I am finally getting on a normal sleep schedule, well sort of. Two nights ago Me, Meghan, Maria, Tommy and Michael went to a theater to watch amor y otras drogas (Love and Other Drugs.) It was in english but with spanish subtitles, and they assign you a seat when you buy your ticket. I kept reading the subtitles to practice my spanish and would get distracted and end up missing parts of the movie because I was reading. But the movie was really cute and had a much deeper story than anticipated. It was a Friday night and the city was popping. It was weird how many people go to watch the American movies, because a spanish theater in the states would not be nearly as popular. The movie and music scene here is hugely dominated by American culture, we hear our music every where we go.
The next day we had a tour of the palace. The Palacio Real de Madrid was the most breathtaking thing I have seen so far. It has over 2000 rooms and each room is so extravagantly decorated with Italian, French, and Spanish culture. This also made me want to be an architect again. We only went in about 20 of the rooms, and we sadly weren't allowed to take pictures. Things like this make me realize I am really not in the states, we have nothing close to this kind of history and culture. The palace overlooks the city and we took cool pictures. If I ever figure out how to put them on here I will. We took a tour around other parts of the city as well, and ate lunch at Mercado de San Miguel which was FANTASTIC. Finding good food is a constant goal, as my pickiness and opposition to jamon makes it hard to eat. It was like an indoor market, with a bunch of permanent booths and tables. It was really cute as well. We ate fondue and pigs in a blanket type things, with sangria from a tap and an apple pastry for dessert. Everything was pretty cheap, and you could just get a bunch of snacks from the different booths. Maria and I went home and took a nice nap after our exhausting morning of touring and we are trying to be like the spanish by taking siestas. We then went to sol to do some shopping. It was packed with people, I wish I had an overhead view of the streets because it was shoulder to shoulder. This kind of lifestyle is hard for me to comprehend and it makes me appreciate my small town life. Riding a metro everyday to be constantly surrounded by strangers (who don't share my language) is quite the shock. We got a few key items and then went home to hang out for the night. Some friends came over and we eventually made it to a club called Kapital. We got on the last metro of the night which was pure luck. The club was fun but I was tired and went home before the group, this jet lag is still trying to make me not fun.
Today we walked around Parque del Retiro, which is amazing. So lucky that is my neighbor. We got some sangria and went to the Prado museum. It was full of ancient art and if I wasn't so tired I might have appreciated it more. Scott and I sat on a bench while Zach looked at other things and we felt like we were on a field trip trying to cop out of the boring rooms. I don't think I have ever walked this much in my life. I am constantly sore, but that with my lack of eating is probably going to make me small like all of the other spaniards here. I can't figure out if they are all so skinny because of all of the smoking, or because their food sucks and they are always hungry like myself. Who knows. I did eat Mcdonalds for dinner last night, and those 9 chicken nuggets and fries went down in minutes. It was nice comfort food and even thought I don't like Mcdonalds very much at home, its something I know I can eat and be satisfied. That being said, I also had a happy meal for lunch today. Sorry bout it. My goal list of things to do while I'm here keeps growing. The newest items: graffiti something. They graffiti everything and everywhere! It is gross but in some parts it adds to the character of the city. But my graffiti will probably be a heart or USA or my name which would be dumb and get me in trouble. So I don't think my graffiti would count as a negative thing. I also want to be bumped by a car. The driving here is out of control. They will not stop for pedestrians, or other cars for that matter. So I want to be lightly tapped, not enough to hurt me, but enough to say I was hit by a car by a crazy driving spaniard. Well, time for bed. Gotta go learn more spanish. I did order my breakfast today, and knew how to say I didn't want to eat it there, but only by saying "no aqui! no aqui!". Hey, it works.
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