¡Mis Pruebas Son Acabadas!

(A view of El Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid, Spain)

I have finished my last final. I am done. Todos de mis cosas son acabadas. Hurrah! I'll give you a quick update on the past week:

Sunday: I got up early this morning because I wanted to go to mass at one of the big cathedrals in Madrid. I ended up picking La Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, which has the largest dome of any church in Spain. I called ahead to see which masses had music (surprisingly, none of the masses I've been to yet have had music) and was told the 12:30 mass would be accompanied. So I got to the area at about 10, so that I would have time to explore.

The metro let me off in a big, circular plaza that had 5 roads branching off in different directions, which I new was a recipe for disaster. My map-reading skills have gotten worse since being in Spain, and I can't seem to find anything anymore. So I tried the first road, which looked promising, but realized that wasn't right, so then from that, I figured out which direction I was supposed to take. I walked down the second street and found the tale-end of El Rastro, which was not supposed to be there. I checked my map again and discovered I had been heading away from the Cathedral. But I wandered around El Rastro a bit and found a nearby park that had an old steam-stack still standing in the middle. So after taking some pictures of the park, I headed back in the other direction and started walking towards the road I needed. Turns out it wasn't the road I needed, but I did find the correct street on my fourth try. Fourth try out of five roads - it could have been worse.

So I walked down the correct road (luckily in a straight line now) and found the basilica. There was a nice little park next door with a nice view of the city, so I took some pictures there, as well. And since I still had time to explore, I kept going and ended up finding another really pretty park that was on a sloping hill and had a really cool view of a nearby bridge. I also saw another huge cathedral on the other side of the park and walked over to see which cathedral that was. I nearly got myself stolen in the process. I was about halfway up a trail when I noticed that behind every tree was a big gangster-looking fellow. All of them seemed to be watching me and I got a little nervous. So I put on my don't-mess-with-me face and made it out of the woods alive. Whew!

I got to the second cathedral where a gypsy tried to talk me out of my money - but if I can handle woods filled with gangsters, than I can handle a gypsy woman. The church was closed to tourists as it was Sunday and masses were being conducted, but I realized I was at La Catedral de la Almudena, the cathedral right next to El Palacio Real. I thought El Palacio was on the other side of the city. So I toured around a bit and found another whole area that I had been to before. Go figure. I did some souvenir shopping and then happened across this cool marketplace, El Mercado de San Miguel. It reminded me of Fanueil Hall in Boston, with a lot of little shops, so it was a neat find. Then I wandered a bit more and ended up in La Plaza Mayor. Again, I had no idea how close all of these places were to each other - maybe my map is printed backwards. . .

I then headed back to the basilica, and the place was gorgeous. There is a huge fresco ceiling and statues everywhere. I was surprised to see that it's not a classic Romanesque cathedral, which has a long nave and transept that intersect in a cruciform positioning (don't I sound smart after taking my Art History class!). The whole church is essentially under the dome, which is something I've never seen before. The music was just a man at a keyboard and a single singer (I would have sang, but they don't seem to give out hymnals in Madrid). There was a huge organ, and I don't know why they weren't using that, but it was still nice to hear some music.

After mass, I headed back to the metro, passing a really sketchy carnival that was set up in a small square. I got back to Julia's and then did work for the rest of the day (paper, studying, and internship applications - wahoo).

Monday/Tuesday: I was pretty much a hermit. Julia and I had an interesting conversation, though. We were talking about how my family's going to need to go shopping for food on Christmas Eve, and she was saying that most everything is closed in Spain on Christmas Eve. I mentioned that even on Christmas Eve, WalMart is open in the US, but she had never heard of WalMart. I was trying to explain the superstore concept, and when I finished Julia said, "Like Saks?" I said, "Yeah, kind of. . ." Oh, Julia. How much there is to learn about America.

Julia and I have been bonding though. We had a heart to heart about about how nervous we both were on my first day here and she seems to be opening up a bit. She showed me the Christmas lights she had put up on her gigantic acacia tree and even pointed out some pictures of Alexandra and Maria when they were little. We are making strides, Julia and I.

Today: Got up early and studied and then headed to Carlos III for my economics test. The professor decided it would be an oral final, so thank goodness this is my English class. I ran into James, who was taking the same test, and we walked to school from the train together. When we got to the classroom, our friend, Liz, was in with the professor taking her test. She was in for quite a while and me and James were getting nervous, especially when James peeked in the window and saw that the professor had Liz explaining graphs. This was an oral test, which was supposed to eliminate graphs! Liz came out and James went in, so I was left to my own nervousness. About 10 minutes later James came out and didn't seem too horrified, so that was a good sign.

I walked in and sat down in the row of desks the professor was using. He kept switching back and forth between seats and seemed more nervous than me. He explained to me that he had to record the test and how the structure would work. Essentially, he would ask a broad question and the depth of my answers would determine my grade. So he first asked me about convergence and Malthusianism, and I was all over both of those. He seemed impressed and told me I had a perfect score so far. Then he showed me a comparative advantage chart and a picture of a factory - I nailed those, too. He said he didn't need to go any further because it was obvious I knew everything. I agreed. Total test time: 6 minutes. Not bad.

Then I printed my boarding passes for Rome and London and ran into Guillermo in the computer lab. It's hard to say goodbye to these Spaniards, because I might never see them again. It's scary how that works. Then I decided that I needed a haircut and looked up a Peluqueria near Julia's house. The phone call to schedule the appointment was strenuous. As soon as I started talking, I realized that I didn't know the word for haircut, so I ended up saying things like, "I have long hair, I want short hair," and then "The thing you do with scissors." She seemed confused - I thought it was quite self-explanatory. What else would I call a Peluqueria for?

I stopped at Corte Inglés on the way home to buy a book for my trips (I figured that when I'm in London by myself, I might have some reading time on my hands. . .). Then it was back to Julia's and off to Peluqueria Manuel Aranda. I got really nervous when I walked by the place the first time - it looked pretty fashionable and I was wearing my sneakers. So I did a loop around the nearby park, plucked myself up, and headed on in. They sat me down with this guy who looked like quite the diva, so that didn't help my nerves at all. He asked me what I wanted to do with my hair, and I showed him a picture of myself over the summer. So after my wash, cut, and dry did I look like my picture? Of course not. But it is a nice haircut and much less scraggly than it was before. So it's a success.

Then it was back to Julia's for dinner (tuna in tomato sauce) and packing for Rome and Italy. I have mastered the art of packing for a 4-day trip in just a backpack - which I consider to be a major accomplishment. Alexandra stopped by after dinner, as it is her birthday tomorrow. Even though Alexandra has been unemployed for months now because of the economic crisis, Julia told me that she's been in Rio de Janeiro, with what I thought was some sort of paid position. So I asked Alexandra what she's been up to and she said, "Playing some sports, looking at beautiful places." It's tough being unemployed in a millionaire's world.

So tomorrow I'm off to Rome with Lizzie for 4 days and then I'm heading to London for 3 days by myself, (just me and a map - what could go wrong?). Yay for pasta and British accents! Talk to you all when I get back!

¡Más fotografías!

I've uploaded two new albums to my Shutterfly site - a November album, (sorry about the Retiro photoshoot in this one - quite a few pictures are dedicated to my friends' and my modeling skills) and a December album.

Here's the link: http://gigiinmadrid.shutterfly.com

Enjoy!

Pasada de Moda en Madrid

(A view of El Parque de Rodríguez Sahagún in Madrid, Spain)

Well, seeing as I set my alarm for 8:30, I didn't get up until 10 this morning. I had a dream that Julia was mad at me because I forgot to lock the door and someone had broken into the house. I asked her what was stolen, and she wouldn't tell me. I also dreamt (in a separate dream) that the family was here and we were touring around Spain - I'm so excited for them to come!

Best part of my day: I had a muffin for breakfast. And it was great. I was recently telling Julia about how someday I'm going to open a muffin shop, (which was difficult because I did not know the word for muffin and it wasn't in the dictionary, so my story turned into pictionary, and my drawing resembled a tree more than a muffin) and yesterday she came home from the store with muffins (magdalenas, for future reference). I'll need that later when I franchise to Spain.

Then I worked on my Economics paper - those Japanese had a very complicated industrialization. Of course, I'm going to be way over on the word limit, like usual, and because the professor wants us to send him a .doc version, I'm going to need to actually cut things out. I generally just change the margins, but because he'll be able to see the word count, I probably shouldn't be a 1,000 words over. Bother.

Then I had lunch with Julia (pasta - mmm. . .) and went back to working on my paper/checking my e-mail every 5 minutes to see if anyone had sent me anything that could be used as a distraction. Julia told me she was going to a dinner that night, so that I could eat whenever I wanted, so when she left I decided to go on a walk first. There was already a woman in the elevator when I got in and as we were going down, I noticed that she was wearing a Prada coat and carrying a Louis Vouitton purse. So not only did I feel like a giant, (because European elevators are really small and she was one of those petite types) I also felt really underdressed, (I was wearing my wool Alaska socks and Nike Airs - and although I was wearing my snazzy scarf, it did not match any of the aforementioned items).

But anyway, I like walking around Madrid at night and wanted to see some of the Christmas lights, so I just meandered around Julia's neighborhood a bit. I passed the Mallorca bakery Julia's told me about (I will definitely be making a trip back there) and ended up in Casa, a home decorating store. They had all their Christmas stuff out, but I started with the kitchen supply section, where I spent a good half an hour. I nearly bought a pack of heart-shaped mini-cupcake silicon molds (the fastest I've moved all day is when I saw them) but then thought to myself, "Gee, what is the purpose of making a cupcake smaller and heart-shaped? P.S. You don't even like cupcakes!" (It has to do with the frosting and the messiness - cupcakes are inefficiently designed - the frosting should go in the middle, as it will be in my muffin store someday). So my physical self obeyed my mental self and reluctantly put them back. I did end up buying some Christmas ornaments because they had little snow-globes I liked.

I got back to Julia's and after working on my internship applications, I had dinner (hotdogs and potato puree - both items seem to be quite popular in Spain) in my room, while watching The Santa Clause on my computer. I was quite content.

Julia came back from her dinner a few minutes ago wearing a fur-lined cape. Not many people can pull that look off and she can, so I'll give her that (although I do not support the amount of fur she has in her closet, which I highly doubt is faux). She's very well dressed and I've decided that her clothing budget is through the roof.

Now, as pictures didn't happen yesterday (I had an hour and a half long conversation with the family instead) - I'm going to do that right now.

Una Noche en Kapital

(The entrance to Kapital in Madrid, Spain)

Yesterday, I didn't wake up until 11:30. What's even greater is that I woke up on my own, without an alarm clock annoyingly blaring in my ear. After breakfast, I read a few articles for my Economics paper, and then ate lunch with Julia. We had a nice long chat about braces, of all things, (I picked up some new vocabulary there). Then I went back to pretending to be productive. Julia and Paquita had been talking about how nice it was outside, and when I got bored of doing work, I decided to go for a walk before dinner. I checked Google maps (because I can't be trusted to find anything on my own) and found a park that looked about half an hour away and a route that didn't involve making any turns (the only way I won't get lost).

So I headed out, wearing my new scarf, which makes me feel awfully snazzy. It was pretty windy, though, and my new scarf kept blowing into my face, which detracted from my snazziness. I got to El Parque de Rodríguez Sahagún - which was right where I thought it would be - and walked around for a bit. There were lots of people walking their dogs, some joggers, and a few couples playing Bocce Ball (P.S. When writing this I didn't know what the name of the game was, so I went to Google and doubtfully typed in, "italian sport balls court old people" and it came right up). I climbed up a hill and from the top, got a view of Madrid I wasn't expecting. Madrid seems to be built on somewhat of a hill, so their were sloping views off into the distance.

It was getting dark, and after taking some pictures of the view, I walked back down to the park. I saw a jogger coming towards me on the path and didn't pay him any attention until I saw that he was wearing a black mask. It looked like a creepy mask, too. I almost dropped my camera and ran in the other direction. But because (apparently) I would rather get stolen by a scary man in a black mask than actually break into a run, I just froze right there in the middle of the sidewalk. He got closer and I realized that it was just a black ski mask and that he had no evil intentions. Still, it was not cold enough to warrant the use of such an alarming ski mask. I also learned that I'll be a dead duck if anyone ever tries to steal me. . .

I got back to Julia's and ate dinner (calamari and rice) by myself because Julia was off at a concert. I ate quickly because I had to get ready for the one-and-only 7-story discotheque, Kapital! The place is a must-do in Madrid for discotheque loving types, and as I am of the discotheque loving variety, I was pretty excited. Lizzie, my intercambio Jennifer, and her friend Sara, and I were all getting together for the occasion. We were meeting at 10 for tapas, so I met Lizzie at Nuevos Ministerios and we took the train to Atocha. We all headed over to the tapas bar, which is one of Jennifer's favorites.

In most tapas bars in Madrid, you order drinks and then get free food, so Jennifer ordered a pitcher of sangria for the table and we got a plate of sandwiches on the side. There were three different kinds of sandwiches which were all good - hotdogs and cheese, jam and cheese, and a tomato spread. The sangria was surprisingly good, too. Lizzie is a connoisseur of sangria, so whenever she orders a glass, I get to try a sip and learn from a professional. She actually didn't like this one as much because you couldn't taste the wine, but in my records, it's the best one we've tried yet. I finished my first glass and it was refilled so that we could empty the first pitcher and get a second, which would result in a second plate of food - patatas bravas (essentially french fries with a topping of an aioli sauce and a spicy sauce). We plowed through that and the ladies were saying that the second pitcher of sangria was even sweeter than the first. So I finished my second glass of sangria so that I could try the new one (groundbreaking, I know). It was tastier, but I stopped after half a glass on principle. Glasses of sangria: 2.5. Effects: Nada (apparently, those beers given to me as a child by Dziad upped my tolerance more than I would have expected).

Then at about midnight - Kapital! We could have gotten in for free (we were on the list - Jennifer knows one of the bouncers) but we ended up paying 15 euros for admittance and two "free" drinks. Since the drinks at Kapital are upwards of 12 euros, it was a better deal. I knew that by six in the morning, I'd be wanting a Coke, too. Here's an outline of how that conversation usually goes:

Me: "A Coke, please."

Bartender: "With what?"

Me: "A glass and two ice cubes."

So we paid and got in. We were pretty early, so there was no one there and we had the place to ourselves for some photo shoots. We toured all 7 stories and then ended up in the karaoke room (Lizzie and Jennifer are big fans). There was literally no one there, so even I went once with Lizzie. We had to sing Brittany Spears, though, because it was about the only song on the list that I knew. I've accepted that I'm a failure at popular culture and have moved on.

Once people started to arrive we started dancing. One of the bartenders gave us free tequila shots, but I was not drinking that nasty stuff. Then we danced until 6 am. Kapital had lots of cool rooms to explore (which included the top floor, where during the summer, they open the roof and you can see the stars all night from the lounges and beds (?) that are set up all over the place), and on the main dance floor they have go-go dancers and this huge air-conditioning blower thing that they turn on in bursts that blows your clothes and hair all over the place (if only I had my snazzy scarf). There weren't too many people there because it was Thursday night, so no cuties, but plenty of friendly non-cuties that were promptly dismissed. Yay for Kapital!

Jennifer and Sara left at 5:30, when the last night-bus took off, but Lizzie and I stayed and danced until 6. We hopped on the train and I got back to Julia's at about 6:45 and was in bed by 7. I slept until 2 and woke up in time for lunch (eggplant/tomato something - really good). Julia and I talked for a bit and she even told me sit with her on the couch because I was conversing so well. But then she had to leave because her sister called and told her about a sale on meat at the butcher's. She ran off with wallet in hand. I worked all afternoon on Economics and then had dinner. Ever since it's been Christmas music and picture uploading. I'll see if I can get some up tonight.

Una Semana de Exámanes

(The view from inside El Palacio de Cristal in El Parque del Retiro)

I have only one exam and one paper left. Yippee!! I have had a constant stream of essays and tests for the past three days, therefore, I haven't seen sunlight (quite literally) for about a week as I have been closed in my room with the blinds shut to prevent distraction. Oh, finals week - how you deprive me of Vitamin D.

Saturday and Sunday: I legitimately did not leave my room, except to take exciting trips to the kitchen or bathroom. Memorizing all of Spanish history in Spanish is not fun - they have much more history than the US does and have been conquered way too many times. Plus, all the Muslim Emirs have practically the same name: Abderrahman I, Abderrahman II, Abderrahman III, Alhakem, Almanzor, and Almudatar, to name a few. Plus, since this class is an art history class, I needed to memorize all the art and architecture styles, important people, and dates of every time someone took a paintbrush to lienzo. And, as a matter of fact, I don't even know what lienzo is in English! Linen? Canvas? Can't be sure.

Monday: I had my Spanish grammar test today. I had memorized all of my tenses, (which were taking up valuable space that was needed for El Siglo del Oro) and was ready to go. I took a couple of online quizzes for practice and then noticed that I hadn't yet taken the Commands with Pronouns section. So I quickly answered the 20 questions and submitted my test for scoring. I got 15 out of 20 wrong. I nearly had a heart attack. With about 3 minutes until I needed to leave for my test, I had no time to further cram these answers into my head, and was now hyperventilating. I ran to the metro with notes in hand, trying to memorize the rules for the conjugations, which I had thought were already filed away nicely in some corner of my brain. I got to the test in a panic and decided to stop studying and gave myself a pep-talk, instead. We were handed our tests and for the first three pages I couldn't remember anything as my heart rate was way too high for concentration. By page four, I started to calm down and concentrate, and I think by the end of the test, I had figured almost everything out. Commands with Pronouns wasn't even on there.

Tuesday: I had to get up pretty early to go hand in my Historia del Presente paper. Six pages, in Spanish, on pollution and recycling in Spain. It's some pretty scintillating stuff. Next was my Spanish composition test. The test consisted of 5 essays to be written in Spanish, which were conveniently phrased so that we had to use all our different tenses. Teachers can be tricky that way. Luckily for me, the test was open-note, and two of the test essays were very similar to ones we had written earlier in the semester (which had been corrected and handed back to us). I simply had to re-copy my notes. I can only hope that the test went well, because it is my personal belief that one cannot just magically change their writing style; in their first language and especially in a second language that they can't even remember the conjugations for. So I went home afterwards and studied for Ana's final (the art history one) by pacing around my room and memorizing my study sheets. I made it to about 2 am (having slept for only 4 hours the night before, as well) before deciding that I needed to sleep and could finish studying the next morning. So I set my alarm for 4:30 and went to bed.

Today: I woke up with my alarm, turned on the light, and fell back asleep. Shoot. I woke up at 7:23 and needed to leave for my test by 7:30. Shoot. I skipped a shower, breakfast, and most importantly: studying! I passed another stressful metro ride pouring over my notes. I got to class just in time and Ana handed us our test packets, which consisted of 6 photos (paintings, floorplans, and photos of buildings). We needed to write a short essay about the artistic and historic context of 5 of them. We only had an hour and a half, which would have been barely enough time for me to write those essays in English, and this test needed to be in Spanish, por supuesto. So I just put nouns next to verbs next to some random conjugations and prepositions. I hope it's at least readable.

I then took the train with Kevin to Carlos III, because I wanted to print out some sources for my Economics paper that's due next week. But first, I had meetings with two of my Intercambios, Rosy and Ivy. Rosy and I had lunch, and good thing, as I was starved. She asked me for help with her English homework - of which I knew very little. She asked me why we say, "Having played sports for 10 years. . ." and then, "I would have liked if my parents had taught me. . ." and I had no idea where to go with that. So learning English is hard, too, (it made me feel somewhat accomplished). I then met with Ivy, and she took me to a hot chocolate café. Yay! I got a white hot chocolate and it was delicious - it came with a cookie (a cracker) and gummy bears. The only problem was that everyone in that place was smoking, including Ivy, and I came out of there smelling like an ashtray. Eek.

I had to go to the library quickly, because I realized my books where overdue (by only a day). I checked the online system to see what the fines where, and it said 2 euros per book per day. I thought that was a bit steep so I scurried on over to the library to hand in the one book I had with me (I have three out altogether). Turns out it's not a 2 euro fine, but a 2 day restriction on taking out books in the future. If I had known that, I would have kept it for another week. I then went to the computer lab in an attempt at productivity, but it wasn't happening. I switched to a different building, to see if I could focus better there, but no such luck. I walked back to the train and I've not done much since. I worked on some internship applications, studied 2 chapters for my economics test next week (a subject in English - hurrah!), and eaten dinner with Julia.

Tidbits I've learned about Spain this week:

1.) Catholic Spain refuses to acknowledge the existence of Santa Claus, so Spaniards do not get presents on December 25th. Rather, they get/give presents on January 6th (Epiphany) that are delivered by the Three Wise Men. And instead of leaving out cookies, they leave out shoes filled with straw for the camels. Maybe that's where the whole cookie problem started.

2.) Spaniards don't believe in heating their homes. It is frigid outside and I have a huge bay window in my room with a metal frame (that acts like a big ice cube). Therefore, my room is frigid, as well. The radiator is barely on and the other day, I came back from Carlos III and found that Paquita had left my window open. It was probably 50 degrees. This was good in that it kept me awake while studying, but bad in the fact that my hands were so purple I couldn't write anything.

3.) The Christmas light displays in Madrid are extensive, but are not kept on for very long. This is because there is a currently an energy crisis and they need to save money. But what I don't understand is why they then turn the lights on at 6 pm, when everybody is still at work.

4.) Foreign credit cards cannot be used to purchase metro passes. The ticket machines will reject your card no matter how many times you attempt to force it into the slot. If you do not have enough cash on you to purchase your month pass on the first of December, you will have to count your coins until you reach 4 euros which will buy you a round-trip ticket to Parla. Also, you should note that if you are going to Carlos III, you do not need to buy a round-trip ticket all the way to Parla, because you get off at Las Margaritas. A round-trip ticket to Las Margaritas is only 2 euros. Some of us have learned this the hard way.

I am going to sleep now. Finally.

¡Qué Semana!

(El Estadio de Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain)

Yikes! I'm getting behind on my blogging. Let's see if I can remember any of what I did this past week. . .

Monday: My Spanish class was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday (the professor had a family emergency), so I had to inform Julia that I would be around for lunch. Now if you remember, the last time this occurred, it ended with me in tears, so I was a tad nervous as I walked into the salon. But she handled it quite well, I thought, (maybe because Ines was there) and a few hours later we sat down for lunch. I had to head off right away to meet my new Intercambio, Rosy. She is a PhD student in computer science working on her thesis, which she said might be as long as 1,000 pages (I don't know that many words in Spanish and English put together and repeated seven times). It turns out that Rosy is from Mexico, and we ended up chatting for a solid hour about how abrupt and rude Spaniards are. She even brought it up! So there seems to be an official difference in mannerisms between the mother country and all of us poor colonized schmucks. . .

Tuesday: I had Historia del Presente this morning and was thoroughly annoyed that other people were saying that they had already started their essays (due in one week). I hadn't done anything for my paper but bookmark about 17 websites on my Internet browser and print out some newspaper articles about recycling. So after class, I stuck around campus and got all my sources together and made an outline so that I felt accomplished. I got back to Julia's in time for lunch (ham rolls and lentils) and then plunked myself down and started writing. I had planned to write about pollution: land, air, and water, but by 10 pm, I had finished writing about just land and my paper was 3/4 long enough. Unlike the average time-saving student I did not decide to stretch what I had, rather, I decided to delete about half of what I had and go back and write about air and water, too. I think it's things like this that make my stress level so high.

Wednesday: Today was the last day of Ana's class. We we were all hoping for some guidance in studying for the final. We've covered all of Spain's history plus a good amount of the relevant art that goes along with it. She's told us that we will be shown 6 slides and will need to write a mini-essay for 5 of them - in Spanish, of course. Someone asked if the slides would just be paintings we've seen, and she responded that the slides could be anything, from buildings, to paintings, to pictures of people. Gulp. After class, we all had to run to our last 2 hour Historia class. I spent a good deal of the class reading about the economic history of Japan. Historia, as a class, really isn't designed very well. We write an essay about a topic of our choosing as our only grade - there is absolutely no incentive to go to class, (except to learn, I guess, or read economics articles). I ate lunch with Lizzie in Getafe, (I had brought ham rolls and peppers from home) and then we toured the nearby supermarket before I had to run back to Spanish class. The professor told us that the class was essentially finished and that no new information would be on our final, so that was a relief. But then she told us she's giving us back our last tests, but that first we were going to work in pairs, take the test again, and correct those tests in class as review. Now, when I take a test, I like to write down everything I know, hand the test in, and not think about it again until I see my grade. I am very superstitious with tests and have a whole process worked out. I do not like to be tortured by having to take the test a second time and wonder twice whether I had put down the correct answers or not. It was an agonizing class for me. But I did fine, so I just want to get through the final. Then I had my weekly meeting with Jennifer - the Spanish week - a little rough, but still good. We discussed frosting, which apparently is another thing that I am going to have to introduce to the Spanish culture. Jennifer and I decided to have a baking fiesta next week, so I can demonstrate another of the wonders of America to her. We then walked back to the train and got churros con chocolate (they have set up a semi-sketchy churros stand set up in the parking lot of the train station). Then I had to hurry home and change because I was off to the Real Madrid vs. Zurich fútbol game at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium! A bunch of people were going and we were meeting at TGIF's for dinner beforehand. I grabbed my Real Madrid bufanda (Spanish for a scarf) and walked to the restaurant. We all sat and ate - I had chicken fingers (which were exorbitantly priced - 11 euros), and almost felt like I was back at one of the BC football games (I do miss BC's chicken fingers). We then headed to our gate. There were people everywhere - Real Madrid is the biggest team in Madrid and one of the biggest teams in Spain and it was rumored that Christiano Ronaldo (currently the highest paid fútbol player in the world) was playing for the first time since his injury. We climbed to our seats - the only ones we could afford were high enough to make the field look like a fuse-ball table - and started unlayering (although it was pretty cold outside, the stadium has these huge overhead heaters, and we were right up there next to them). The game was fun to watch - it goes much faster than football - and Real Madrid won 1-0. And Ronaldo played, which was probably the most exciting part. Lizzie and I walked around afterwards and ended up going back to Julia's apartment. Julia and Ines were both asleep, but we tiptoed around as I gave her the tour. The house is practically a museum. Then Lizzie went home and I tried to get some work done, but since it was about midnight, not much was accomplished.

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! I had my last CEH class today (the classes for Americans) and only have 2 or 3 econ classes left (a Grados class - for Spanish kids - they go longer). After class, all the BC kids met at the Prado for Ana's tour (just packing in another 20 paintings or so for our test which is in less than a week). It is interesting to actually get an explanation of the paintings, though, so I enjoyed the tour. Then when that was finished, it was off to Thanksgiving dinner! The BC program booked us all a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Cornucopia restaurant (?) so we all had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (2 servings for me - Lizzie didn't like hers), spinach, cranberry sauce, and walnut bourbon pie. Satisfactory, but still not like home. There are quite a few BC families visiting over Thanksgiving break, so it was nice to meet friends' parents and see how similar they look to their parents. It was a good time, but I missed everyone back home. Then Lizzie and I walked to Plaza de España and took the metro to Nuevos Ministerios. We ended up walking to McDonald's for McFlurries and chatting for a solid 2.5 hours (sitting on a bench outside in the rain after McDonals's started to close). I then hopped back on the metro and got to Julia's by midnight and turned out some more of my Historia paper.

Today: I studied. I have not even seen daylight because my blinds have been shut to prevent distraction. I only left the room for lunch, dinner, and bathroom breaks, so I would like to think I was somewhat productive. I studied for my Spanish final (on Monday and Tuesday), wrote more of my Historia paper (due Tuesday) and studied for Ana's final (on Wednesday). Still plenty to do and I don't think I will be leaving the room the rest of this weekend, unless I run out of food and need to go to the supermarket. I'm always a wreck during finals, so it's best for me to just remove myself from society for a few days. But I'm currently in quite a good mood, because since Thanksgiving is over, I can officially start listening to Christmas music. I had started within four hours of finishing my turkey. I have more Christmas songs on my iPod than non-Christmas songs, so I need to get started right away. Sometimes I burst out in song, which probably alarms the neighbors, but since I'm under finals stress, I think it's completely acceptable. Currently playing: White Christmas from "Christmas Sing with Frank and Bing." Love it!

Día Tres con Las Amigas

(Me, Lauren, and Melinda at La Puerta del Sol in Madrid)

Sunday: We gave ourselves an extra hour this morning and didn't meet until 10:15 at La Tirso de Molina, the metro stop closest to the girls' hostel and El Rastro. Before heading to El Rastro, we stopped at the Starbucks in Sol, as the girls were craving the muffins and coffee that isn't available in Parma. I got a chocolate muffin and a small hot chocolate, so I was content.

We then walked to the Rastro while having a conversation about the spirit world (is that what people call it?). Melinda's aunt is a medium and/or exorcism-er (she has a collection of possessed items in a tunnel in her house). I told Melinda I have a possessed iHome and two computer speakers to add to the collection (the iHome turns on by itself and slides back and forth between different radio channels and you can hear voices talking in my speakers when they're not even plugged into the computer). Me and technology - it's a fun relationship. Lauren said her parents have been to a couple group medium events and that her mom is convinced about the spirit world. It was an interesting chat.

El Rastro was as crowded as ever, but Lauren managed to find a cool sweatshirt and a belt. We walked around for a while, looking at all the stuff for sale and all the people, and then got on the metro and hopped over to El Banco de España, a good place for tourist pictures. One woman asked me to take her and her friends' pictures and even showed me exactly where to hold the camera. I moved a little on the first one and she made me take another. So afterwards, I had her take our picture. Then we walked to El Prado and wandered through the different exhibits. The place is huge and I know very little about art, but with Ana's class, I'm starting to pick up a little bit more, and art museums are becoming a little bit more interesting (although I think I still prefer the science museums).

After the Prado we were outside, walking back towards Banco de España when we saw a lady in a green trench coat running and jumping on the benches that line the street. We didn't find anything strange in this, as just yesterday, we were rolling down hills in Retiro, so we're not really in the position to judge. I became alarmed, when a little bit further down the sidewalk, we saw her on top of one of the streetlamps, feeling the lightbulb. She jumped down and we noticed that she was just wearing a trench coat and boots, nothing else. She then ran over to one of the street vendors and licked one of the paintings he had on display. He shooed her away really quickly so she turned around and started following a woman who was walking towards the Prado. The second woman had no idea she was being followed and having her hair sniffed by this other lady. By this point we had stopped in our tracks and were just watching her, trying to figure out whether she was un poco loca or on drugs. She ran over to a low billboard advertising the Prado and felt the lips of the woman in the advertised painting. We decided she was a little crazy. She kept running around and following people, and then she ran off up some stairs. Very strange - incredibly strange. We kept walking, me a little nervous that we were being followed by the lady in the green trench coat.

We got to Pans & Company for lunch, a wonderful place that I've mentioned quite a few times before. It's just a fast food sandwich shop, but it is fantastic. During lunch, we got onto the subject of Melinda's pageant past, which I had known nothing about. Apparently, she won one of California's scholarship pageant competitions (which is more prestigious than the beauty competitions), and had she not moved to North Carolina, would have been in the running for Miss California. She had walking training and interview questions and everything. That's pretty cool.

After a quick stop at Haagen-Daaz, we took the metro back to the hostel and the girls checked out. We headed to the airport and off they flew back to Italy (which they love, by the way. I'm a bit jealous of their food situation, to say the least). I took the metro back to Julia's and although I tried to be productive, I promptly fell asleep at my computer, an occurrence which probably had something to do with only getting nine hours of sleep throughout the entire weekend. I woke up and remembered that I needed to design the guide covers for my Spanish class and send them to the teacher, so I did that quickly, only to find out that the files were too big to send with my internet connection. I figured out how to send them eventually and then Julia called me for dinner. Ines is still here and I really hope she sticks around. She really nice, keeps Julia occupied all day, and helps keep the conversations going (sometimes Julia and her just talk and I don't need to say anything at all!) She also made Julia buy a Pandoro (an Italian breakfast cake) and a box of cookies, so she's okay in my book.

Must sleep - I'll try to catch up more tomorrow!