"Climb ev'ry mountain! Ford ev'ry stream! Follow ev'ry rainbow, 'til you find your dream!"

I had a bad birthday, we're all aware. I missed Tuesday's and Wednesday's classes. I tried to make up as much work as possible, and since we don't have Friday classes, I'll only know how much I missed on Monday. So that's over, hopefully never to occur again. And I got a delivery of a lovely bouquet of flowers from my dear family on Thursday. They're gorgeous, thank you very much!! The only problem is that I don't have anything to even pretend is a vase and I can't remember to buy one... so they're dying.

I decided Thursday would be my new birthday, only I didn't really tell a lot of people, just a few. This is mostly because of the weird cognitive dissonance I get when I wanna tell people such things about myself, and then always want to go out of my way not to act like an attention-craving brat. All the same, 6 of us ended up at an Italian restaurant for dinner. It was DELISH! I had chicken, I can't remember / don't know when I had chicken last. My friends told me they were going to split the bill and pay for me... so I got dessert. Then we went to this tiny little bar called Splash where "everyone from Suffolk" was supposed to be. I was not as into this plan at first because I'm not in Spain to hang out with Suffolk kids all the time, being that they're American for the most part. But Splash is a tiny little bar, as I mentioned, so it was off on a sidestreet, not in a central party-going area, and other than the Suffolk kids, it was all Spaniards. We did out-number the Spaniards, and there was no real cultural interaction for the most part, but it was actually quite a lot of fun. So here you go, guys: I was wrong, I apologize for my initial resistence. I actually met a bunch of Suffolk kids who aren't in the API program, so at least I met people. Then I met one of the girls from the API program that arrived on Tuesday. Her name is Melissa, and when I asked her where she was from, she said Baltimore. So, naturally, I jumped up and down in excitement. I probably should have said, "me too!" before the jumping up and down so as not to give her a scare as I did, but she found out a few seconds later and her fears were allayed. She didn't jump up and down, but she hasn't been here a month with a bunch of way way north-eastern kids. Around 2am, the bar was getting ready to close (I was not aware bars closed a 2am here too) and all of a sudden the owner come in and yells, "Police! Every one out now!" in spanish, and everything just stopped and people started leaving. I walked out to see 2 police officers standing out front I guess to make sure the bar was going to close and everyone was out. I guess they REALLY have to close at 2am, and there's some kind of problem with it around town??? I felt like there might be other things they could be doing at 2am to help out Spain's reputation of the laws never being reinforced. Maybe they could go check out that area over in Tetuan that my Spanish Culture professor says are heard to be forced prostitution houses, rather than making sure people aren't drinking in this bar after 2am. I don't know, I'm sure there's information I'm missing.

Friday, Gisella and I went to pick up our Youth Metro IDs, for 21 and under. We've been using the Regular 21 and over IDs, because the Youth IDs need to be processed for 10 days and it was more cost efficient to get the more expensive regular ones for a month than wait the 10 days and pay for individual rides. We had to go to a tobacconist place that was different from the one we sent in for the IDs to pick them up, and we arrived during lunchtime (2pm/3pm - 5pm) so we walked and waited around until it was supposed to open back up again. It was a cool little area, nothing too different from the rest of the little areas we've seen, but a new place. The lady at the counter was really outgoing and nice to us. 2 people came in right in the middle of her selling us the October passes and asked where to buy light cigarettes (they're not "commercialized" so she and other Tabacos can't sell lights, I don't get it but ok). She explained to them, I only half-listened, but they 2 people seemed to be insisting that she could sell them. They left and she said, "I hate it when people tell me I'm wrong about things related to Tobacco. I'M A TOBACCONIST!" And as I knew her pain from 5 years at Gloria Jean's, I gave her a sympathetic laugh and comment of agreement. And then she asked us questions about our studies, and told us about her grandson who is 5 and already getting and English tutor, and she thinks that's the way to go, and how she thought we were very good to be over here improving our Spanish and learning, and she thinks that's the way to go. It just made me happy, and if I smoked, I would totally make the journey back to her to buy some smokes.

As it was another girl's 21st birthday yesterday, we went to someone's apartment and had some cake and champagne to celebrate. Then a few people decided to go out to a bar that was supposed to like Splash, but no Suffolk kids. Gisella and Ginger and I had already decided we were not going out Friday night because we went out Friday, we'd probably go out Saturday, and we had to get up "early" Saturday to go to El Escorial to tour the monastery. So we cut out, but somewhat reluctantly because we wanted to go to a SPANISH place. It's a good thing we cut out, though, because 2 of the 6 people that went were unable to make it to the trip today.

El Escorial is just outside of Madrid. The San Lorenzo Monastery there was built in honor of Saint Peter who was burned by the Romans on a grill, so the design is such that if you turned it upside down it would be the grill. I know that's the same idea of the cross and the shape of churches, but I guess I just didn't get why that would be something they'd want to incorporate into the design of a monastery. As we entered the main courtyard, you could hear the nuns singing!!!! Not very well, though, because of all the visitor noisemaking. Anyway the monastery was built by King Felipe in 1557 (started, anyway, not finished) and it also serves as a mausoleum for ALL THE ROYALS FROM HIM TO THE PRESENT. I was not aware of this til I got to the room that had walls with coffins stacked 4 high with the names of the kings and queens. 2 coffins above the door, the last 2 spots left in the room, are unlabeled and apparently for the parents of King Juan Carlos. Except they were never king and queen because of Franco. Actually, he might have said they're for the parents of Prince Felipe, who are obviously the current king and queen. I can't remember and now I'm confused. Then there were more rooms for the extended royal families. It was pretty cool, we went through a lot of them. You can get married there, it's a 2 year waiting list and $1500. That's it. It seems kinda cheap considering nearly 5 centuries of royal families are buried there. When the tourguide told us that, I think a few of us stopped listening and started mentally planning our weddings at San Lorenzo Monastery. Why do we do that? Anyway again, El Escorial is I think partially or fully up a huge huge hill, almost a mountain, and there was a mountain range on the landscape visible from 3 of the 4 sides of the monastery. Due to the abundance of windows, I found myself staring at it a lot. Then I remembered the nuns singing earlier. I REALLY wanted to go onto the mountains in the distance and frolic around and sing "the hills are alive with the sound of music!" REALLY REALLY. I only tempered the feeling by reminding myself that I'm in Spain, not Austria, and that this is a monastery, not an abbey. The nuns had been practicing for a wedding that was to take place an hour after our tour, even so I'm not really sure why I didn't hear monks singing. Maybe because I understand nothing about these things. I saw people arriving, they were pretty! Then we saw the library in the monastery, which is second only to the library of the vatican, and I got goosebumps about 5 times in there. All the books had some amount of gold on/in them. Some were 1500 years old. Some were in Arabic, Hebrew, Olde Spanish... The spines faced the walls (showing the gold pages) to prevent damage to them when being pulled off the shelf. As a former book-reshelver at Simpson Library on the Mary Washington College of Liberal Arts and Sciences campus, I can say firmly that this was good thinking by them. You don't know the excessive spine damage from merely pulling the book off the shelf. They were labeled by number written on the page side, and each cabinet was numbered. I wonder what that system is called. It was cool. I took pictures.

Today it is another girl's 21st birthday, and we are going salsa-dancing!! I'm a little put off simply because I do not know how to salsa dance at all, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to wear high heels. I guess this is why there's such a thing as alcohol. And by the way, when I drink, I almost always drink only enough to just lose a little bit of the control I insist upon having over my actions so that I may let myself have more fun. That's still not healthy, I know, but I go out a lot and drink alcohol and I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not doing it the American college student way. Tomorrow I'm supposed to get a Mexican roommate, Ines or Inez. I'm nervous. Do you think she'll want me out of the room while she situates herself, or would she rather have me there? I'm trying to put myself in her place and I really can't decide what I'd want. I'll certainly be there when she arrives, but after that. ANY THOUGHTS?? PLEASE.

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves... I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least."

Today's my birthday. Yes. Actually in Spain-time it will be over in a half an hour. I don't mean to complain so much or sound horribly ingracious, but this was the worst birthday ever. Yesterday I slept from 3-8:30 because of how horribly sick I felt. I went back to bed at 11 after unsuccessfully trying to do homework and eat dinner, but I did email one of the program directors to have her make me a doctor's appt for today so that I could be excused from my classes today. I woke up today feeling slightly better and went to the doctor's office at 4:30. Gisella came with me and was probably a bit late for class because of it so that was incredibly nice of her. The doctor finally told me that I have an infection. Not a sinus infection, though, because I asked him if that's what it was. Just an infection. He wrote me a prescription, which got filled right away because medicine is way different here. I'm supposed to feel better in 48 hours. Except it won't be my birthday in 48 hours. I wish I could've come home for a day to at least sit at home sick with someone all day rather than sit by myself in my room sick all day. I know I'm being pathetic and self-pitying, but if you can't do that on your birthday, when can you do it? Everyone says this weekend can be my birthday celebration, but it's not the same; although, I appreciate their intentions. On top of the sickness, one of my professors yesterday gave us an 8hr speech by Fidel Castro to read for tomorrow. Now if it took him 8hrs to read it aloud, it's gonna take at least 4hrs to read silently. What kind of a professor does that to kids studying abroad? I'm not doing it. I know I've said that before, and I end up doing it, but for real if I go to class tomorrow it won't be read and I won't have a written commentary to hand in. I'm way behind right now. I just know it. But I can't use my brain long enough to get anything done. I could read laying down, but I'd fall asleep right away and it's too uncomfortable to sit for long. Okay I'm done complaining.

I do love Madrid. I love it. Just not today.

I think I've fixed the photo issue. Go here. There may or may not be captions yet, though. For now just look at the pictures.

"One cannot fix one's eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy."

I'm sorry about the photos. I only just found out that you have to have an account to view them. Not that having an account would take much more than entering in a fake email address and a username, but I guess I'll transfer the photos onto webshots later. Probably not today though because I have a lot to do. You can sign in with my username and password if you want, though I hesitate to put them on here because of the miniscule chance that someone somewhere might want to be funny and mess my album up. But here they are anyway:
username- leslehworth26@hotmail.com
password- leslie


Allright, on to an update of sorts. It's been cold in Madrid for the past few days. I now regret deciding against packing some of my winter-wear. If only I could have translated the "average temperature by month" calendar they gave us into "there is no Fall weather in Spain" I may have packed better. In my attempts not to overpack, I'm quite sure I succeeded. In fact, I feel that I underpacked. Yes, that's right. I UNDERPACKED. Mother dearest, be prepared for an email full of things for which I'd be most grateful if you brought them in October. Don't worry, I'll whittle it down. So I've been cold for about 3 days straight, on top of already feeling sick from what is most likely some kind of allergy or sinus issue that won't quit. But I will quit the complaining there before I continue onto my 4 pairs of pants that need a good washing.

Friday night, Gisella, Stacy, Kacie and I decided to teach Segundo (the 18 yr old Spaniard I know who lives in the dorm) some American drinking games. [We decided this after Kacie cut my hair, which by the way I really like and she's an amazing haircutter. I can just get out of the shower, put in my anti-split-end cream, and let it dry. No brushing! No styling! Of course, it looks really good when styled properly, but I'm incapable.] Segundo, a girl named Alejandra, and a guy named I think Jaime-- all Spaniards-- all came to Gisella's room to learn a game. Courtney was not informed of the teaching plan and, having met some Spaniards the night before, made plans for us to go to a club opening with them. So we hung around the dorm with the aformentioned until midnight and then we went to meet up with Courtney's new friends. They were extrememly nice. I didn't really catch all of their names, but there were a brother and sister (20 and 21) who I just love. The guy looks like the kid from Even Stephens, and the girl, Carmen, was just the cutest little thing ever (like most Spanish girls so I don't even know why I had to say it). We danced the night away pretty much, but had to leave around 3:30 because someone was sick, someone was tired, and someone was in mal humor. One of the Spanish girls had gotten a little too drunk and thought it would be cool to throw a cup of water on everyone else. So it pissed one or two of us off, I didn't get wet so I was unfazed.

I kind of wasted Saturday day. I went in search of a cheap second-hand guitar with a girl Sarah. She's a theater major and an amazing singer, and she wanted a guitar as a musical outlet while she's here. She doesn't know how to play but she's going to teach herself, and I offered any help I could give (which isn't much since I really do my own thing with the guitar). She wanted me to come since I know more about guitars than she does, it's not much but it's something. After coming across numerous closed music shops, we went to El Corte Inglés to buy her a Spanish CD so she could learn to sing in Spanish. The book section was next to the music section, so I bid her a temporary adieu as I could be of no help in the vocal music department. I found a few different copies of "Orgullo y prejuicio"-- "Pride and Prejudice", if you were too lazy to look it up from my last post-- and then had to decide which would be the best to buy. Naturally, I put the more expensive ones back and left the 2 cheapest. I checked out the contents of the books: one had a bunch of introductions and biographies and cultural period-related info, the other just had the translated novel. Since I don't normally read all the extra info, I compared the prices: the dumb book without the extra info was 1€ cheaper than the smart book with all the intelligent "go the extra mile" info. Not too much if I want to at least own a smart person's Castellano translation of my favorite piece of literature. I checked out the translators, would they be different or has one person done a translation and that's it: the cheaper book was translated by a José something or other, the smarter by a María. SEALED THE DEAL. Of course I'm going to buy a translation of Jane Austen by a woman over a man. Maybe it's sexist, and maybe I'm perceptively limiting the reach of Jane Austen in the world, but males don't understand it the same way! Maybe if the male is gay, he would understand it similarly, but the only difference between a gay man and straight man is that one is not attracted to women. And before I begin on the differences of sexual preference in this, my study abroad blog, there isn't even a way to verify José's. So I bought María's translation and as I can pretty much tells you what happens if you just give me a chapter number, I hope it will further my understanding of the Spanish literary world. Okay, and back to the original topic of this paragraph, Sarah found a 78€ classical guitar in El Corte and she bought it. Yesterday she brought it to my room and asked me to play a little for her. I don't know why I do this, but my first inclination is always to play Smelly Cat. I played it, and sang (this girl has taken 3 years of singing lessons) and afterwards found out she hadn't seen that episode of Friends and didn't even watch that show too much and I now looked like some sort of musically retarded weirdo. But I remedied the situation with a little Jewel and The Beatles, to both of which she sang beautifully. Classial guitars have a wider neck, and 3 of the strings are nylon, so it was very awkward for me to get used to and I messed up a lot and I didn't have a pick. It satisfied my guitar craving but I feel the whole situation could have gone better.

Saturday night: LA NOCHE EN BLANCO. The only things I wish were different about that night was that I had stayed out longer, had some sort of idea what to do, and worn another layer of clothing. It was amazing. Baltas Naktis (Latvija), Notti Blanche (Italia), Noches Blancas (España), Nuits Blanches (Belgique), Nuits Blanches (France) is a series of night-long effusions of culture the follow the phases of the moon around Europe. Madrid got the new moon, but it most certainly was not dark in Madrid that night. The idea is that on their night, each city offers a bunch of cultural or what-have-you programs, presentations, exhibits or what-have-you all night. Places such as museums stay open all night at no charge (unless you count the seemingly endless wait in line) for the citizens of the world to visit ALL NIGHT. There were things like lectures, performances, music, art, light-shows, dances, anything in Madrid. You couldn't possibly have seen it all, and even with information we found online and Madrid's social guide, we didn't know what to go to. I was partial to seeing something requiring use of the mind, it needs a little exercise outside of classwork, but we were overwhelmed. So we, Courtney, Gisella, Kacie, Stacy, and I, decided to just meander throughout Madrid. We took the Metro to near la Puerta de Alcalá, which was built by King Carlos III in 1778 as the entrance of the city walls which were gone by the mid 1800s. At la Puerta they had some sort of light show that made it look like there were giant people climbing up the giant stone edifice. I took a few pictures, and thought I took a video, but I forgot to press record. At la Casa de América, they turned it into a seemingly haunted house with speakers blaring clips from works of literature I think. You didn't go in, you observed from the outside. I got a little scared, despite being SURROUNDED by people. Did I mention the streets were packed? I got a few pictures of the packed streets, too. We walked through the center of Madrid intending to go to the Prado because there was probably something cool there. I suggested we walk through Plaza Mayor which turned out not to be on the way to the Prado. But I'd like to add that this detour error was not my fault because we had already been going in the wrong direction (and I kind of sensed it, but tensions were high and I think I was already being bossy a little so I backed off and let us go the wrong way). It didn't matter though because there was no wrong way that night. Everything was bright and busy. We ended up near Madrid's opera house (I really want to go in there sometime). Okay, picture the size of an opera house, mostly the circumference. There was a line circling all the way around the four corners, the end of which was about 20 feet away from the front door. At some buildings there were people going in / coming out who were dressed up like they were going to a play in New York at the turn of the century. I know people still get dressed up for plays in America, but not like this. They looked like modern aristocracy. It was wonderful. We did make it to the Prado and there was a long line to go inside, but we decided to sit out front for a bit before trekking back home. It was really nice. 3am on any night and Madrid is still awake. 3am on this night and it's busier than during the day. It was just an experience of a lifetime, and I only wish we had actually found out about something and gone to it, in addition to just walking around.

Sunday I had to go see another movie for my literature class... you CANNOT just assign students to go see a movie in a movie theater!!!! And two weekends in a row is ridiculous. And if you preface the assignment with, "This movie wasn't that good, but..." you're tactless! I'm about to go spend money and precious weekend time inside a movie theater for the second weekend in a row so I can watch a MOVIE for a LITERATURE class and you tell us before we even see it that it's bad. HORRIBLE. We were apparently supposed to learn something from the movie about the history of Spain. But it was about a revolutionary during Franco's dictatorship, and guess what we've talked about in depth in 3 of my classes already: yes, Franco's dictatorship. So I don't what I was supposed to learn or be surprised about, but all I got out of it was that I reaffirm my position against the death penalty and hairstyles in 70s Spain were very similar to those of 70s America (so I'm kinda wondering where the rat tails and mullets now prevalent in Spain have come from... the Country Music Channel?)

I went back to the dorm, but not before stopping at RedSprint (essentially a 7-11) for some bread and jelly to eat with my peanut butter for dinner. In the dining area, I ate with Sarah and a Spaniard (Hug0) and I got to practice my Spanish some more. I do think it's actually getting better. I think I had to get back into the swing of conversational Spanish. I knew I used to speak conversational Spanish but I guess I lost it over the summer. I think it's back now. I don't feel quite so lost anymore. AND today, my 9am class, we got our first individual translation back and as he handed mine to me, he said "Estupenda, Leslie. Bien hecho," "good work." I was the only one he said anything to!! I got a 9,5/10 and the issue was with the part that I had reviewed and changed at home after I had already sent a copy to my email address to print out at school, and forgot to resend!! WOO! I'm gonna translate. It's pretty much exactly what the Spanish English double major is for. I know enough Spanish to be able to translate it accurately, but then to make it flow and give it a similar literary style as the original. Check plus plus.

Okay, I have to go to my next class now. I don't like this class because she lectures the entire hour and a half, and Suffolk has a rule that profs have to either give us a 10-15 break in the middle or let us out 10-15 min early. Someone should say something to her. Who can possibly do this? Certainly not me. She's the kind of person who I'm pretty sure if I pointed it out, she'd get offended and then hate me and avenge herself every day with some kind of ambiguous question that makes me look stupid. TRUST ME, I'm not being paranoid or self-concious... okay maybe a very little paranoid. Should I remedy the photo issue? Or should I just leave them as is, and you have to sign in to view them?

"Es una verdad mundialmente reconocida que un hombre soltero, poseedor de una gran fortuna, necesita una esposa."

OKAY!!!!! I finally put my photos on my computer. So I finally have photos to show you. I decided to make an album on a separate website, simply because trying to upload 110 photos onto what is meant to be for writing was way too stressful. So here's the website. And I'm pretty sure that I've already talked about everything on there except for La Noche en Blanca. As it took me 2 hours to get these photos dealt with, I will defer relating La Noche en Blanca and other weekend stories until tomorrow (I hope). I'm sorry. One thing I will say is that I bought "Orgullo y prejuicio" and I can't wait to read it and further my Spanish understanding. Look it up. Luego!

"Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied."

I know I haven't updated in a while. The internet in the dorm was out when I went to do it, and so I just ended up not writing anything down. I'm going out soon to get cash for my traveler's cheques (beyond a huge hassle! this is the 4th time I will be trying to do this.) When I come back, my friend Kacie is going to cut my hair because she was in beauty school, or is in it part time or something, but she can do anything with girl hair and my split ends are bad. You can't indulge in OCD-like behavior playing with your split ends in Madrid, it's unsightly. So hopefully, after she cuts my hair I will be able to update.

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Bueno, Kacie has not cut my hair yet, but I have some time. Not much has happened since Sunday. This is mostly because Monday I woke up and felt sick, most likely my yearly autumnal sinus infection that always feels like a cold. Except that this whole week I've been very easily fatigued, climbing steps wears me out. Monday I went to classes, came home and ate lunch, took a 2 hr nap, went to dinner, watched a little Wives and Daughters, took Tylenol PM and went back to sleep. Tuesday I decided to walk to my 5:45 class, but I left at about 4:30 just because I wanted to walk a different way to explore. I listened to the Amélie soundtrack on my iPod, not quite Spanish but Madrid's a European city so the music was just absolute perfection for my trek through the city streets. I can't wait to go to Paris and talk a walk through the city with the music on my iPod. It's a lot of accordian, which is in general a rather European sound; there are so many accordian players on the streets (in addition to other people singing or playing the pan-flute) playing for money. I try to give change to the ones that make me feel like I'm in a movie. It's a good standard, not too generous and not too lenient. The pan-flute guy does not make me feel like I'm in a movie, for instance, but the string quintet outside El Corte Inglés owns my 50-centimos pieces. Tuesday night a few of us tried to go see a Flamenco show at a bar, but it ended up being all of us (ANNOYING) and then we got the bar wrong. We ended up going to a bar, Viva Madrid, which was nice but I was still feeling on the sick side of life so I went home around midnight. Wednesday, I got a card in the mail from dear Lauren Rock (Thanks BFF!), who sent it off about 2 weeks ago I think. Not a bad delivery time. Went to class and such, and then, at dinner with 4 other American girls one of whom was swooning over a guy at home, we were rrreeeeeaaaallllyyyyy in the mood for a serious chick flick. The Notebook, An Affair to Remember, Casablanca, When Harry Met Sally, and others were all suggested. All I could think about was my endless selection sitting in my closet in Maryland and how numerous people told me not to bring 40 movies because I would never watch them all. No, I won't watch 40 movies in 4 months but at least I would have a range of selection. I brought 5 movies, none of them the caliber chick flick that the other girls needed. So I went to bed and watched a little more Wives and Daughers by myself to satisfy the craving. Thursday I walked to my pm class again, this time a different way and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also found a post office on the way but it was closed. But now I know where to go to get stamps... FINALLY. I also bought tickets to Dublin for Oct 19-22 to visit Molly in Galway (I'm taking a bus there). And Molly and Laura and I figured out that we want to do Venice, Rome, and Athens Dec 16-20 (give or take a day). Bob and Molly are coming Oct 26-29 to visit me, and Laura is coming Nov 16-19 to visit me. I'm going to visit Laura in London sometime in the Dec 6-10, but I may have an exam on the 7th, which would alter that so I haven't finalized anything. I would still like to go to Munich or Salzburg or Amsterdam while I'm here. I don't think I can do all 3, and maybe not even 2 on account of I'm running out of money I think.

Last night I went with a French guy and a Spanish guy who live in the dorm to meet some other Spaniards and go to a bar. We went to a bar before we met the others, and some other kids from Suffolk came in. That was really fun, we just chilled out a bar. The bar was part of a theater so it was all snazzily decorated and kind of empty. When we went to meet the Spaniards, it wasn't really working out, and I felt sick and tired again (after only 1 drink, so don't even attribute it to alcohol) so I caught a cab with a French girl and we went to our homes. I know, kinda lame week in terms of social life, but what are you gonna do when you feel sick? That's all for now. I'll try to write tomorrow or Sunday. I miss you all terribly, probably because I've been a bit under the weather, but I do think about you.

"It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should ever refuse an offer of marriage."

I figured since my shoes have European size 42 on in insides that I'd be safe asking to try on 41 or 42 size shoes. Well, that may be true, but the first 4 shoe stores I went to said they don't have sizes 41 and 42, only 40. In the 3rd store I finally asked to try a 40. And the guy told me I shouldn't bother because a 40 will be too small for my feet. Wondering at the lack of my size, I went reluctantly to El Corte Inglés, which is like Super Walmart but in the manner of a department store and the prices are trumped up rather than beaten down. They had a huge shoe selection and I was browsing the sale area, filled with ugly rejected summer shoes, when I saw the next section "Tallas Especiales, 41 42," also known as "Special Shoe Sizes For Women Who Should Probably Give Up And Go To A Transvestite Shoe Store, sizes 41 and 42." APPARENTLY, I have abnormally large feet. Yes, I was aware of that, but I didn't know I could get my own tiny little selection, and I stress the word tiny. Do I get some kind of handicap for having large feet in Spain? Special metro seating maybe? I should for having been forced to browse the 2 shelves of large shoes with the sales reps in their bright green button downs watching and waiting for me to get to the expensive section before they offered to help (they work on commission). Well I decided to forget El Corte Inglés, and I walked down the street I like to call Calle de los Pies (Feet Streee) because every shop is a shoe or sock store and sometimes both... and there was a Ben and Jerry's. I found a nice pair of earthy green heels for €19 at one shop. AND the best part is that I asked for a 41 because my friends told me you usually have to go a size down for heels, and it was too big! So I got a 40. This means that I am only a size 41 in regular Spain shoes, and therefore, in my mind anyway, less "special".

I saw "Alatriste" on Friday night, and I'm pretty sure it was an amazing movie. I'm not sure because I did not understand a whole lot of it. Without thorough understanding, I enjoyed it very much. I got the general outline of the plot, but I'm very confused about some parts. I'll research it. It's incredibly huge here, so get ready America. Viggo Mortensen speaks Spanish. Also on Friday, API's Complutense kids arrived. This is another API program that starts class on Monday at Universidad Complutense, so it's all with Spanish kids. The 5 that arrived are doing an early start, which I don't fully understand because Complutense's classes don't start til October. One of them is Gisella's new roommate, her name is Ginger and she's from Alabama.

Saturday both the API groups went to Toledo for half the day. So I got to meet the 3 other girls: Diana, Angelica, and Liz; and the one guy Aaron. I like them very much. Diana and Angelica are Mexican, I think, but they grew up in the US, so they speak fluent English and Spanish. Liz is quiet. And on the bus, Gisella and I were talking about Justin Timberlake (because we're 13 yr old teenyboppers) and Aaron turned around and said he couldn't wait to get that CD. So he's gay and all the girls were all over him after that comment. All the guys in my group are "pretty damn straight", so all the girls were kind of like, "Finally! We got one!" Toledo is gorgeous. The cathedral in Toledo is absolutely overpowering. And the gorgeous landscapes from the city and looking at the city made GREAT pictures. I took a ton, I actually think my memory card is almost full. I should get my camera cable soon and then I will just do an entire picture post.

Saturday night someone decided we should all go to Kapital again. Ugh. We did go to a nice little outdoor cafe that's right in a plaza, so it was all lit up and beautifully city-like. It just made me think, "Oh gosh, I'm in Madrid! FREAKING MADRID, MAN!" So we had some sangria at the cafe and then stopped by this bar that's supposed to be pretty cool, and it was. And then we went to Kapital. It was €18 this time, not €15, so that bothered me. I got to see another floor in the club that played Spanish music. I also was somewhat accosted by a Spanish guy I found out later was named Juan, and I felt that was pretty lame. Pedro and Carlos couldn't make it tonight? All male Spaniards are named the same 5 names, it's kind of boring. Anyway, Juan, like a lot of other Spanish guys at clubs frequented by stupid Americans willing to be gorged in the cover fee more than once to have access to 6 floors of club, thinks Americans are easy. I was getting my drink, turned around, my friends had gone, and he put a straw in my glass and said, "Hola, eres bonita," (you're beautiful). I nearly vomited, then took the straw out of my drink, looked at him, put the straw on the counter, and said in Spanish, "Do you think I'm easy because I'm American?" And he said some fluff about my eyes, thought that would be a good time to try to kiss me, but I thought it would be a good time to hear my phone ring, so I answered it and faked a conversation. I decided I didn't want to be totally cold, and tried to have a conversation in which I explain to him that while many girls are easy, many other girls are not easy. Just like in Spain. And my friends and I were there to dance. Well one of us was not there just to dance, but I left her out. I'm pretty sure he was not too interested in the conversation, and wouldn't take ignoring his goal as a hint, so I took leave of him, but not before he talked me into giving him my cell phone number. Some of my friends have gotten some funny text messages so I thought it would at least be funny. And it was. 2 hrs later I got a text message in English once again reaffirming my beautiful eyes and asking me if I was still at the club. I was, but I ignored the message. Besides, I'm pretty sure I saw Juan having slightly better luck with some other American girl on the 4th floor. While that was all very exciting, I'm sure I'll be fine if that doesn't happen again. And I bet it won't if we stop going to these ridiculous clubs, and stick to cool local bars. We did meet some British guys working at Llyod's Bank in Madrid later on in Kapital. They were nice. And they had accents. I had a real conversation with a male for a few minutes, it was refreshing. Didn't catch any of their names, but I was surprised that they continued hanging around us, as I guess I just didn't expect English guys to be interested in American girls at all. Then 4 of us girls sat on comfy couchs on the 3rd floor for about an hour, and at 5:30 we heard Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" playing on the Hip-Hop dance floor and we put our shoes back on and... sort of ran but more like limped quickly to the dance floor. We danced for 20 minutes and as the metro was going to open at 6, and I thought my feet were on fire, we walked to the station and waited there with all the other clubbers in their crazy outfits and bloodshot eyes. It was pretty full, and pretty comical I think. I love this culture. Courtney slept over in my future roommate's bed and I got up at 11:30 for breakfast because I'm neurotic and hate sleeping past 12. Then we went for coffee and some lunch. And now here I am at 6:30pm, avoiding the commentary I have to write on a mural by Diego Rivera.

"Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings."

Not too much exciting or particularly culturally interesting has happened. Mostly just going through the motions of breakfast, metro, school, metro, lunch, metro, school, metro, dinner. Give or take a metro or two.

I went back to Zara on Wednesday. I got a dress that's white with a blue print, so I'd just call it blue really. I got it from the sale section so it was only €€12.90, $16 . Courtney and Katy also came and also got dresses, but paid full price. I'm afraid I have trouble buying clothes at full price. That's probably why my wardrobe is less than adequate for European city-life. And probably the fact that I have no style does something for inadequacy as well. And probably also the fact that I'm very conservative about clothes I will wear. Right, as though none of you reading this had any idea about my clothing deficiency as I've spelled it out.

Also occurring on Wednesday, I ate lunch at a little sub shop called La Tienda Verde with Katy. It was actually really good, and I'm not sure what I ate because I just pointed to the lunchmeats and cheeses I felt looked tasty. I mean, I also followed it up with, "I'll have whatever those meats are and that cheese, and some lettuce and just a little bit of mayonaise," only in Spanish. As I really don't like lunchmeat that much, I found it surprisingly tasty. I decided to spend money on lunch because the food here at the dorm is... I can't really think of a word to describe it. I either hate it or I love it. And usually they make a huge amount of, let's say, pasta with tuna and they keep serving for lunch and dinner until it's gone. I mean they have other stuff too, they only make 1 or 2 more dishes than you would make for a normal dinner. So there's a slight choice, but sometimes I just get really sick of ham in absolutely everything I eat. And the smell of tuna makes me want to vomit, but that's thanks to Mary Washington not Estél and her merry band of kitchen ladies. Because I was sick of the food, and then noticed that once again the tuna pasta showed up at dinner that night, I decided to walk to Burger King or McDonald's whichever was closer. Burger King was closer. Do you know that the BK and Mickey D's do not have milkshakes in Spain? Pretty much no other reason for me to go to a fast food restaurant, so I think I'm safe from that decision from now on.

By the way, I learned in my Spanish Cultural Studies class, which is an incredibly interesting class, that the reason why Spaniards are obsessed with ham is because of the Spanish Inquisition... the one that nobody expects. (Haha, anyone?) Yes, because they way the it worked was the Inquisition would travel to different cities and invite people to come to them to privately denounce heretics/infidels/heathens/what-have-you, the tattle-tales. Then the Inquisition would call the denounced in for a private meeting and ask them to write a list of all their enemies. If the denouncer's name showed up on the list, the Inquisition stripped him of all his property and threw him into jail. If the denouncer's name was not on the list of enemies, then the denounced was declared guilty and stripped of property and executed or jailed. Pretty interesting game of psychology, huh? So anyway, to prove publicly that they were good Christians, one of the things Spaniards did was eat a lot of ham and pork because the other two religious groups they had and were trying to get rid of were Muslims and Jews. (They had already made a ton of them "convert," but a lot of times they just returned to their old ways. The Inquisition was a way to stop the fakers.) And as we know Muslims and Jews do not eat pig. My professor told us that Spaniards would just walk around eating a leg of ham or pork, paranoid to publicly prove their piety. On every street in Madrid, there are numerous bars with pig legs hanging in the windows or walls drying with a little cup attached to the bottom to catch whatever the juice is that runs down the leg. (No, I don't want to know what the juice is.) The smell when you walk by one of these bars or shops is just gross. I hate ham. It's in EVERYTHING. So there's an interesting bit of fact about Spanish Culture. My professor said that a lot of Spanish habits that we might find weird can be traced back to the Spanish Inquisition... the one that nobody expects.

In my Lit of Democratic Spain class, she told us we're going to have to watch some movies... but outside of classtime. She's scheduled the 6 movies for Fridays, the day we're supposed to have off so we can have 3-day weekends to travel rather than give us a fall break. 2 of the movies are in a film festival, so we'd have to go to a theater to see them. But the other 4 are DVD or VHS so we can watch them at school. There are only 3 of us in the class, so one girl, Stacey, and I are going to watch them right after class times. Glad we got that figured out. I was super pissed off about that. You cannot just take away our long weekends. But I do like the professor a lot, and she's taking us (during a class time) to the Real Academia Español. It's a group of writers who get together once a week at this building in Madrid to discuss words in the Spanish dictionary. Which word means what, what's slang, what's a new word, what's no longer used, specific vocabulary for specific subjects. THEY DISCUSS THE VALIDITY OF WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS!! This is just as exciting as if someone told me they were taking me to the Oxford English Dictionary headquarters... if that exists.

It's gotten a lot colder now, mid70s during the day usually. But the sun is still quite hot, so it's very comfortable weather for pants, shirt, and maybe a small sweater or long-sleeve shirt. It's almost like fall weather, but there's a crispness in American air that's missing here. I think it's all the trees and leaves in the US that Madrid lacks. But I'm going to make it seem like fall air to me, because that is my favorite air. Do you know what's weird? I think since I've been here I've been asked for directions about 9 times, by Spanish people, obviously not madrileños though. Then I answer, half of the time with "No sé, lo siento," and half the time with "Ah, sí. Está allá..." And once or twice the person has looked surprised at my obvious non-native accent! Ha, maybe I do seem Spanish. I don't see how, though, as literally every Spanish girl is skinny with great hair. NO JOKE. I'm not being a self-concious girl on this one, it's science.

Last night the whole group decided to try to go to club Pacha... for the 3rd time. And I mean the 3rd time from the part where I said, "try to go." Yes, we've been in front of that club twice. It's an exclusive club, €15 to get in, unless you're on the list or you're with someone on the list or you're slut-tastically gorgeous and flaunt your stuff your way in, then it's free; and they can refuse entrance to people if they want. Last night, somehow, the girls and I got in for free by getting this girl we know from school, who I don't think was on the list but was cool enough to get in for free, to let us be "with her". And then some of the guys paid to get in. And then 2 guys, who I think are good dressers and not too bad to look at, were refused entrance. The bouncer said it was because the one guy looked too young and didn't have ID (bull, because they NEVER check ID). But he wouldn't let the other guy in either. So one of us girls, not me, said, "I'm leaving if they won't let them in." The guys who paid were pretty much pissed about it, but as they had paid they didn't care that much. The other girls were appropriately indignant and offered to leave as well. I, who was not excited about trying to get into an exclusvie club again in the first place, was rather annoyed at this sudden wave of ethics and morals that had come over us as a group. Had I paid, I would have stayed. But since I did not pay I left as well, knowing that were 2 of us girls in the same situation, none of the guys would have been "indignant" enough to leave after finally getting into Pacha. Then we stood out front of the club trying to get in touch with the one girl who had left with the 2 rejects. And after 2 calls to her in which she hung up saying "Call back in 10 minutes," and being quite freezing in the 50 degree weather with the alcohol buzz quickly wearing off, I gave the situation 5 minutes before I walked back to Barradas. Luckily the short cut is also the safe way. It's a bumping teenager and young 20s hang out road. Literally hoards of people on it. So I flexed my biceps and walked back just as Madrid was getting wasted and I was sobering up. I got into my room and the girl next door to me had been having a little fiesta in her room for someone's birthday since about 8pm (it was now 2:30am.) Only about 4 girls I think. But there are 2 vents through which I could here their conversations clearly as they were getting slightly more drunk throughout the night. I decided to just let it go, because I know I've been loud like that before with my friends and I didn't really think it would keep me up. So I went to sleep listening to them and trying to see if I could understand. I understood a lot, I think. Someone should be having fun, anyway.

Today I'm going to try to buy some... gulp... heels for my new dress, and a new pair of flats for regular wear. Then I'm going to go see "Alatriste", a movie about one of the wars in Spain during the Golden Age, with Viggo Mortensen, who apparently speaks fluent Spanish. 3 of my 4 professors have told my classes to see it. It looks really good. Tomorrow API takes us on a day-trip to Toledo. I'm excited to see it. And tomorrow night, we're all gonna get dressed up (in our new dresses for some of us) and go to a nice restaurant or bar or somewhere and drink wine. It's supposed to be a chill night, but I doubt some people will leave it at that. I'm so glad I don't have a drinking problem.

"Everybody likes to go their own way-- to choose their own time and manner of devotion."

It's been a few days since my last update. I try to stay on top of it every day, rather than write entries similar to the last one which is just a big flood of events. But when I moved rooms on Saturday, my wireless no longer worked. I tried everything I could think of, and even today I had the computer lady come and look at it, it wouldn't work. Then a few hours ago I was just messing with it because it felt hopeless, and I got it to work.

I made a 4 month calendar on notebook paper with pencil. I'm that cheap. I've been a huge mess without any kind of date system other than the Windows date and time setting. I have all the trips and days off filled in, and now I know which weekends I can go on trips. On my own, I'm going to London to visit Laura and Copenhagen to visit Bob. I'd like very much to visit Molly in Galway, but I can't find any flights. I'll continue working on it. A few of my fellow students and I have conspired to find flights to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome or Florence, Vienna and Prague, maybe Germany, and maybe Andalucia. Actually we're trying to organize a Barcelona trip for next weekend. This Saturday API takes us on a day trip to Toledo. I MUST buy new shoes before then. I've been wearing only 2 pairs, and I'm kinda sick of them, and I have a million blisters on the bottoms of my feet. I'd also like a new outfit by then as well, as nothing I have can be put together to create a Madrid-worthy outfit.

Friday night, after stating I wished to participate in a non-alcoholic activity, we went to a discoteca. Of course for me to enjoy myself dancing, I need to be a little tipsy because I have no rhythm and, as you know, I'm terribly self-concious. So I just have to cede a little control to the alcohol so that I can let myself dance. Granted, the club was pretty gosh darn cool, so I will know next time I can go even lighter on the imbibing because it was just that awesome. It's called Kapital, and it's a 6-floor discoteca. Yes, 6 floors. Cover is 15€, and includes one drink. The ground floor is the main dance floor and it plays Techno/House music. There were 4 dancers stationed 2 on the stage and 2 on little platforms to either side, maybe to further enhance the hotness that is Kapital. Usually it was 2 men and 2 women and, in my opinion, there's no way the men weren't gay. Also one of the women dancers was MOST DEFINITELY a man. No one believed me but, as my dear mother taught me, men's calf muscles don't start til 3/4 of the way up the calf, whereas women's calf muscles are at least 2/3 of the entire calf. This woman was just as hot as the other women, and I would have sworn she was women were it not for the obvious calf muscles. Spain is amazing. Anyway, on the main dance floor about every 10 minutes a BLAST of cold smoke/air/fog surged upon us from the discoteca heavens above. When dancing, the normal discoteca-goer tends to sweat due to excess movement. I, however, do not sweat because I don't move much. So the blasts of cold only made me colder, gracias a dios I had 2 shirts on... think about it... anything yet?... ahhh now you got it. The second floor (American third floor) was Hip Hop dance. I liked that the most because I recognized the songs, but we mostly stayed on the ground floor. The first foor (American second) was karaoke, and I never went to any of the upper floors. Here's the part where your jaw drops: I left at quarter of 6 in the morning. I know, hugely lame considering had I and the 2 other girls waited 15 minutes we could've taken the metro for free instead of paying 5€ for a taxi. The metro closes between 2am and 6am every day. It's rather inconvenient. That's why Madrid goes to bed at 6am. I'd really like to be on the 6am metro one time and see all the people whose alcohol buzzes are in between coming off of drunk and being hungover. That was my last night sleeping in cupboard 9G with Gisella. Courtney stayed over too because she lives a lot further away. On a sidenote we are 3 incredibly different girls, but we hang out just the 3 of us most of the time. I enjoy it.

Saturday I woke up at 11am and let Courtney and Gisella sleep til 2pm. Then we went to a restuarant called Nebraska, which is probably the rough equivalent of a diner, for breakfast/lunch. It was yummy and our camarero was a really dorky and nerdy guy who tried to speak English to us but we told him Spanish was fine and he said that was good because he was pretty bad at English. He made a lot of conversation with us, so we've decided to go there for lunch on weekends and sit in his section because he took good care of us. I think there's a chance he's got some sort of mild mild autism or something like that, he just seemed a little off. We passed by Nebraska yesterday and he was waiting an outdoor table and we said hi to him, and he said "Ay, las Americanas! Qué tal?" Yay, we get to be regulars at a restuarant in Madrid!

That night, we decided to have a wine and cheese night at Linnea and Kyle's apartamento. Linnea, Stacey, and Kacie organized it and bought a bunch of crackers and some cheese and wine. But we all brought wine and cheese. We finished all the wine. I only had 2 little plastic cups of wine, but I ate A LOT of cheese. I love cheese. They never did open my Brie, would it be rude for me to ask for it back? Saturday was also the day Tricia, a girl from a few of my Spanish classes at Mary Wash, arrived in Madrid a few days before her API Sevilla program started (orientation is in Madrid). We only really ever talked during class, but we did say to keep in contact while we're in Spain. So she emailed me and told me she was coming, and I said I'd take her out and gave her my cell phone number. She called me and I told her which metro station to go to and she came to wine and cheese night. She meshed very well with out group, and said she appreciated the wine and cheese night because she'd been in Germany for a month and was tired of going out. If I decide to go to Sevilla, I can contact her.

Sunday I did reading for classes most of the day. Courtney, Gisella, Kari, and I went out for a bit and ate at an Italian restaurant. I only had garlic bread because I'm saving money wherever I can. Then later that night after dinner, Courtney, Gisella, Rastin, and I went to Puerta del Sol to a churro cafe. I had my first ever churros y chocolate. THE MOST DELICIOUS THING EVER!! Janet and Mom, guess where I'm taking you at least once, it's not too far from your hotel either. You probably know what churros are, like a fried dough stick with sugar on top, and and then you get a cup of melted chocolate and you dip the churros into the chocolate. Oddly enough I was the only one to use almost all of the chocolate given to me... wonder why.

I returned to my room to meet my roommate, who had been gone for the weekend. Umm, I think she feels a bit put out by me. The cleaning lady had apparently moved the furniture after she left and before I moved in, because she came back and saw the room changed and probably thought I was a huge American bitch. She went to sleep in another girl's room because she had no roommate. She woke me up this morning coming into the room to get ready, but it was only about 10 min before I was gonna get up anyway. And now, none of her stuff is in the room. I know she's supposed to move out the 15th, maybe she moved out early or put all her stuff in her friend's room and is staying there. I'm somewhat offended if that's the case. But oh well, I can't even remember her name. I get a new roommate Oct 1, una mexicana se llama Inés, I'm sure she'll be way more chilled out than the madrileña girls.

Today I went to my 2 classes. One was Spanish Translation in which I feel brilliant, and the other was Hisp Culture Today in which I feel... retarded, maybe. I understand everything the professor is saying but I don't really participate because it's not exactly discussion so much as she'll say a bunch of things and then ask what seems to me like a rhetorical question. But apparently she's expecting people to call out an answer. Towards the end of the class she did that thing that teachers do when they think you're not listening and call on you for an answer. Only 1 of the 3 times she called on me, I had actually just done a weird yawn thing in which I most likely looked like I was not listening but I was, I just didn't know the answer. Also the classes are 90 min long, but Suffolk rules say the profs can either give up 10-15 min break in the middle or let us out 10-15 min early, and SHE DOESN'T. She talks the full 90 min, up to the second. It's wearisome.

I also went shopping today. Looked at shoes, have an idea of what I might like to buy but I don't know. And I bought a green shirt from Zara, a cool Spanish clothing company. Not very successful, but I wasn't really in the mood, I just felt it was necessary. I'll go again Wed or Fri. I finished all of tomorrow's reading on my transit to and from school on the metro. Only I felt weird because the book I have to read is called The New Spaniards, and it's in English, so I'm pretty much wearing a "Foreigner" sign. Fun. Oh well.

And here's a new phrase I learned today, "Que aproveche!" It means "Enjoy your meal," the Spanish "Bon appetit."

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?"

The reason my camera won't work is because the USB cable seems to have broken on the flight over. I and others have assessed the problem and I bought another one of ebay so it should be here soon. In the mean time, I will try to find someone who's camera will take my memory card so that I can put the photos through their camera onto my computer. If you don't understand, don't worry about it, just be patient.

Classes have started obviously. First day of class was Tuesday. For Tues/Thurs class, I have Lit of Democratic Spain at 10:45am and History of Spanish Culture at 5:45pm. I already wrote about the fortunately cancelled class incident. So Mon/Wed I have Spanish Translation Workshop at 9am and Hispanic Culture: A Transatlantic Perspective at 12:30pm. Translation is cool, it's gonna be a lot of etymology I think. And the professor is English so that's always fun. Hisp Culture is taught by a latin american woman, I can't remember where she's from but it's either a caribbean country or south american. She's gonna be good. The classes are an hour and a half long, and I know that's only 15 more minutes than the longest classes normally but it kills me. But I think my classes sound interesting.

You know in middle school when everyone is ugly and you feel like everyone is judging every single step you make, and there's that group of girls that make you feel like that the most? That's kinda what Spanish girls make us American girls feel like, we've talked about it. How is it that they are all so naturally thin, and evenly tanned, with gorgeous full hair, and amazing senses of style? How, why, where did they come from? Is there a geographic evolutionary reason for this? Maybe Hist of Span Culture will shed some light on it. But man, when I just wanna wear a tshirt and jeans with flip-flops, it just sticks out so horribly. Also, we're kind of loud. Americans are loud, it just is the way it is. I try not to be, but the people I'm around are loud. And when you're sitting at dinner in the cafeteria at the residencia and your 2 American male friends start reminiscing about the WWF, you should get up and leave. One of them actually got up and started recreating different wrestling moves. Spaniards were staring like those girls do in middle school. I'm. Not. Kidding. I was horribly embarrassed. Why do some of the people in this group not understand that Europeans have certain stereotypical ideas about loud, rude, ignorant, piggish Americans, and that we should try NOT to support those ideas. I can't go anywhere with these people anymore.

In the same turn, Spaniards do some stupid things. Like driving. What the hell do they think when they drive? I don't get it. If there's an intersection and it's backed up, why do they always continue on into the middle of the intersection as far as they can go. They know the light's going to turn red and the people from the other direction are gonna try to get through. But then they can't get through so they LAY ON THE HORN LIKE NOTHING YOU'VE EVER HEARD. Like the horn will magically make the gridlock go away, or the cars in the intersection will somehow be able to back up, or the drivers will feel bad about it give them an apology present. Honking the horn in the gridlock situations does absolutely nothing, yet it's the loudest situation ever. They literally lay on the horn for 20 to 30 seconds straight. Like maybe 15 seconds isn't long enough for us to get the idea that you want to get through but you're blocked so you're pissed; however at 20 seconds, we will definitely understand your position on the situation. WHAT THE HELL, SPANISH PEOPLE? Also, since this gridlock happens at every slightly busy redlight, you'd think someone at some point would stop and think, "Hmm, maybe since it's clogged up, I'll wait out of the intersection so that I won't cause a gridlock." Nope. This happens so often and it's like they have a 3 second rebound rate and the situation is forgotten and they learn nothing. It's ridiculous. And the people honking are hypocrits. All the people in the blocked lane are honking as though they are saintly drivers and have never done this crap, and all the bad drivers are in the blocking lane. Something else I like to laugh at in Madrid: the prevalent mullet and rat tail. Those are really really popular hairstyles for men and women equally. It's sort of gross, but of course, there's no real trailer trash here, only Eurotrash, so it looks a little classier just because they're Spanish. And the man-purse, and man-cropped pants. I like them, when will that trend hit America? Probably never because America thinks it's "gay, dude". Hey, remember the Spanish Inquisition? And the Constitution where everyone has equal rights? Yeah, so why can gay people get married in Spain and not in America?


Well that was a rather long-winded rant. Here's some further event updates: I walked to school yesterday, it was pleasant but I got blisters on the bottoms of both my feet, and when I got to school my class was cancelled. We went to Casa de Las Cervezas last night for all you can drink sangria, xalimocho, and beer for 10Euro. (Xalimocho [hall-ee-mow-cho] is a Basque drink of red wine and coke, it's delish.) It was fun, but mostly American students. Then we tried to go to a club, but the self-appointed "leader" of the group got lost and then pissed off so that was not fun. And today I was told that I can move to the "flat" down the hall from my current "flat" today or tomorrow to live with an Spanish girl. She will move out the 15th, but then they will just put in another girl. I'm kind of sad to leave Gisella, my Puerto Rican roommate, but we both are disappointed at how little we're speaking Spanish so it's for the best. Plus we're only right down the hall. Today, a little group of us went to Parque del Retiro. This little group was probably my favorite people in the program, minus a few who weren't there. It was me, Gisella, Stacey, Kacie, Courtney, and Rastin. We tried to plan little European trips but we couldn't because we didn't know our schedules. But we (plus 1 or 2 others) are the select few who are here to immerse ourselves in the culture and learn Spanish and stop loooking American. So I prefer our company to that of the entire group. But towards the end of our Parque excursion, I started feeling sick, and I still do a little. I think I'm dehydrated... probably from last night, let's be honest. So I've been here for a bit just sitting and drinking water. We wanted to go out tonight, somewhere where drinking is not so pervasive, and I want to join everyone. We may see a movie or go to a dance club. I don't know. Tomorrow, I have to move out of my room though, and I have a ton of reading to do, so I should go out tonight while I know I can. Allllllrighty then, as I am know talking in fragmented thoughts, I'm going to end this post. Thanks for sticking with my babbling for so long.

"Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch."

I finally have wireless. Only it won't recognize Instant Messenger or Mozilla Firefox, which chupas mucho because I use those 2 the most. Now I have to use Internet Explorer, and I don't like Internet Explorer.

Classes started today. I had a class at 10:45 and 5:45, Lit of Democratic Spain and Span Cultural Studies. I woke up at 10:37, which is not enough time to get there had I already been at the Metro stop. So I washed my face in a hurry and then panicked because I can't wear the things I would normally wear when late for class, because this is freaking Madrid. Then I remembered that someone said that there are 3 classes canceled today. I never did find which were canceled, so I called Gisella, who I knew was just out of class, and asked her to run to room 3 to see if anyone was in there. She told me the most miraculous thing ever: "Lit of Democratic Spain has been canceled today so we'll meet on Thursday." Qué suerte otra vez, no?

So I went to breakfast, where I sat with the Belgian girl. I found out her first language is actually French and she's just that fluent in English, she's a beginner at Spanish. I met her 3 Belgian friends and we chatted a bit about languages and such. Then I unpacked and cleaned my room a bit. Then I went to lunch where a girl sitting alone heard me say something in English and asked me to join her. Turns out she graduated from Mary Washington in 1999. Small world!!! She's 30, and she just finished a month-long intensive teaching course here and she's qualified to teach in anywhere Europe. She just found an apt, and now she's looking for a job. She said she'd have to take me out for churros con chocolate sometime. Then her German friend, who looked around 40, came and sat with us. He's finishing up a Spanish course and goes back to Germany on Sunday. He was really cool, and I certainly enjoyed his German accent. And no, I did not say, "Hey I took 2 German classes," because then I would have been prompted to perform and I hate that.

I went to my second class, in which there are maybe 10 other students and the professor is Irish and I think speaks little Spanish. Seems like a interesting class, though. Then I came back to my room and after sort of doing mindless internet things for a while, went to dinner at 9:30. I sat with the other Americans in API and another girl who is apparently attending Suffolk and from Arizona asked to join us, so of course I pulled up a chair for her. Then a French guy, who knew Gisella from a Suffolk class, and his Spanish friend joined us. The French guy is fluent times a million in Spanish... he sounds like a Spaniard. But he's very slow at English. So we made him talk in English and we spoke in Spanish. He was really funny and made a lot of American culture bashing jokes which I really enjoyed. So despite leaving Barradas only once today, it was quite an internatonal day.

Now I'm back in my room and about to go to bed insanely early for Madrid so that I can get up at 7 so that I can catch the Metro around 8:15 to get to class at 9. Buenas noches!

"What dreadful hot weather we're having! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."

Ok I'm quite tired from these last 6 days of walking all around Madrid. Just to illustrate a bit: I got a blister on my foot Saturday, it popped while walking through Parque del Retiro on Sunday, and today (Monday) it became a callus.

Saturday was sort of a bust. We went out for a bit to 2 bars, I had to pay for drinks which I hadn't really had to do yet, on account of I'm so gorgeous... or the bars had been giving away free drinks to gullible-looking Americans. Then we had planned on going to a 6-story dance club that plays "house" music, techno I think. We finally found it at about 2:30am, and there was a list. You had to be on the list to get in, and it was 20Euro cover charge. We were also underdressed. So we walked away very sheepishly because how much more can you stand out in such a hip, chich, madrileño crowd? Some of us decided to go to another club with only a 15Euro cover and that's when I said, "This is a rip off" and started walking home. 6 people followed me. Heh heh. I'm pretty freakin cool over here. Gisella, my roommate, and I got back to our room and cleaned up a little in case the Puerto family was going to come up to see it the next day. And I went to sleep almost immediately.

Sunday came. I actually woke up about 20 minutes before my alarm went off because I was so excited to see Lucia again and spend the day with her family. I got dressed in what I thought was a pretty cute outfit, and when it was time, I went downstairs to wait out front of Barradas. (Lucia texted me on Saturday and said they would come pick me up in front of the dorm at 11:30.) Rafa, Rita, Marta, and Lucia -- father, mother, oldest sister, youngest sister (Ana the middle sister had to study for exams) -- pulled up at about 11:32. Marta and Lucia got out and we did the European 2 kisses on the cheek thing and Lucia and I hugged. Rafa and Rita looked so warm and welcoming, and they asked me questions all the way to the Museo del Cero, Wax Museum. It was a wax museum of Spanish history, and Rafa explained who every single figure was and what they did, even some that I already knew. It was a very neat little museum, especially as I really knew nothing about Spanish history... but I did notice how conveniently any information about the Spanish inquisition was left out. It's possible I just missed it, but I'm pretty damn good at understanding Spanish, so I don't think I did. Anyway, we went to lunch at a beer-factory themed restaurant. Don't think of an American beer factory, think of a classier European beer factory. I didn't really know what to get, and I think they could tell because Rafa ordered 2 sampler plates that are meant to be shared. One was Madrileño style, and the other German. I ate paté, I didn't really like it. I think I also ate an anchovie and I tried really hard not to show how difficult it was to keep the vomit from exiting my mouth. They eat a lot of eggs here, and they had a friend egg and french fry dish, fried eggs on the runnier side. It was like soft boiled eggs chopped up in toast. I love it. I love all their egg dishes. Anyway, we left the restaurant and there was a HUGE celebration at the Plaza del Colón, the Plazas are like roundabouts but really big and sort of landmarkish type areas, usually with a big fountain in the middle. Spain had just won the world basketball championships and everyone was wearing yellow and red and screaming, chanting, honking in the fountain. It was incredibly exciting, even though I hate basketball and I wasn't even aware that the rest of the world played it. Then we drove to Puerta del Sol and walked to Plaza Mayor, which is a gorgeous little area at night, I found out tonight. They showed me Kilometro Cero, the very center spot of Madrid, which is in the very center of the Iberian Peninsula. You are supposed to make a wish and then step on the spot. It's only about 1' by 2'. It was cool. Then Rafa y Rita dropped us girls off at Parque del Retiro, which is pretty much like Central Park. It's all tourists and jovenes, people around my age. We were there for hours. It was really nice, we talked a lot and I really felt like a Spaniard for a bit. Then Marta's novio, boyfriend, came and he took us on the metro to a little cafe down the road from the Palacio and we had mojitos and piña coladas. At this point I was so very tried from walking around and getting little sleep that I didn't make too much effort to speak, but I listened very intently and got almost all of what they said. They were talking to me as well, but I think they knew I was a bit out of it to be trying to converse in Spanish. They took me home at 10pm, I missed dinner at Barradas, but I didn't really care because it was uncategorically my favorite day in Madrid so far. Incidentally, a few memorable comments they made to me throughout the day are summarized as follows: I speak very good English, and you can tell I'm American but I have a pretty good accent; Lucia's 18th birthday is in a month and she can't decide whether to have a party or a dinner; they are going to have (i think) an end of summer party at their summer house and I'm invited; Lucia and Marta (and Ana too, i think) are anxious to take me out at night -- or as they say "salir"; when Lucia looked lost in thought it's because she was thinking really hard about what to wear to her first day of university (today), which was really cute to Marta and I; and Lucia has a boyfriend of 1 day and she has not told her parents yet. I love the Puertos.

I'm dead tired from writing and walking now, so I will go quickly through today. We had orientation at Suffolk, which is literally right around the corner from Lucia's school, San Pablo CEU. We took the Spanish placement exam, the diagnostic pre-test for which I got a D, but I'm pretty sure I aced this one. I found out I can probably take a class at CEU and as such will be like a Spanish student in a Mary Wash class, totally immersed rather than at a study abroad school. We can use CEU's facilities and take part in activities, including library, gym, clubs, intramural sports, varsity sports... I wasn't sure but I think they said they have women's rugby... in which case "QUE SUERTE SOY!" Then Gisella and I left the CEU tour early because we got the idea and tried to find the metro station, we got somewhat accosted by a blind and deaf boy, and I got scammed into donating 2Euro because I thought I was signing a petition. He was really disgusted by the 2Euro donation. But he was blind and deaf, so I'm not really sure how he knew it was 2Euro, or he may have only been blind. I don't know. Then we went to get out Metro card IDs so that we can buy monthly passes, and we all looked like hell in our pictures because we've been in the unconventionally hot September heat. Then I ate dinner at Barradas, and Gisella and I took the metro to Ben and Jerry's and I showed her Kilometro Cero. I had intended to watch a movie tonight but I thought I should do this instead. Oh and before I forget, the dorm has been pretty empty because Complutense classes don't start til Oct, but some more people have moved in recently and we now have a neighbor named Maria who looks a lot like Penelope Cruz. And earlier when I was sitting here, a girl came in with her laptop and an ethernet cord, and after unsuccessfully trying to connect, asked me in American-accented Spanish how to make it work. I answered, in my best Madrileño accent, that mine just worked when I plugged it in. Then I said, "Americana?" And she answered, "Belga" which I assume meant Belgian. And I said, "Soy Americana." She looked kinda surprised to hear I wasn't Spanish, no doubt because I speak so gosh darn well and, just after the Spanish guy in the room laughed at us and turned back to his reading, said, "Well then, it probably would have been easier to figure this out in English, wouldn't it?" And we laughed and tried to fix the problem but it was no go. I guess Belgium speaks English, because hers sounded like her first language.

Okay, goodnight everyone. I start classes tomorrow, and hopefully I can get my wireless up and running soon so that I can access internet easier and more often.

"We do not look in our great cities for out best morality."

DIOS MIO! I got to Madrid 2 hrs late because US Airways decided the minute everyone was seated in the plane would be a good time to delay the flight 2 hrs on account of inclement weather. The group of about 18 kids in the Fall API Suffolk Univ program, myself included, stayed in La Hotel Regina for 2 nights for orientation. We went to the Palacio Real, which is the Royal Palace, but the king and queen don't live there anymore because it's too big and opulent. I took a ton of pictures that I most unfortunately cannot upload right now because I'm in La Biblioteca de Computadoras, and I forgot my power strip for my lappy. My friend Courtney is rather artsy and she kept taking really artsy pictures of art in the palacio, so another girl (Looora from Long Guylind) and I tried to be artsy too but we got tired of it really quickly. Some of the girls and I went to a little outdoor cafe for lunch and towards the end of our meal, which was accompanied with some tasty sangria, a grandmother and granddaughter (about our age) sat down next to us. The grandmother turned and asked in a German accent "You are Americans too?" We were sort of thrown off for a minute or two until the granddaughter spoke in an American accent. They travel to Europe every two years for 10 days, and they came to Spain this year. The granddaughter takes online classes while she's here to keep up with college, and she asked us all about study abroad, so as old pros to study abroad (this was the 2nd day and most of us felt like we should be dead asleep at the moment from jet lag) we were only to happy to talk all about ourselves. Turns out they are from Baltimore too, only I forget where but not too close.

And that reminds me, everyone is from New England. Boston, Rhode Island, and NY. There are the 2 Minnesoootans, a girl from Seattle who goes to William and Mary, and a girl from South Carolina.

Anyway, Friday we went to El Museo del Prado and I got to see the actual Las Meninas and Las Lanzas by Diego Velazquez. I did a presentation on Velazquez in 11th grade and it was quite thrilling to finally see the originals. We moved into our places of residence Friday afternoon. I live in Residencia Palacio de Barradas. I don't how the royal palace and my residencia can possibly have the same word in their titles (palacio). I'm pretty sure I've somehow turned in Harry Potter and been given the cupboard under the stairs to live in with a roommate. I saw the other API students' rooms at Barradas, and they're nowhere near as bad. Their armoires are twice our size, they have a mirror, they have shelves, all their power sockets work, and they have more than one shower/toilet/sink to share with 10 people. If all our rooms looked like this, I would suck it up, but I seem to have gotten "wicked shafted" as the New Englanders say. Also, my roommate is Gisella, one of the girls I had shared a hotel room with, and both of us really wanted a Spanish roommate. Plus the API director, Quique [ki'ke], told us they wanted to put everyone with Spanish people. So Gisella and I are going to ask if something can be done about the roommate thing on Tuesday when the residencia director will be here.

Thursday night, we went bar hopping... literally. We all went out to dinner at some Spanish chain restaurant Zahara. And we ordered 5 jarras (pitchers) of sangria, which is Spain's specialty drink, red wine and brandy and some fruit juices and such (it's really just spiked KoolAid). We decided to just split the bill up evenly, and I only ended up having to pay for my dinner, not the sangria. Then some lady gave us cards to get into a new club Comma with a free shot. We went in, took the shot and left because the place was really too funky and gothy. Then we went to a place called O'Connel St or something like that, which was supposed to be an American/Irish pub, the Yankees game was on. We stayed there for a while, then went next door to Dubliners, another Am/Ir pub, where the New Zealand Austrailia rugby game was on. I did next to no socializing in Dubliners because I've never seen a real rugby game, on tv or in person. (I feel that college rugby does not count because most of us are just learning.) Then we left and someone else gave us a card for Joy. Some weirdo American hollywood wannabe club with 10Euro beers. I was not into this place at all and we only stayed for about 15 minutes because one guy (Rob's) camera fell and broke, and around the same time, another guy (Max from Long Guylind) got into a minor argument with the bouncer who then proceeded to slap Max which knocked him to the ground. Max and Rob being drunk and pissed off males from NY and Boston, we left before they killed people. A girl, Kari, had her wallet stolen out of her purse. But honestly, she's a little superficial and not too street wise, so I don't think she was at all focused on her purse at the time. Then Rob was standing outside the hotel trying to fix his camera with a few other people and some 13 yr old kid came running by and stole his camera right out of his hand. Madrid stays up til 6am, wakes up at 11am, lunches/naps at 2pm, eats dinner at 10pm, and goes out at midnight. We got home that night at 4am. We are not madrilenos yet, we can tell by how tired and cranky we were the next day. How do they do it? I'll try to find out and let you know.

I called Lucia yesterday and we talked for a while and she said she'd call me today about spending the day with her and her family tomorrow. She hasn't called yet, but it's only 6:15, not even dinner time. She is actually going to Universidad de San Pablo CEU or something like that, which is actually like a sister school to Suffolk University. They are right across the street from each other. She starts classes Mon, I start Tues. We're like sisters!!! Only she's one of the million gorgeous spanish women, and I'm just an American trying to blend in.

I think I should go now, because I've been in the computer lab for an hour. People keep poking their heads in, it seems almost like I'm not supposed to be here right now. When we get the wireless working, I'll be more available. Til then... Que te vayas bien! Adios! Salud!