wine, mcflurries, and pastries

after school thursday, diana and i go to supersol and get wine for later that night. 78 cents for a bottle. sold. we get two- one red, one white. they taste like water (but do the job). next time we splurge for a 2 euro bottle. in the checkout line behind us, there are guys buying 12 packs of supersol beer. they ring up as 3 euro. "damn. you guys are high maintenance."

that night the four of us roomies go out to joy, where a guy from renata, morgan, and brittany's dance class will get in the center cage and dance, and then get kicked out.

saturday renata, thomas, david and i go to Renia de Sofia - one of the many art museum's in Madrid, most notably famous for holding multiple works from Picasso (specifically: guernica). if you didn't know (because i didn't), picasso was spanish. and a lot of his art is a portrayal of the spanish civil war. more food for your brain: guernica is not a painting. it's a mural. the thing is huge - 11 x 26.5 ft. yeah. i saw it. it was kind of awesome. i would have snapped a photo but the nazis guarding were pretty aggressive in making sure we knew this was absolutely forbidden. and they were bigger than me.

after the museum we went to mcd's for lunch (i know, i know. we're in madrid. and we're going to mcdonald's. well guess what. i'm poor.). if this helps, i ordered a tolberone mcflurry - which are NOT provided in the US (but should be. what the hell obama. hook it up.) - or at least i tried to order it. the lady couldn't hear me so this little ten year old next to me with a mohawk spoke up and told her what i wanted. i look over at him. damn. "gracias..." [fyi: all the mcflurry's over here - no matter what kind - have hot fudge in them. jealous?]

for dinner that night - since cruella doesn't cook on saturdays - we roomies go to dinner. the place is called Canas y Tapas. Not really sure what "canas" are but tapas are basically appetizers. round of drinks = plate of free tapas. score. why don't bars do this in america? we order off the menu, even though we have no idea what we're getting. i end up with this pepper & potato (almost like french fries) dish. diana gets squid... which we think is not what she ordered.... brittany and morgan get croquettes, which are breaded balls filled with - most commonly - ham and cheese.

next we head towards school to meet up with friends to go to a bar. we talk about how we are craving sweets because all cruella gives us for dessert is yogurt or fruit (brittany : "i know! i mean, can i get a cookie?"). diana expresses her immense desire for a pastry. we stop in this one bar we see on the way. smaller, just some locals watching the futbol game, michael jackson playing on the jukebox. while there, diana leaves the bar to find a chinos to get a pastry. ....... i look at brittany and morgan. "did she really just leave the bar to go find a pastry? at 10:30 at night?" she did. in 15 minutes she was back. cheap, plastic wrapper pastry in hand. ...which was about the size of my head. we help her eat it. it did not satisfy.

we meet thomas, david and renata to go to a cheap bar by school. which was not letting anyone in. so we go to the golden cock. yet again. our group keeps growing. finally we decide we would rather dance and drink then sit and drink so we relocate to a place called iron bar. smaller, but equipped with a sufficient dance floor. i think we were the only americans there? we get there and one of the girls buys a round of tequila shots. eh... not my thing...... ok, just one. cheers, salt, bottoms up, lemons..... i look down. the lemon plate is empty. well this sucks. either this bartender can't count or someone is snacking on my lemon right now. my throat burns. i chase with my beer instead, a sad substitute. we dance. brittany and morgan try to teach me rhythm. the tequila shot i had teaches me the opposite. 4 am before we know it. time to go.

sunday. as you can see from the previous post, i did in fact make it to church the next day. no, i could not understand a word of it. no, they do not hold hands during the "our father." no, they do not have a closing hymn after "the celebration has ended" and we "go in peace." yes, my coat still wreaked of smoke from the bar the night before and the nice old ladies behind us probably thought i had not been to bed yet. but.... it was awesome. the church was beautiful. and even though i couldn't understand what the priest was saying, i still caught myself muttering "thanks be to God" and "amen" at the right cues. i am a catholic robot.

monday i get to school and order a cafe grande in the cafeteria. cruella's instant coffee tastes like water and dry coffee pebbles. oh wait.... the worker gives me my coffee and i spill all over the buffet glass. yep..... it's definitely monday. i help the worker clean it up and then head to the library... where i am told that i am not allowed to have coffee in the library. what? how am i supposed to study and stay alive? the next few days i practice sneaking it in. i have perfected a routine i like to call "hiding coffee cup under my coat without spilling while walking past library front desk." summer time i could have problems.

tuesday i wake up, get dressed yahda yahda. since all three of my roommates have morning class, i usually don't see too much of them before school. just me and cruella.... little a.m. bonding... actually. she's like me in the fact that we both are not morning talkers. at first i think this is good, but then i don't know how much i like the idea of us sharing similar characteristics. today she sees me and speaks. i catch a word i know. wait. ".....it snowed?!?!" aw, shit. not again. it's almost all melted by now, but it's freaking cold. i opt to take the metro instead of walking the 30 minutes to school. usually, i walk. as long as i get up before 1:30 pm, i have the time to. and it's a euro saved in my pocket. [whenever i hear change drop, i search frantically for the source, then dive.]

ok, ok. maybe i'm exaggerating on my money situation. i'm not poor. i have money. i just prefer not to use it on fancy meals or conveniences (such as a metro ride).

at dinner one night, we ask cruella when it will get warmer. she talks in circles, going through each month, but in the end telling us around march or april but it varies. thanks.