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.