Madrid and Morocco

Sorry about this lack of blogging but I have been ridiculously busy. I have to do all my work during the week because I'm traveling during the weekends now, and sorry but this blog gets trumped by everything else. Two weekends ago I went to Madrid and had a blast even though I wasn't even there for 48 hours. I ended up taking a midnight bus that got me there at 6am, so I sat in the station for an hour waiting for it to be light out so I could walk around the city. I walked around for about 4 hours (absolutely exhausted seeing as there was no sleeping to be had on the bus) and passed (emphasis on passed and not entered) the very famous museums of "The Prado", Reino Sofia, and another that I don't remember the name. I bummed around and hung out in the Plaza Mayor for an hour waiting to meet up with Mike, Tina, Nikki, and Brittany. Around 11 we met up, went to Parque Retiro which was awesome, and then taught the girls, who had traveled from the states that day the art of the siesta. Unfortunately I did not siesta because the housekeeping lady was going to bring towels to the room so I had to wait up for her. It didn't help that Nikki and Brittany got a double and basically smuggled me in. We ended up pushing the beds together and I slept in the crack! After their siesta and the towels never arriving we went and met Mike's host mom, Pilar who was awesome! Then we searched far and wide for a place to eat that was open (it was 6, which means everything is closed) and found some random buffet that fit the bill. After that we went back to the hostel, Mike and I laid around while the girls got ready for about 3 hours, and around 11 we all left to go to a "Botellon" with mike's madrid friends. A botellon is where you drink outside with friends. So we busted out our 2 bottles of wine for the 5 of us that cost a total of 2 euros, and then made our way to the club Kapitel (which doesn't actually open until 12). It was insane! There were 8 different floors, all with a different type of music and we definately danced on every single one. I won't go into details because I don't have much time but basically we did Karaoke to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and then danced the night, and morning away till 5:30am. Mike and I decided it would be a good idea to walk back, but the girls were ridiculously tired so we got them a cab and sent them back. We would have jumped in too but it's illegal to have 5 in a cab in Spain so we walked back, but not without making a stop at 6am at the oldest chocolateria in Madrid for some churros con chocolat! They were incredible, except mike got 2 orders of churros and we were STUFFED by the time we finished, but it was totally worth it. We got back, I showered because I was gross, and went to bed at 7, and we all got up at 11 to go to El Rastro. It's a giant outside flea market with tons of people everywhere. Unfortuantley I had a bus ticket back at 2 so could only stay for a while, and good thing I left because the metro was running late and I nearly missed my bus. The driver was about to close the door and I sprinted on! Overall it was a great weekend and even though I didn't see tons of stuff in Madrid, I was only going to hang out with my friends, so Mission Accomplished!

Last weekend I made the journey (gratis, or free!) with my program of 28 people to Maurecos (Morocco!). I'll keep this short and sweet and be sure to explain in full when I get home but we went to Tetuan, Tanger, and Chefchaoen. Overall it was incredible, an awesome experience with some great photos that I'll show you all when I get home! I have to go run and read 2, 100 page books, prepare a presentation, and then do the regular weekly homework assignments by thursday because I leave for Italy (Venice, Milan, Naples, Rome) Friday morning and then when i get back my parents are going to be here for a week! Sorry for the brevity of these messages but don't worry, I'll talk your head off when i get home! Time is starting to FLY!