balcony where a servant accidently dropped an infant prince to his death only to jump off after him to hers. There's so much history in Segovia and it is absolutely beautiful.
I ate with some friends in the main plaza and was lucky enough to see a Spanish wedding ceremony go on right in front of our restaurant. The dress was unbelievable, salsa style, tight down to the middle thigh and then layers and layers of ruffles and fabric. So pretty. The guests threw rice when the newly weds came out and a band played music. It was a beautiful scene. All whilst drinking sangria and eating delicious tapas and having good conversation.
BLISS.
On our way back to the bus we stopped in a few shops. Some girlfriends and I decided we want to leave something in every city that we travel to so we wrote a few things down and folded up a piece of paper and shoved it inside a small crack in the aquaduct. I will be deleting this post immediately if the structure falls.

It has been the most enjoyable day...

Personajes gordos no existan en espana! (Fat people don't exist in spain.)

...which led to the purchase of my gym membership. It's three buildings away from my house and very nice inside! Men here aren't all about lifting weights in gyms and there's not many bulky "meat-heads." Which I find unfortunate. Haha... More people are into cardio and literally THERE ARE NO FAT PEOPLE IN SPAIN. People eat healthier, smaller portions, and walk EVERYWHERE. My legs and feet have been pretty sore from walking miles and miles every day... My senora said tonight at dinner that Americans are fat and eat a lot of grease and for Spanish people it's just unacceptable. Yesterday I ate at the school cafeteria with some friends. I took my tray to the register to pay and the guy charged me for two lunches becuase he thought I had bought lunch for a friend! He looked at me wierd and said, "are you really going to eat all of that?" and he didn't believe me! He ended up giving me some money back, but it was SO funny. I told him, "Corro mucho?" I run a lot? Conclusion: Americans are fat. And apparently no one thinks Americans work out because at the gym I feel like I was an exhibit becuase people were staring. They were very nice however and helped me with the equipment.

I began classes yesterday. MY FAVORITE CLASS is latin rythms and dance! I switched from flamenco becuase this is more my style. We will learn the cha-cha, salsa, tango, etc and put on a performance at the end of November for the whole school. Apparently it's a huge event. Yesterday in class we danced to Ricky Martin and learned some basic salsa moves. Later on we will go to dance clubs at night on the school's dime. My teacher is so great and enthusiastic and a great dancer. She used a gal as an example when she was teaching us a dance move and she was grabbing the girls butt and saying thats what men try to do but it's not appropriate! Hilarious. Teachers here are so much less conservative in many ways. My teacher in my spanish oral communication class wore super tight jeans and a belly shirt! She was a babe! haha. SO I won't be getting wierd looks for my short skirts. Still blending....with my pelo rubio? blonde hair :) I literally walk down the street and people say, "es americano." Oh well. I'm a patriot.

I am a little discouraged with my Spanish classes. The teachers talk very fast and in no English. While I think I may be able to pick up most of what I'll be learning in the classes, it is going to be very difficult as I am in three Spanish classes here. I am thinking about dropping one or two and picking up a photography class--I would be taking photos while walking around the streets of Madrid, or some other fun class like that. I am going here for school though, so classes must be a priority, especially becuase the grade transfers to Baylor.
I had my first class in English today-interpersonal communications. I am the only person studying abroad in that class. All of the other people actually attend St. Louis University and live in Madrid all year around so it's nice to meet some people who know the city and are extremely fluent. Our teacher is a beautiful Spanish man. Me gusto mucho este clase!

My school has about four buildings. The campus is surrounded by neighborhoods and shops and there's a few bars and sandwich shops and restaurants. It isn't a beautiful location, like downtown, but it is quaint and I feel safe there, and it is nice. I like it. There is a courtyard outside of one building and there are always students gathered there talking, eating, studying, hanging out. I can always meet someone new, and I'm making quite a few friends! Like I believe I said before, many people came in groups, so it's wierd being one of the only people here that didn't know anyone to begin with, but it's going well! :)

It was two of my new friends birthdays last night! I made it through my first full night of traveling in metros and cobblestone streets in high heels. We went over to a friends apartment and hung out a bit and then went to a few bars after midnight on calle de sol-the happening place- to celebrate. Everyone goes out late. If you arrive anywhere before 12:30 or one you're just wierd. I was a dancing machine and we all had SUCH a great time! There was this Spanish couple sitting in the corner and I made them both dance with me. They were really shy, so they enjoyed some liquid courage and then decided to dance conmigo. I met a few people and began speaking my broken spanish. They couldn't understand me and said they were from Austria and I should speak in English. I just assume everyone speaks Spanish...They were very nice and beautiful people. I believe we are going out tonight to our first actual dance club experience? So that will be great fun!

All of the young people in Spain go out at night on Thursday Friday Saturday definately and then a few nights during the rest of the week if they have nothing to do. Our senora encourages us to go out to bars and clubs-what a different culture than America! Adults encouraging young people to go out and drink and dance and party. It's different. Spain rocks.

I did learn today though to not come home at five am when you have school the next day...

After school everyone in my house just passed out. The gals that didn't go out were extremely tired becuase our plaza is so loud and they said that Spainards were partying all night down there and singing songs and playing music until four am or so... And in our apartment, five stories above, we still have to keep our windows open becuase it's so hot.

It's ten pm so time to get ready... voy a la discoteca anoche!