Three things

1. Fall is here. You can't tell by the trees, there aren't that many and the climate is so different here that I doubt they'll change that much. You can tell by the temperature and the air. It's cooler and feels like school should be starting-which it is! I sat through a 2 hour orientation today and I think I understand how to register for classes and where the library is.

2. Drullets. They are everywhere. Mohawk + dreadlocks. Don't worry Mom, I've thought this one through, pretty intensely, and I think I've decided against it. I'll post pictures (of other people) later.

3. Tomorrow I'm going to Granada. It's the super-moorish place down south. I'm not sure what the plan is, but I think I'm leaving early tomorrow morning w/ two of my Erasmus friends (Erika from Italy and Amélie from France) and Anna. Patrick & Anna and I also bought plane tickets to Paris for November two nights ago. And I think I've decided to spend Christmas in the Swiss alps. Or something...

This is the best breakfast I've ever eaten.

Without a doubt. Sorry Mom, everything you ever made me is not as good as what I'm eating right now. Sorry Uprise, Main Squeeze...you just don't cut it. Anna found bagels. Good ones. 85 euro cent bagels. Affordable. Now, that alone, would not be the best breakfast ever, that is just a good find, an affordable bread from home. However, in the same store as the bagels I found hummus.

Let's dwell on that for a moment.

I found hummus. And it doesn't suck. It's amazing. (I just stopped to take a bite)

Well, it's about 1 in the afternoon here, and considering I got home around 6AM from an amazing night, I should probably go back to bed. Last night was almost as much of a victory as finding this hummus-I was awake enough to figure out how to take the bus back home! Anna slept on my shoulder and I kept asking all the Spainards around me if I was going in the right direction. I think that's the secret of this foreign country: ask lots of questions.

HUMMUS!!

A book of one's own

After I was turned away from the tiny library in Toledo for lack of pasaporte, I found myself in tears over a bilingual book of poetry by Billy Collins in a bookstore near my apartment.

And after losing myself to my favorite poet for two blocks, I have rationalized the 11 euros I charged and I'm not going to think about how few coins I have in my pocket now.

El Rancho did me some good after all.

So last night Anna and I saw Un Corazón Invencible. It was a lot of fun to watch an American movie dubbed in Spanish, but I'll probably try to see movies in their original languages from now on. It's called A Mighty Heart in English. I really recommend it. I'm always impressed with a movie that is mostly dialogue and set in one location, but still thrilling and captivating. Afterwards we went out for Mexican. The bartender made us margaritas and we got this huge plate of nachos with amazing guac on top. I doused my chips in salsa and inhaled them. Spicy food is hard to find in Madrid for some reason. I paid about 4 euros for tabasco sauce at Corté Ingles because I miss those flavors. I guess working at El Rancho I built up a bit of stamina for habaneros. At the Mexican place I finished off the salsa with a spoon. Ha.

Then, inevitably, we went out dancing and I found myself missing Shattered pretty hardcore. Techno is just pretty lame.

Here is a happy picture of me, for the few of you I've called crying, so you can know I am not miserable or anything. Plus a view from my apartment. There are a few more on my facebook.

It's siesta time, so I'll make it short...

In usual Cassidy fashion I am living to the fullest. This morning I went to bed at 6:30 after a breakfast of chocolate y churros (fried sweet dough with hot chocolate-but it's like a melted chocolate bar...amazing) and a very full night of dancing. The metros are closed from 1:30AM to 6:00AM. I woke up at 9AM for my Spanish class. I bought a café solo (espresso) at the bar in the metro and mixed it with some cold water to make my own iced americano, and was therefore quite able to follow all the verb conjugating in class. Even with an alert brain this is a task. My teacher is about 3 inches shorter than me, skinny and loud. She looks like she's been smoking a pack a day since she was 14. Deep, raspy voice and amazing teeth. Thick black eyeliner and a lisp and Madrid accent like I've never heard before. She pronounces my name "Cachidy". I had gone out w/ an Italian guy from my class (plus my friend Anna and Giovanni's friends). So we sat there and moaned while she talked about the present tense. I made it through, and even managed to eat lunch in the cafeteria with some friends-a girl from Finland, a girl from France and two guys from England. I had tortilla, which is this lovely egg/potato omelet thing. Served cold and it's probably horribly bad for me, but it's the only thing I KNOW I like.

The last couple of days have been days of languages. I've been learning Italian from all my Italian friends, and speaking Spanish with people from all parts of Europe and then speaking English with my roommates and Anna. I've found my English grammer is totally messed up. I keep saying things like "I have thirst" because that's how you'd say it in Spanish. One of Giovanni's friends, Lydia, knows 5 languages. Holy cow right!? She's from Italy but has an Australian accent when she speaks English because that's where she learned it. So, if you find yourself in Italy and want to greet someone, you can say "¿Come stai?" Which is, "How are you?" And then they will say, "Bene, gracie, ¿eh tu?" And you will say "Bene." Or maybe "Fuerza Italia!" but probably not, because that has nothing to do with this. Most of my vocabulary is only useful at a fútbol match. Oh, I also probably spelled all of those words wrong...

That's all I've got for now. I love everyone and am trying to live in the moment instead of thinking about the things I miss about the states. Although last night, I almost started crying because I wanted Gumby's so bad. I could literally taste it in my mouth. Ha.

Jet Lag Ramble

It's almost 7PM in Madrid and I just woke up from last night's sleep. I feel like I stayed up all night at a sleepover or something. But I'm here. Finally.
I made it through a 2 hour drive to St. Louis with Mom & Ranch where I freaked out about how much luggage I packed and tried not to cry. Then Ranch & I overcame the coldest car on the train for a 27 hour train ride to Penn Station. Trains are lovely. No rules. We handed out cookies to strangers and drank hot tea. Then we were in NYC where I got steadily more anxious and excited. Excited to live in a big city, terrified to leave home. Shawn was calm and steady and took me to the airpot where I made a fool out of myself crying and had to spend the next half an hour conjugating spanish verbs to keep from breaking down again.
JFK was so calm and quiet compared to LAX. It made me feel even crazier. The lady who checked my bags couldn't read military time any better than I could and for about half an hour I thought I was going to miss my plane. I'm the worst traveler. I turn into this unreasonable sobbing mess. Anyway, by the time I got onto my Irish Aer Lingus flight and bought a glass of shiraz, I was settled again and reading and feeling so lucky to be on a plane full of funny accents and teal colored stewardesses. I'm used to flying Southwest, so Aer Lingus was freaking amazing. So much food! I got to watch Sex and the City.
Just as my eyes were drying out, I opened the first present from Dad (he labeled all these little packages for me to open at certain times on my trip-the first one said 'open halfway across the Atlantic'). I thought it would be a CD, so I had my CD player out all ready to switch over music. It turned out to be this book from my childhood called 'Jesus Loves You' or something, which I still knew all the words to. So of course I started crying again. My dad, somehow, KNOWS me. I'm tearing up right now thinking about it.
This year I need that kind of love, familiar love, God's love, Sarah & Nancy love. Leaving home was hard, and I woke up many mornings this summer wondering if I could live with myself if I backed out and didn't go. I woke up at Shawn's wondering why I even wanted to go to Madrid. But as I was leaving Columbia and NYC, everyone poured so many good wishes into me that I think I will be able to ration them and make it through the whole year.