"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.