Chocolate con Churros, Turtlenecks y Reina Sofia

Jueves ~ After sleeping in and missing the morning rain, it was time to go outside and wander around some more because I'm on the hunt for una iglesia to visit. Although I'm not sure how singing Spanish hymns will go, I think it'll be a really neat experience once I find one! One thing I keep noticing whenever I'm out walking or riding the bus to and from school is the fashion, doggy fashion. Almost everyone here has a perrito (small dog, also the word for hotdog oddly enough), and every dog is rocking a some kind of sweater! Phil - you just thought I was crazy when I got stuff for Gus. Little did yall know I was just keeping up with Spain!

Multiple layers!

After walking around for a bit and even locating a honky tonk bar, I decided to stop and enjoy my first chocolate con churros, the most common Spanish dessert around. The churros are basically fried dough that you dip into a cup of melted chocolate. Needless to say, its delicious!

A church right by our apartment!

Later that evening, it was time to grab some dinner before heading to Kapital for the night. I mentioned Kapital before but it really can't be described. It is enormous! I managed to visit to all seven floors and we all got a kick out of the kareoke floor. It ended up being one of my favorite nights by far!

The lighting for this turned out funny but here is a group of some of our amigas!



Viernes ~ Deciding it was time for a little break from Spanish, Margaret, Kayla, and I decided to take advantage of the English movie theaters and went to see the King's Speech. We all absolutely loved El Discurso del Rey and even learned a few new words thanks to the subtitulos en espanol! After the movie, we did as los madrilenos do and got chocolate con churros for our five o'clock snack before walking around Gran Via some more and making our plans to meet at Lateral for dinner at diez y media. Before I tell yall about the amazing tapas at Lateral or our evening out, I have to admit that yes, there has been some culture shock in terms of adjusting to the Spanish culture but never did I think I would manage to shock my new American friends. On Friday night, I introduced a few of my yankee amigas to a turtleneck. I'll defend myself by saying it was a cute,simple black turtleneck but my friends all were amazed to see me wear it out! Una de mis amigas, Becca, was the funniest and said she thought turtlenecks were only for funerals! After a good laugh and Tess, Lizzy, and I explained how turtlenecks can indeed be worn when you go out.

Sabado ~ After a fun night, I decided it was time to venture to el gimnasio and get a good run in before meeting girls at the Reina Sofia museum. The gym is really great and even has clases de salsa! My goal before the end of the semester is to take one but I may need to improve my Spanish a little bit first. As for the Reina Sofia, a group of five of us (Margaret, Becca, Kayla, Kaitlin, and myself) all met around four or rather four fifteen because I got a little lost and headed into el museo. The Reina Sofia is an incredibly famous modern art museum that has a large collection of Picassos. It was so interesting to see but after two hours or so, we'd only been through two of the five parts and that was just on one side! Needless to say it's going to take the whole semester to get through everything, but we're all excited because it is such a neat place. I'm sorry but I don't have pictures! I somehow managed to forget my camera that day. But here's the website and there will be lots of pictures to come from our next visit! More to come soon!http://www.museoreinasofia.es/index.html

Kaitlin, Becca, Margaret, and I at Reina Sofia