After Toledo on Friday, the whole group went to the Cave bar. We had a blast! I feel like I am at summer camp, but for forever. And I love it. I experienced my first 6:30 am metro ride home, because the metros close at 1:30 and we don't want to pay a cab. Walking home with the sun coming up is the least fun thing in the entire world. Saturday consisted of sleeping, cleaning and an early night with the girls. I attempted to take the bus again, and failed, again. But, according to the man, Ben King himself, if I'm not getting lost or yelled at, I'm not having an adventure. So the adventure continues...
Sunday is the part where I don't think I am in real life. There's no way. And as much detail as I give won't be able to do this story justice.
My friend Lauren who is in the program asked Maria and I if we wanted to go to her intercambio Joaquin's "cottage" for the day. She said it is a little outside of Madrid and we will be back by dinner time for our dinner with my intercambios. We climb into his European car in the morning and off we go. About 5 minutes into the drive, I fall asleep. I wake up about 40 minutes later (it was a little more than outside of Madrid), and there is a light snow on the windshield. Guess my light sweater outfit was inappropriate for this day. We are in the mountains at this point, and it is gorgeous. Rolling green hills with a thin layer of snow, really large cows, and not a car in sight. Quite different then the metropolitan city of 5 million that I have grown so used to. I even saw my first truck on the way! Felt just like home. We turn off the road after about an hour of driving, and we have to be let in a gate. I think nothing of the nice gate and the "Font Vella" sign. As we are driving in, you can see the valley below us and the curvy roads with beautiful old spanish houses. I start taking pictures from far away out the window of this one house on the hill. Minutes later I realize that is our destination. We drive up, and Joaquin mentions his father likes him to bring guests to the back house, not the mansion. So we drive up a hill, past an Iglesia and some horses, to another beautiful spanish house on top of the hill looking over the valley. We get out of the car and it is snowing and we are looking over a mountain range in Spain. Surreal. Also, I think Joaquin needs to learn the meaning of "cottage," because this definitely was not what I pictured when he described it. We get inside, and the housekeepers are already at work preparing a meal for us. There are two fireplaces in the living room, and thank goodness because it was freezing. Not only did I dress wrong for the occasion, but because I am from California they think I am just a little sissy lala when it comes to the cold. Which I probably am. Anyways, I am trying to take in everything that had happened in the last 5 minutes, and why the heck does he own this vacation destination. Turns out, his family owns Font Vella water, comparable to Aquafina in the states. When we drove in we passed a huge water plant, and I didn't even put the two together. His cousin came over for lunch and brought two friends. The man was German but born in Spain, and studied at USC during college and got a masters from UCLA. No big deal. He was so nice and spoke english really well. His girlfriend is a fashion designer in Madrid and is launching a line in New York this season. Also, no big deal. Lunch was delicious. Of couse there was jamon, but the main meal was a beef and potato stew thing with salad and homemade cheesecake. Spoiled. We sat around the table talking and laughing and discussing funny words in spanish and english for hours. The spanish loooooove to eat for hours on end. Somehow we got on the subject of "love handles," and they didn't understand that concept. Probably because they are all so skinny. I also only understood about 40% of the conversations during the 3 hour lunch. But, it's good practice. Afterwards, we toured the main house. The three stories of spanish elegance and architecture was out of this world. The house was built in the 1860's, and I lost count of the number of bedrooms after 11. Did I mention they have their own church on the property? Also cute and spanish. Apparently people rent out the property for weddings and can stay in the house. After all of this, Joaquin took us to a small village just up the road called Siguenza. As we drove into the town, which was all built of matching stones and precious bricks, a nice large castle appeared. The snow really made the town look even cooler then it already would. We got out and went inside a huge Cathedral, and then toured the castle. Every village up the road has a nearby castle, right? We were short on time so we had to cut the visit short, but we are definitely going back. And I thought we were just going to have lunch at a cottage.
We got home at 8:30, and had guests coming at 9 for dinner. We also forgot that EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays in Madrid, so we had to order pizza. So dumb and so American. Zadith and Jorge loved it, and I think they had a good time. We were so tired and kept hinting that we had homework, but they didn't leave until 11:45. These spaniards really really really like to stay a while during the meal. We had a great time laughing at my spanish, and laughing at the way Jorge says Spiderman, Speeeederman. So cute, these spanish people. This weekend was so much fun, and I don't know how I keep having more fun then the day before. I'm still running on excitement, not sleep or rest or nutrients, just pure excitement. After going to bed at 3 from homework, and waking up at 7 and having class until 3, then dinner in Gran Via tonight and it is now 1, I am still going and am happier than ever. I don't think I will ever be bored. I wonder if excitement can get you through 5 months....
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