This week has unfortunately been swamped with finals which sadly continue into next week, ew. But we're in the final stretch getting down to the end so sad! Last week was a perfect way to spend one of the lasts in Madrid. The weather was finally starting to get warmer and beautiful with clear blue sunny skies. Friday Kelley, Kelsey and I headed headed to Sol aka downtown Madrid for a day of souvenir shopping. We went to a famous bakey called La Malloquina which has been in the exact same location making mouth watering treats since 1894, I had a little chocolate with peanuts and it was heavenly.
We all had a few good finds and spent the afternoon walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather we'd been missing.
Saturday was an other day spent around Madrid doing the samethings and trying to study not so successfully...We went to a restaurant for a "study break". Its super cheap and has a bunch of little bocadillos, or sandwiches, for 1 euro or so and has large jarras of tinto verano a mix of lemonade and red wine thats perfect on a HOT day like that one. We sat out side and enjoyed the suns rays. We met these two guys from England who had previously lived in Madrid for a year and were visiting for a long weekend. They were super friendly and gave us some inside tips for the last week in Madrid. They also were nice enough to share their table with us since it was so crowded we had been waiting for a while.
Sunday was Mother's Day in Madrid and we made our senora a little card which she loved. She's so cute and even though shes a little weird, I'll miss her. She was our "madre de Espana" as I told her. Kelley, her roommate Caitlin, and I headed down to Madrid's park, Retiro for a beautiful day in the sun. We began with much needed espresso as we watched all the families enjoying the day with their mama's. We walked around, saw the glass palace, which is like a large green house and basically just pretty to look at.
After enjoying all the little turtles that live around there we decided we should try and study so we laid out our blankets to soak up some sun and relax. Sadly this is where the day turns a little sour. As we were laying there someone walked by and manged to take Caitlins whole purse right in front of us. We were all laying looking up and she was resting her feet on it but must of moved them and given someone the perfect opportunity to snatch it up. It's sick how good those theifs are here. Poor thing had her wallet, ipod, camera...basically everything in there. Of course she was distraught so they headed home to cancel her credit cards and such, and I decided to walk back. Sad sad.
As I mentioned earlier this week was beginning of finals and it was torture. I had two hard ones this week but it feels good to have those overwith at least. But one of them was one class I really enjoyed this semester, Renaissance art history. I had the cutest little teacher, she was Spanish with a super heavy accent but she had the kindest heart. She loved talking to us about our experiences in Madrid and was always so kind to everyone. A couple weeks ago she bought our class wine and jamon and taught us how to drink out of a vat that one of the kids in our class had bought. It was hilarious. We all took turns trying not to spill on ourselves as she helped us squirt the wine into our mouths and slowly move it back further. She was a champ and could hold it probably half a foot away from her mouth. She called class "the art of living in Spain" that day and it truly was.
There she is, showing us all how its done. I'll miss her! After the final she gave us all besitos good-bye. She asked if I was coming back next semester and when I said no got a sad look and said she'll miss me. Aw, broke my little heart! I'll miss you too, Curra.
My other final was one that I don't think I've ever been so happy to finish, Spanish Civilization and Culture, with the weird teacher who I'm convinced is an alien or something...no affense to aliens, I love them but not this one. He was just an odd fellow you could say. I studiest my brains out for that and am so relieved its over. It was basically knowing everything about Spain from the beginning of time till now...and then some.
So my roommate Kelsey is also keeping a blog...www.kelseyisinspain.blogspot.com if you wanna check her out! But she posted a sad but true post last week about how her and Danielle head back to the states next Wednesday...ahhh such a bittersweet sadness as they leave and I am so blessed to have my 2 best friends coming. It's such a strong mixture of emotions I can't even begin to describe. I can't even type about it it hurts too much! That'll come later. But this is all of our last weekends in Madrid since the next two I'll be traveling with my best friends around this fabulous country. Till then I'm suffering the cold weather Madrid decided to have this week...not cool! And still have 3 finals to finish up..eek! Never want this experience to end...
