"If one scheme of happiness fails human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere"

Tuesday the 24th, I got a roommate again. Amy is from Essex, England just outside London. She was temporary. She only had to stay here for a few days in her journey from Andalucía to Galicia where she was going to do a nature camp for kids. She was really cool, majored in English literature, and was totally free for those few days to do whatever she wanted.

Molly was here from Thursday the 26th to Monday the 30th. I tried to show her all I could and have the best of times, but it was difficult because 2 or 3 of my friends who would help a lot in making it easy to have fun were out of the country. Friday night I had to see a play with my Literature professor, her husband, and 2 of my friends/classmates. It was awkward being out at night with a professor and her husband, but luckily our seats were separate from hers. The play seemed like it was good, but halfway through I lost the capacity to focus hard enough to get what they were saying. The play was mostly composed of monologues within dialogues. After the play, Molly and I wanted to get tapas, so we stopped in my room and told Amy and she said, "Yeah, let's do it! Let's just go to some bar!!" There are tons of bars in Madrid. My residencia has a bar on either side of it. So we went up a little side street off our road, and Molly and I got cerveza con limón ("clara" is how it's called) and tapas. They were yummy, and "con limón" is the only way I will drink beer from now on. Saturday night I tried to get some salsa dancing going, but it was kind of a bust because I am horrible at organizing and no one else was really doing it. We were able to salsa for a little bit before we turned in for the night. Sunday was probably the best day because Molly and I just got up and went to Retiro for the day. For the first half we meandered through the park and people-watched on a bench, guessing nationalities (which we were very good at). The second half we went to the monument near the big lake to watch the drummers. The drummers start to arrive every Sunday around 5pm, they bring dreaded hair, weed, dirty tshirts, converse shoes, forties of Mahou (Spain's beer), bongos of all sizes, cowbells (there was not enough cowbell for me), and their hippie attitudes. I LOVE IT. They don't even all know each other, you can tell, they just sit down and start the beating. It's nothing rehearsed, it's nothing specific, but it grows and grows in numbers. It's so marvelous. We stayed to watch and feel the beat for about an hour and a half, we climbed up on the stone wall behind the benches where they sat to sit and watch. I purposefully wore my converse, jeans, and Jimi Hendrix tshirt to fit in, I do think I was a little too clean though. I even started to think about my hair in dreadlocks... and no, I was not high. Anyway, it was fun and I'm gonna go as much as I can from now on. That night, Molly, Laura (italian from Long Island), and I went for churros con chocolate. Molly and I split an order, it was more than enough. It was a nice way to finish the weekend. She left Monday morning and I went to class.

Oh yes, and I got ANOTHER roommate. But this one is permanent!!!! On Saturday, I had Kacie come over to give Molly a haircut, and Ester (the cute old lady who lives in the residencia and calls everyone "hijo/a" and "niño/a") came in to change the sheets on the other bed, which is odd. She told me a niña came earlier to get a room for the rest of her courses. Sara arrived on Sunday with her suitcases and her little sister, but she said she'd be back Monday because she was going to spend the night with her family in their hotel. Sara is 18, from Alicante in Valencia, she's studying Interior Design at a school that starts class next week, and she's gone to English schools her whole life so she speaks PERFECT English with a London accent. Her first night here, we pretty much just asked each other questions in Spanish because I told her I want to learn. I introduced her to Gisella, and we went back and forth between English and Spanish, it was kind of fun. Every time she speaks English with her British accent, I'm just so jealous. Number 1, she's a Spanish girl and speaks Spanish with the accent I'm trying to pick up here. Number 2, she speaks her second language (English) perfectly and with a pristine accent. Number 3, SHE HAS A BRITISH ACCENT! YOU CAN'T BE BRITISH AND SPANISH AT THE SAME TIME AND LEAVE ME BEING AMERICAN, IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!! I honestly do not hear a trace of a Spanish accent in her English. Boo. But she is very very nice, and only knows 2 or 3 other girls who live in an apartment a few streets from here, so I'm going to integrate her into my group... umm yeah.

We went out for Halloween last night. And by "we", I mean Gisella and I. Laura met up with us, though. Sara was going to the same area, she thought, but we never met up with her mostly because I forgot to exchange phone numbers with her. Gisella and I sort of dressed up. Enough that they would pass as costumes, but we could adjust a piece to just look super-Madrileña. Have you seen Mean Girls? If not, don't judge me until you have. I was Karen Smith on Halloween from Mean Girls. I bought a long long short sleeve black shirt, black sequiny belt, black tights, a head band, and black ear muffs. I made the ear muffs and head band into mouse ears, straightened my hair, put on rather whorish makeup for me (I still can't get the eyeliner off), and put my headband ears on. "I'm a mouse. DUH," [point to mouse ears]. GET IT?!?!?! Haha, no one really got it, but whatever. I had fun, even without a single piece of candy. All the Spaniards who were dressed up, were dressed up scary. I kind of wanted to walk around and say, "Eww, why are you dressed so scary?" (also a quote from Mean Girls by Karen). Anyway, today is All Saint's Day, so I have no classes and almost everything is closed... so you can imagine how many people were out last night. Bob is in town with his friends from Copenhagen so I'm going to meet up with him later. Goodbye!!