I feel like Hannah Montana in the sense that I'm living a double life; my real life in Virginia is nowhere near as cool as my life here. In Virginia I go to bed early and wake up early. In Madrid I stay out until 6 AM and sleep till 12:30 in the afternoon on Sundays. In Virginia I sit in bed on Facebook when I'm bored, in Madrid I peruse Facebook while casually sipping Sangria at a cafe. In Virginia I don't talk to my teachers outside of class, In Madrid my teachers invite me to get a beer with them after class. Don't mind if I do.
The part about staying out all night last night was not a joke. Who am I and when did I become so European? Our whole group went to a club called Teatro Kapital (or just Kapital.) It's one of the biggest clubs in Europe; there are seven levels and it looks like something out of a movie. Annie and I danced for 4 hours straight and today I feel like I ran a marathon ... hopefully I burned off all the bread and gelato I've consumed (yesterday I pregamed my gelato with a churro.) I bernied a lot (Mom, google it it's a dance move) and hit probably 57 people in the face while whipping my hair. Annie is only 5'2 but she's a great bodyguard, a probably innocent man tried to talk to me and she shoved him so hard he stumbled. Oops. At 6AM when we left Kapital Annie and I were starving so we wandered for a little looking for something to eat ... we found a Dunkin Donuts. We were so happy we hugged. I think the sandwhich I ate brought my more joy than my wedding day or the birth of my firstborn child will. I never thought something frozen and subsequently nuked in the microwave would cause so many endorphins to be released in my brain.
The night before we went to an Irish pub called Dubliners. They play American music for an hour on Fridays, including Mr. Brightside and We Found Love. I'm pretty sure everyone else hated my singing but they don't speak English sooo I'm not concerned. I don't fool anyone when I pretend not to be American so I felt very comfortable doing a solo performance of the Mock Rock new girl dance.
Yesterday during the day we went to Escorial and Valle de los Caídos. There was a beautiful Monastery in Escorial and a really amazing view in Valle de los Caídos. Our excursions are so tiring but I love that I get to see so much of this country!
Being on another continent has made it clear how small of a world this is. On my very first day in Madrid, I saw a girl I know from America just casually walking down the street. We went to the same elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. A girl from my program went to the same high school as my cousin in Florida and was her AP Environmental Science lab partner. In Dubliners, Annie met an American guy who lives with her cousin at Washington and Lee. Weird!
It's also crazy how quickly you get to know people after living with them for a week. I've spent all day every day with Annie and Michelle and I could tell you more about them than some of the people I've known for years.
Today is our first completely free day; since we woke up past noon it's more of a half-free day. We found an internet cafe to eat lunch at and work on the journal we have to complete for credit at Tech. The weather has been beautiful all week. Next weekend we have an overnight excursion in Salamanca. I can't wait! I hope everyone (does anyone actually read this?) has enjoyed hearing about my antics since I've been here. HASTA LUEGO AMIGOS
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