Almost there...almost there...

After finishing my second and last paper, I found out you can conference call on skype! Sweet! I caught up with Molly (studying in Granada) and Anna, who studied in Italy last semester and is now at home in Columbia. It was so good to talk to my friends again as if we were all in the same room together. Molly is having way more fun than I am-staying out late and living with an amazing-sounding commie homestay mother. I need to go visit!

Tomorrow after my 3PM exam I am free. Hallelujah. Going to spend the next few weeks staying out all night and sleeping in the sun in Retiro all day with Florian. This was the longest semester ever!!

Study break!

While researching for the paper I have to turn in in less than 24 hours, I was distracted by the primary results on The New York Times site. Did you know John McCain is 71!? That's ridiculously old if you ask me. Other interesting facts: Mike Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas-where my grandfather was born and raised. Also where Bill Clinton was born. Let me tell you, that is the kind of town that would make you want to grow up and change the world. It would make me want to be a democrat though.

Still rooting for Obama. He won in Missouri by 1%! That's nuts!

GIANTS!

Yesterday was definitely the most memorable Super Bowl ever. Anna & I and all our closest European friends watched the game in an Irish bar. We had to explain all the rules (What is an interception? Why don't they just kick the ball? What happens if you punch someone?). Lucky for us, the entire crowd was rooting for the Giants (everyone booed the Patriots when they walked on the field). I rooted for them because the Patriots beat the Rams once. Enough reason for me. I really wanted to see Tom Brady fall on his face. The last quarter, that final run, was A-mazing. The entire bar went NUTS. All the Americans were jumping and screaming. Florian was practically cowering from all the noise. John was screaming and clapping though I don't think he knew why. Roberto was reaching for another cigarette. Anna and I were shouting insults at Brady. It was beautiful. Yea for fútbol americano in Spain!!

First test is Monday

Skip to about 00:13

Definitely not my dream guy, except...

I had this dream last night that I was dating an expat from Arkansas. Somehow in Spain he managed to live in a trailer and go hunting on the weekends. He was as american as it gets; his mom invited me to church. I was in love.

Need to stop reminiscing about the US before I go to bed!

Ikea furniture is okay, but...

This late evening, in a moment of solitude and procrastination, I sat organizing my photos into subcategories in iPhoto. I fleshed out the photo album of my Paquin apartment from last year and pined away for better lighting and fabulously garage-sale awful furniture. I'm now sitting at my quiet open window, remembering all the quiet moments on the roof, talking to my roommates through the kitchen window. I miss that place. It was impossible to keep clean because it was so old. The floors were kitschy & went perfectly with my mismatched furniture and found decorations.

I regret leaving Nancy's life-size cardboard cutout of Beyonce in Columbia. It fit in my suitcase.

That said, they don't have bidets in Columbia.

Money

When I came back from the States after Christmas, I stopped at the money exchange kiosk in Chicago and exchanged most of my Christmas dollars for euros. Whether it is because of the writer's strike, global warming or our economy, I left a bit short-handed. Especially because the bright lady working the kiosk couldn't tell the difference between a franc and a euro. I paid $1.47 for a relic of pre-EU France. Yes! I have another coin to add to my growing collection of useless U.S. quarters and dimes.

Well, maybe not entirely useless. My new fire hazard/incense burner: