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Nearing the end

The title of my blog limits me a bit. But I'm going to keep it going through July when I will not be in Madrid. I'll be in Giessen, Germany!

Things I've done this week:
1. Got reprimanded by the super for talking too loud. Go figure.
2. Stole lavander to dry & make things smell pretty.
3. Watched Germany work their way into the final game of the Euro Cup!!
4. Hung out w/ two of my oldest friends (Helen & Allie were here!)
5. Kicked Flo's butt racing him back to his apartment. I'm faster, stronger, better.

Acabo de...I mean, I just had this dream...

So. I'm starting to have epic dreams again.

A few nights ago, I was in the states and I almost missed a train back to Spain. And I hadn't packed at all. Exactly like the recurring dream I had in the fall.

Just woke up from a dream that was very blatantly about how I am not looking forward to going home because I expect to miss Spain and the Erasmus life terribly. I kept trying to speak in Spanish to everyone. Have to find a way to speak Spanish daily in Columbia! I really hope I get the Adelante (Latin American community) beat for the Missourian.

There were also performing orca & belgua whales...but I don't think that meant anything. They were just sweet.

Yum!

Made Florian a pizza last night (we even had ranch dressing!). It was probably the tallest pizza I've ever seen.

Eurovision '08

Last night we watched the Eurovision Song Contest & ate an amazing Italian meal. For the estadounidenses, this Eurovision thing is pretty freaking awesome. Think American Idol with less hate, more ridiculousness & more languages. It has been around since the '50s. Russia won. Mostly because of the Olympic ice skater in their act? What that has to do with music, I do not know. There were also Latvian pirates, fohawks & well, Spain. Most of the acts were bad pop with pretty outfits. Spain's submission...was original, to say the least:

In case you didn't catch it, the third dance move is the "maiquelyason" or Micheal Jackson. Sweet.

Toledo-third time around

Florian & I took a bus to Toledo on Saturday and spent the weekend sitting in coffee shops and getting lost in winding alleyways. Poppies are blooming here right now and the view from the bus was incredible-brilliant streaks of red on each side of the highway.

We saw an old monastery where Isabella & Ferdinand were planning on being buried (ended up in Granada)-old and cool; Florian got bored somewhere during my commentary (probably at the phrase 'nave lateral') but I think at one point we were actually standing in a crypt. Sweet! We drank lots of café con leches and café solos-several in a cafe that was obviously a straight portal to 1988 (check out the couch in that photo & think lots of Tracy Chapman). My favorite part was that the cafe wasn't trying to be stuck in the 80s, it literally was.

Also ate some yummy pizza in Plaza Zocodóver and talked with a Portuguese woman who had 13 kids. Decided that was a few too many.

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!!

Fuegos Artificiales!!

Last night we met my friend Megan in Retiro Park for a picnic. A bunch of ERASMUS kids showed up and we had a good time listening to Vincent play the guitar. The weather is finally really nice here! There were cute little Spanish kids dressed up in costumes for the holiday and we saw some bats after the sun set, but clearly the light and firework show was the highlight.
Vale, here we've got a photo of the lovely Anna & friends in the radiance of the explosions. Super cool! Also a still of the lake and some of the first fireworks. The video didn't work, so I threw in another firework picture. Imagine music and explosion sounds!


































We had a big group and got desperately split up in the crowd, but we all met at a cueva in Sol afterwards. I first came to this bar in the fall with Giovanni and couldn't understand any of the quotes on the wall. It was very rewarding to realize how much I have learned this year! Also, John's mom is still in town and I got to talk to her again which was wonderful. And I finally taught Vincent the cup rhythm we've been working on. It was a great night. And I was in bed by 1:30!

Molly came this weekend!

I got to spend the weekend with Molly! On Friday we made stir fry and went out to La Vía Lactea in Malasaña with her friend Megan. Then some more of her American friends from Granada showed up and we went to El Laberinto. I've been to both places before-not too expensive, the music doesn't suck, the decorations are kitschy and Laberinto has a foosball table. Sweet! We sang David Bowie songs all the next day.

Saturday we walked around, I finally saw Madrid's cathedral. It seems much more modern than other cathedrals I have seen in Europe. The paintings were super colorful. After a long walk we ended up in Retiro with Florian and my friend Alicia. Good times, we sat in the shade (the weather here is incredible!) and tried to avoid getting sunburnt. The Prado was free after 6, so we saw some excellent Goya. That man was witty! He was commissioned for all these portraits of generals and royalty, but in his free time he sketched his political opinion out-very antiwar. He was awesome.
This morning I went to El Rastro with Molly-super dangerous. I wanted to buy every hippie summer dress in sight! She checked out the Reina Sofia-which I still need to do(!) and then headed back for Granada. But not before I made plans to possibly live in her unfinished basement next year. $150 rent? Yes.

First test is Monday

Skip to about 00:13

Fall wouldn't come to Madrid so I had to go find it.

Paris is humid, cold and rainy. Of course I fell in love, what other choice did I have?

The weather was different every five minutes, just like in Columbia. It seemed more modern than Madrid, but the sunken steps in Notre Dame made me fantasize about...well, honestly, being a gypsy like Esmerelda. The whole city was absolutely enchanting. I found hummus in the first grocery store I found. I lived mostly on croissants.

Favorite things I didn't expect:
-They have a seemingly sweet bike rental system on the sidewalks
-Amazing international food-ate the best Japanese food ever on the steps of the Louvre.
-Excellent espresso, best I've had since Gimme Coffee in Brooklyn.
-Huge beautiful trees on the sidewalks and plenty of rain to keep them happy

...all things to keep in mind when I decide whether or not to move there. In love.

One of the coolest things about our visit was couch surfing. Pat figured it all out, but essentially we used the website to meet up w/ these French guys and stay with them for free instead of in a hostel. The first two nights (including Pat's B-day), we stayed w/ Nicolas and Pierre in a really sweet old apartment. We didn't get to hang out with them much, but they made us coffee, gave us a futon (three on one bed...it was a challenge, but warm) and a set of keys. I was amazed by their trust and generosity. I start to believe in crazy concepts like world peace when a complete stranger from another country will invite me into his home. Pierre & Nicolas had had 35 other people stay on their couch in the last 2 months! And the second night we were there, one showed up! A girl from Hungary who had stayed with these guys before came and we got to talk to her until Pat and I went out to celebrate his 21st with a Hoegarden beer.

The last half of the weekend we stayed with Freddy & Felipe. They lived right around the corner from the Eiffel Tower, and since we were with them on Saturday and Sunday, we got to hang out with them a little more. They took us to a friends for dinner and we drank wine and watched a boxing match and then went out together. Pat bought me a crepe in the middle of the night, and I spilled jelly all down my jacket. Lame! Anyway, I thought Freddy was hilarious and he seemed to think I was too, so we pretty much laughed the entire weekend. Sunday night they took us out to a restaurant down the street. It was such a blessing to have them, the only way I know how to order food is to point and ask "How much?". I can count my French phrases on one hand, which is more than I had before I got on the plane. Freddy and Felipe walked us through how a French meal works (cheese is very important and coffee is at the end-no matter how bad Anna wants espresso).

We spent the last day revisiting places we couldn't get enough of, and taking a billion more pictures. Now I'm in bed on San Bernardo wishing I was riding a bike along the Seine river or hanging out with Freddy and hoping I can find a way to fall in love with Madrid too.

How to freak out in a foreign country

1. Contemplate the long-lasting effects of your quick, uninformed decisions.
2. Drink lots of espresso.
3. Don't ask questions.

And always remember, you probably just screwed up.

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!!