Madrid!

Hola todas personas!

It is Monday and I just got back from class, Mondays are so long. But, I had a great weekend! Molly, Sarah and I flew to Madrid to see Leah and Patterson and it was SOO fun. I absolutely LOVE Madird - it is so pretty and lively! We got there on Friday and went and put our stuff in our hostel, which was so cute. It wasn't super nice, but it reminded me of a homestay and the people who owned it were so nice. Sarah, Molly and I had our own room with a bathroom and everything so it really felt like a hotel. After we put our stuff down (it was already dark out so no sight-seeing) we went to a restaurant called "La Tosta" that had the BEST sangria! So we got some Sangria and some dinner - I had a bocadillo with scrambled eggs and salmon that was really good! Patty got the same thing. Then we went to a bar that was serving Euro beers so we stayed there for a while and watched the olympics. While we were there I heard one of the waiters say "y'all" so naturally I stopped him and asked him where he was from and everything. He wasn't very nice - he was from Texas and I think people like us are the reason why he moved to Barcelona. He wasn't having it. So after we watched the Olympics we went to a place called O'Connels where we actually got carded! I was so surprised, but not really. The bar tender thought we were under 18. It was kind of embarassing but funny at the same time. After we met up with Grace Perry and Paul we went to a bar called Bourbon Cafe, which was quite the experience. We didn't have anything to drink because it was really expensive, however we did watch a drag show! We were all dancing and noticed the boys dancing with each other but didn't realize until the next day that we were at a GAY BAR! But - it was really fun! I'll post some pics of the drags - they were great!

The next day we got up and going around 11 and met up with Patterson and Leah. We went to the Royal Palace and on the way we got stuck in the Chinese New Year Parade! Who knew there were SO MANY Chinese people in Madrid! It was so funny! After we went to the Royal Palace we went to Plaza Mayor and ate lunch outside but it was so cold! I had a bocadillo con torilla y pimiento and a cafe con leche. After lunch we took the metro to Park Retiro, which was SO pretty! We wondered around there for an hour or two then GP, Paul and I went to the del Prado Museum where I saw many paintings from the Renaissance, Baroque, Neo Classical and Romantic periods - including "Las Meninas" by Velazquez, which was really neat! The museum is supposed to take days to get through but I managed it in under 2 hours. Then we went to dinner where Molly and Patterson met up with their friend who is from/lives in Madrid that they studied with 5 years ago! Her name is Elena and it was SO CUTE to see all of them reuinted! We went and ate at this place called VIPS that Elena took us to which was actually really American, haha.

On Sunday, we had to be out of the hostal at 11 so when we got up, Molly went to go meet her other friends that live in Madrid and Sarah and I went to the Reina Sofia musuem, which has a huge Picasso, Miro and Dali collection. We saw Picasso's "Guernica" which was absolutely massive and really, really cool. We spent about 2 hours in there, then went to lunch. (I am not going to say where). Then, we met up with Molly and Patterson and said our farewells and went to the airpot to find that our flight was 2 hours delayed :(. So0o, we hung out in the airport for a little while and got back to our homestay around 945. Elena had soup and chicken waiting for us which was really yummy! This morning Molly and I got up and went to a spin class at the gym - fun!

Well I am starving and I think our dinner is almost ready. I am going to Carnival tomorrow, which should be really fun - also a late night! Adios amigos - i will blog again soon!

Love,
Mimi

Birthday Weekend!

Hello Everyone!

It feels so great to be 21, finally! And, I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than being in Barcelona with so many friends! Thanks so much to all who came - even though you would've come to Barca anyways, it was so great that you came on my birthday weekend! I had a BLAST! However, my birthday didn't start out so great - On friday morning, Molly and I got in trouble with our host mom because we eat too much fruit - she was monitoring the number of fruit we ate each day, it was really strange. Then, we went on a two hour search for my passport that fell out of my carry-on bag when our maid came and we eventually found it under a huge, immobile dresser, which could only accessed from behind and was pushed up against the wall. It was scary to say the least, but things could only go up from that point. After we class, Molly, Sarah, Grace Perry and I met up with Patterson, Amy and Leah and all went out to eat at this FABULOUS mexican restaurant. I got a quesadilla and a mojito - i'm definitely taking visitors there! We stayed at the bar for a little bit and I insisted that the bartender look at my ID, since thats what they do in the states. He didn't really understand, but it was fun. Then we went to the Arc de Triumph and to Park de la ciutadella - currently one of my favorite places in Barcelona. That took up pretty much the whole afternoon and so Molly and I came back to our homestay, took small naps, showered and went to go meet up with our friends at their hostel. For dinner we all split up because there was 18 of us...! But I ended up getting some bread and manchego cheese which is soo good. I learned about it the other day in my foods class so when I saw it, I knew I had to try it. Then we all met back up with our friends and went to a bar called Ryans, which was SO FUN! The Australian bartender was so nice and made sure we had a lot of fun! Then we went to a bar called Chupitos (chupito is the spanish word for "shot") where they have over 300 shots but we weren't there for very long. Then we headed to a club called Shoko's, which was really fun - but unfortunately two of my friends were pick-pocketed :(. However, we made it back to our house safely around 4:30. On Saturday, we took our friends to the beach and to Park Guell - because you have to see that when you come to Barcelona -- and just walked around the city. For dinner, Molly, Amy, Patterson, Leah and I went to this small Spanish restaurant where we got pizza's which were really good, but they kind of reminded me of lunchables. Then we headed to meet some friends at Dow Jones, a bar that has a stock market atmosphere and every time the "stock market" crashes the drinks go half price! It's a really fun atmosphere - but i was so tired from the night before. We had some trouble getting Amy to the airport, but it eventually worked out and we got home around 3:30, we were soo tired! Today we went to lunch with Patterson and Leah before we saw them off to the airport - however, we will see them this weekend when we go to Madrid! I am sooo excited!! It'll be fun to do something different, even though I love Barcelona!
We have classes tomorrow and I'm not going to lie, Mondays are super long! I start class at 12:25 and don't get out of class until 7:00. But tomorrow I have a field trip for my 5:00 class so it should go by pretty fast! My classes are going well, we haven't really had any grades yet so I don't know how strict my teachers are going to be with the grading scale. My favorite class is definitely the Picasso;Miro;Dali class - the teacher is really entertaining and I really like the subject. I like my architecture class too because we take a lot of field trips, but I can't decide if the class is going to be easy or hard. We have our first midterm the day that John leaves Barcelona - haven't quite figured out how I'm going to tackle that one but I'm sure it will all work out. I LOVE my EU teacher. His name is Sinan and he's from Turkey. He has an extremely heavy accent so it's kind of hard to understand him but he also has a huge vocabulary, which I find pretty cool considering his first language is Turkish? Then Spanish and then English. Wow! My Spanish class is the same - really like the teacher, Raul. He's really cool. My foods class is actually the hardest. I love to eat food and try to cook, however reading about it hasn't been all that interesting so I'm hoping it will pick up.
Well I have a lot of homework and reading to do - food paper due on tuesday! (Only class that has been giving me assignments.) I will update before I go to Madrid - PROMISE! Oh yeah - and I promise I'm not just going to bars - it was just a big weekend for that sort of thing because it was my 21st, haha. Thanks for reading everyone!!

Love,
Mimi