Esthhhpania!!

The past 4 days have been interesting and overall really fun. Arrived to LAX only to find out our flight was canceled because the lavatories on the plane did not work.After some confusion, we flew into Frankfurt, Germany then to Madrid.
My roommates and I went out Friday and Saturday to try and get a taste of the nightlife. Friday was definitley interesting. Imagine four girls dressed fashionably stumbling into a packed tapas (this is the Spanish custom where they have light snacks and drinks) bar, the only ones speaking English. We might as well have a dartboard on our forehead. We somehow managed through our broken Spanish to order a large pitcher of Sangria. Almost immediately after we put down or drinks a young man yelled out, "Americans!" Come to find out he was from New York and was visitng. Small talk lasted very short and we retreated into our English speaking corner, everyone glacing over from time to time.

Saturday we took a walking tour of the city. It will take me weeks to feel comfortable in my school / area apartment but I'm excited to explore. Some of the other girls in my program and I went to lunch at Museo de Jamon in Sol area. I surprised myself as my Spanish, so much so that the waiter assumed I was the only one who could speak fluently at the table. There is a option in Spain called a Menu del Dia (it should really be called Menu del Genius) the concept is you get two courses and dessert with a drink (usually a glass of wine or a beer) for under 10 euros. I had some excellent paella and a glass of beer. Later on that night after some wine and Lady Gaga a group of about 20 of us headed out to find this bar called Chipandras. We soon discovered that you needed a valid ID to enter any of the clubs, in addition its very dauting trying to get a group of 20 people to do the same thing. I discovered a club with bright lights and loud music. My rommates and I ventured over and I saw an opportuinty to walk in without being carded. I followed a man in and turned around only to see the rest of the group had been stopped. Two out of the four made it in. Yet once again I found myself secluded and determined I attempted to shatter the barrier with a common custom between Americans and Spainards: smoking. I walked over to a man and asked him if he had a lighter from my shitty Spanish he pinned me, "Are you American?" Come to find out he was from Southern Caifornia. We chit chatted about the large difference between the two places. Finally he spit out the large elephant in the room that seemed to remianed to be unseen by me, "You know your in a gay bar right?" (baaa dump bump)

On Sunday We took a bus to the Royal Palace which as amazing (I wish I could share what I saw but there was no photography allowed inside) imagine gold and marble ceilings, lavish chandlers. Every room seemed to have a theme (an Oriental smoking room, a Victorian room, a green room). I only wish I could Illustrate to you what was before my eyes, needless to say I was fascinated. Then we went to the Prado Museum to see original paintings by Velazquez, Goya and some others. I was intrigued by Goya's Dark Period paintings. This was towards the end of his life In which  Goya painted his nightmeres and his depressed state.

Needless to say that this weekend has been non-stop and I got 11 hours of sleep last night to catch up. I'm going to try and shares my experiences as much as possible but I feel that time sitting in front of a computer screen is taking away from the adventures that are calling me outside. There is much to explore!

Here's some photographs I took of the Royal Palace and the area around the Prado Museum. Also my apartment and the view from my window:

 

Here's Monsters of Folk "Whole Lotta Losin '":