Estamos en el Metro....?

It has been a great, but busy past few days! I'm really going to try to just give a quick run through of what has happened as it is all really kind of a blur right now. Wednesday, was the Spain vs. Switzerland fútbol game! A large group of us went to a local bar to watch the game on a very nice screen with our fellow Spaniards. There was actually a large screen set up outside the Real Madrid stadium, however, it was very cold that day so we decided to stay inside (though were it a bigger game I totally would've been out there!). It was really fun to be in the atmosphere of the Spaniards supporting their team, and cheering right along with them (needless to say our new Swedish friend was on cloud 7 the next day (yes there he informed me it is could 7- the US would always be higher, haha) ). On the way home, Erin and I were starving and wanted to check out a little combo deal at our Helado place. Best decision ever! You get a soft drink, sandwich, and ice cream for 5.50. The sandwich was ham and cheese on a croissant, toasted. PHENOMENAL. The croissant was sweet and warm and OH! Anyways, that night was CARMEN! Now... I had been excited about seeing the opera since almost day one of class when one of the professors that came on our trip told us it was in town. It is a French opera but it is set in Spain! A large group of us decided it was worth the price and headed to the opera! This was my first opera! (Other than those that I have seen/been in at Samford), so I was shaking with excitement. Though I felt a bit bad as some girls assumed it would be in Spanish. When the show begin, I'm not going to lie... I was a bit nervous. The theater was small but I thought nothing of it, until the opening chorus was a little weak. I began to wonder about the level of opera we would be watching. However, after the first scene or so, as the leads took over more and maybe the chorus loosened up... but it was PHENOMENAL! I got LOST in the story. Everyone was laughing at me as I was laughing, or jumping at surprises. The music was beautiful! I knew a little of the story line before we went, though I wish I had known a bit more to truly understand. Still, the music spoke enough. It was definitely tugging at my romantic heartstrings. Anyways, it was a bit long (8:30-12:00 with three breaks in between). We were all exhausted but we knew it was worth it (especially as we were belting opera music in the streets of Madrid). Erin and I headed back home... to a bit of a long night. Here's the set up. Erin and I both had our own rooms, and then there is another room with two twin beds. Two girls from Austin Peay had slept there. However, one of the girls decided she did not want to leave quite yet and is here for another week. Then we now have our sweet chica Italiana, Maria. However, she is paying for her own room... she was in the room with Nikki (also someone she does not know which is awkward anyways). So, Erin and I decided it was best for both of us to just move into the double room. We had not had a good time where most of us were together, so we moved all of our stuff at about 1:00 in the morning (after eating dinner around 12:30, mind you). We also had to move one of the girls' things as she was out enjoying the night (she has no school now). We were a little frustrated, but it was all fine. We just wanted to sleep because we had oral exams the next day. Our night was not quite as restful as we had hoped and I won't get into the details but we'll just say we are again glad that our friend made it home safely that night. Oy. Anyways that morning, we had class as usual. Afterwards, we went to El Senado! The Spanish senate! Classic moment thought, we were riding in the metro and my sweet friend Taylor in Spanish 201 asks our tour guide "Donde estamos?" For those who don't know... this means "Where are we?" Laticia looks at him a bit confused and replies "Estamos en el Metro..." -"We are in the Metro." It was CLASSIC! HAHA Of course he meant to say "Adonde vamos?"- "Where are we going?" He and I were just dying laughing. Another great part was when one of the girls in my group looked at me like I was crazy, saying "It's not THAT funny..." Taylor and I looked at each other and bursted out laughing again, haha. I just assured her that it's the little things that make me laugh. As most of you know, it does not take much. Anyways, the senate was really neat to see. It was a beautiful building and we were actually able to see where they hold meetings and vote and all that neat stuff ( You political people would've loved it I'm sure). They had this beautiful library that had the ladder and upper level with a banister (like in Beauty and the Beast!). I know I learned a lot, but I have to say the moment we sat down where they vote I was struggling to keep my eyes open. It was really neat though to know that half of the building had been around since the 16th century! (They also gave us really sweet gifts and we met the Senator of Toledo!). After El Senado we were walking back to the metro and saw some stands with cute clothes/accessories (which we of course had to take a peak at) but ended up at a cafe practicing for our oral exams. It was really nice. I had my café con leche and Erin had her sadwich, while we talked to each other in Spanish. Let me just say, their toasted ham and cheese was like yummy grilled cheese, but with ham. So good! (We were so Spanish, lol). After that I went to the beautiful Retiro park for my oral exam. It was such a gorgeous day to enjoy Retiro (If I lived in Spain I would be there all the time). I was thankful to have Dr. Crider as my "examiner." He is an older man. He is a bit reserved, but very funny and just has that grandfatherly voice of wisdom. We talked about what I would do with my Spanish, my experience here, what I will do at home, etc. I feel that it went alright. I don't know that it was as awesome as I had hoped or not. He gave me some constructive criticism (verbs, something I already knew), though he did encourage me that I can get my point across well and if I stopped speaking and learning more it would be a shame. After that burden was lifted, I still had to study for my final exams. First, however, I needed a little siesta. And oh how beautiful it was. After that I started studying my grammar and culture, and before I knew it was dinner time. After dinner my plans for studying with friends fell through so I finished studying here. I don't know where the time went as suddenly it was midnight and I was exhausted. I decided to get up early the next day and finish studying as I was pooped from the night before. Well... that failed a little bit but I ended up fine, waking up at 7:00 to finish studying. I had plenty of time and headed out for my LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! Today I had a grammar exam first. I am really not worried about this, however, afterwards was culture. There were only 25 short answer questions. I was already nervous, as there was a LOT of information to study. As for the test... I think I did fine, but definitely not my best. There were a lot of things in the test that I feel like we had not truly covered in class very well, but hey. You win some, you lose some. I have been trying not to stress about grades here as, honestly... in the long run experiencing Spain is so much more important (though I am such a nerd in the way that I love my culture class). After finishing class and saying goodbye to our sweet professora Rosa, some of my chicas and I went to see the Torres Kios. They are two towers (just businesses) that are leaning in towards each other. I'm sure architects would be fascinated. There was not a whole lot to do there, but we checked that site off our list. I then came back to rest a little while which felt AMAZING, because afterwards we went to learn FLAMENCO! One of our friends had talked with a lady that has her own studio so four of us went to learn! We had an hour lesson for just the four of us! We had long skirts and high heels to use while we were dancing! It was so fun and very difficult! I honestly don't remember a whole lot, as she would just start dancing and we would follow so I was watching her most of the time for what to do. She was so sweet and kept telling us how talented and what fast learners we are. She wanted us to come back so she could make show for us. She was so sweet and learning the beautiful traditional dance was so much fun (and exhausting!) I then came back to switch shoes and head to buy a few more souvenirs, as well as get distracted by beautiful things in the stores here. I did not buy anything for myself as I'm trying to be a good girl with my money. Still, I cannot get over all of the beautiful clothes here. It's possible that they are just so incredible to me because they are a little different, but truly I could buy entire stores almost! I really think if I lived in Madrid, however, I would become very materialistic after buying so much beautiful clothing and shoes. Oy. Afterwards, I came back home for a shower, dinner, and now I'm going to prepare my little spiel for our excursion tomorrow and head to bed. I realize that it is Friday night and I'm done with classes so I should be celebrating in the streets of Spain. However, I'm exhausted and honestly I think I need a little alone time to reflect/prepare myself for the rest of the weekend, which I'm sure will involve minimal sleep (I really don't know how they do it here). Funny story about dinner tonight, Carmen (26) was telling us about her terrible experience studying in Ireland. She had told her "madre" that she did not like cheese. However, she always made her things with cheese. Also, if she told her she did not like something else, she would serve that to her the next day. As she was explaining this she said she thinks the lady was trying to ______ her. She used a verb I did not understand. I asked what that was and she says "F***" AH! You all know how that word makes me cringe, though in this case I was DYING laughing. Granted she has studied a fair amount of English, but of all the words to know! HAHA! Madre was trying not to giggle saying "que fea Carmen." She also told us about how she hated tomato soup, so she would use her cell phone to call the house and wait until the madre was answering the phone and then dump the soup in a plant! HAHAH! Anyways, hooray for being done with classes and getting closer and closer to our tour of Andalucĺa. I cannot wait! Please people comment and tell me how your lives our! Se me echa de menos!