Molly!

I called my Mom yesterday. Poor lady hadn't heard from me in like 2 weeks. I realized I'd even forgotten to reply to one of her emails! Being that I feel this need to communicate constantly, that was very unlike me. I realized a few days ago while talking to my italian friend Giovanni, I am not consumed with depression anymore. In fact, I love living in Madrid. Luckily, I have plenty of time left here. I am so glad I chose to do a year-long program.

Molly Moore, my good friend from Mizzou, is leaving today. She has been in Madrid staying with me all weekend and it has been a blast. I was a bad host and didn't take her to any museums or historic old buildings. But I did take her to a sweet house party where she practiced her spanish with a bunch of french and german students. It was so nice to go out in Madrid with a friend from home! It made me realize that my friends in Madrid are amazing. Everyone was so nice and would talk with Molly in her always-improving spanish, or english. At el Junco (where we watched the best blues show I've seen yet), my friend Florian even tried to buy her a beer. The beers were 7 euro. Seemed like an extra nice offer to me.

I can't remember which day now because the whole weekend was kind of blurred by staying out so late each night, but we found ourselves in Plaza Mayor at one point. We had gone out to see the city during siesta and everything was closed. It was kind of a downer until we got to the plaza. The sun was out and the day was beautiful (I honestly thing winter is over in Madrid, though I don't think it ever really came). The night before we had been reminiscing about hot summer days where you can't breathe and have to go for a swim to stay alive. Sitting in the sun, listening to this incredibly joyful guitarist, I could not have been more content. There has been a lot of happiness going around lately. Hopefully you can catch some of it too.

Last night Anna, Molly & I went to a bar in Sol for Molly's last night. It is a place Vincent has taken us before. It is small, dark and filled with cushions and hookahs. We were all exhausted from having so much fun, this was the perfect place to relax. Though someone walked off with Molly's jacket, which still makes me kind of sick, it was a great night. We smoked some peach hookah and talked with these colombian guys about la vida madrileña.

Some of my dearest friends have finally joined me over here. Sarah will soon be up north, Nancy is in Fez, meeting all kinds of amazing people-she has a moroccan roommate! Erin will be in Paris and Molly is about to get on a plane to Granada. The other night I skyped with Amy in France. I don't feel like I am missing out on as much now that everyone is off on their own adventures. I have also been very distracted by a nice german boy lately, so that might be why I am feeling less homesick.