So I finished Saturday night with pasta carbonara made by Maggie-- also incredibly delicious. Arielle and I brought a baguette, some red wine, and carbonated water (gaseosa) to mix with it. I know this information will cause my mother to have a conniption, but for those of us who can't exactly handle our bitter red wine, this is delicious. We accidentally stayed till 1 am just chatting and ran out before the metro closed at 1:30.

Sunday I got up late (yes, again) and took a very long walk (about an hour) to the Prado. This would have been wonderful and invigorating, but it was raining. When I left it was only misting, then several blocks later it was drizzling, etc. 20 minutes from the museum, however, it was clearly raining. I'm so glad I wore no gloves, had no umbrella, and wore my canvas converse. Life. But we got in free so it's all ok.

I saw Velasquez and Goya and other Spanish classical painters. I wasn't as breath-taken as I was in the Reina Sofia, but some of the works were incredible. Maybe I'm more of a lover of Italian painters. Go figure. I only stayed for an hour because I wanted to meet Arielle for an early dinner in Sol. Another 20 minute walk in the pouring rain just to realize that, naturally, early dinners don't exist in Spain. We went to her favorite Italian restaurant and sat with a small dish and cappuccinos talking for an hour and a half before we ordered. This was the best meal I've had yet. The pizza with mushrooms (setas) and Italian ham (prosciutto) and five cheese and truffle gnocci were only outshone by our conversations. We talked of American education systems, economics, Belgian history, and more. As of yet, the best night I've had in Spain was right there.

I learned from my previous two mistakes and took a metro home where I promptly put on warm, dry clothes and snuggled in some blankets. I skyped back home and went to sleep.

Today was a very good day. Looking back on it with my crappy cup of tea (it's black tea but you would never be able to tell. I'm so grateful I bought a box with 50 teabags), I can only be distinctly proud of myself.

I got up later than I meant to, helped edit a personal statement, was late to meeting Maggie (yes, Dad I know that's not a good thing), but let life get better from there. Maggie and I walked around Fuencarral, a street close to her apartment that connects Alberto Aguilera (where my school is) to Gran Via (if you know Spain or Spanish you get why this street is so named). Our mission was botas. Boy did we see botas. As anyone can tell, I'm picky and a perfectionist. My mom knows this the hard way as it's generally a toss-up if I will ever wear something she buys for me (the gold earrings however, wearing now and almost every day). I know exactly what short grey boots I'm looking for and I almost found them but decided against it at the last minute. We must had gone into roughly 10 or more zapaterias (shoe stores) and still no dice. I did, however, buy a pair of short black boots for only 7 euro. Now that's a deal. The grey ones I was considering were the same price, but I just wasn't completely happy. So it goes.

Afterwards I bought a cheap slice of pizza (re: heaven) and we went back to Maggie's for some long-awaited peanut butter. We then went to our first Spanish for Foreigner's class at ICADE. Finally!!! Meeting people and making friends!!! Such a breath of fresh air! I've been spending time with Arielle's friends at SLU-- all whom I like very much-- but I really needed to meet other international kids at ICADE. Class was actually fun and not difficult. I'm hoping to organize a class outing to a bar for tapas after class sometime this week (we get out at 7:30 so that's acceptable).

I walked home (after forgetting my boots in the classroom and running back) and made a pit stop to pick up some very cheap, somewhat stale candy. It's worth it and I can't wait to eat it all! But maybe I'll make some dinner first. Some beans and tuna in a vinaigrette with a fried egg on top. Pure protein, pure deliciousness.

Tomorrow I'm planning on submitting my fianza (security deposit) with my roommate in the morning, meeting Maggie and another girl from our class to start scheduling our classes, going to Spanish class, and then meeting a friend from Marquette who's visiting Madrid to get dinner. Will I complete it all? Stay tuned to find out (even though I'm a major dork about the drama of this blog).

Things I learned today:

1. My tea sucks. Did I mention that?

2. I love shoe sales.

3. Duh.

4. My mind blanks out whenever I ask an important question. The more irrelevant something is, the better the chance I will understand it. Super.

5. I'm learning how to use a percolator. I found one in the cabinet and can't live like this anymore.

6. My English is getting worse. I was afraid of this!!

7. I hate uploading pictures, so to all my adoring fans, hold your horses.