- Gula Gula in Madrid: a huge group of girls from the ISA program and I went to a drag queen show in Madrid. It was pricey, but came with a buffet and a hilarious show. I didnt understand 3/4 of the dialogue since the actors were talking a mile a minute. I'm pretty sure they made some jokes about America, but I probably just took my social cues and laughed along. But some things like really outrageous dancing to Mama mia songs in drag is the same in every country.
- Valle de los Caidos: on our way to Toledo from Madrid, we stopped at this huge church that was built by Franco´s slaves after the Spanish Civil War. It was unsettling because it was this gorgeous structure with a huge cross and church, but over 900 slaves died building it.
- El Escorial: this was a huge monastery that we stopped at on the way to Toledo as well. Behind the Catholic library at the Vatican, it had second most important Catholic library with books from the New Testament and scripture dating back to the 5th or 6th century.
- Toledo: I absolutely fell in love with this town! It´s so cute and a lot smaller than Madrid, which I liked a lot. It was the location of my first tapas bar experience. I loved it all...the huge Cathedral, the cobblestone streets, the mix of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian influence. It´s a little too small for me to want to spend my semester, but it was lovely to visit.
- Flamenco show in the Albaicin (barrio in Granada): geez these dancers are intense! We went to this cave where they have small flamenco shows and I got my first taste of Spanish performing arts live.
- Churros con chocolate: like funnel cake times a thousand. ahhh i need to go back to the churroria in that plaza.
- Tinto de verano at the park: a night of 4 bottles of tinto, a random park in spain, good company, and conversations that probably won´t be repeated again. Plus, Elizabeth (one of the girls in our program who lives close by) stepped in mud and it looked like her foot was covered in poop. That was a good 5 minute laugh.
- Festival of Zaidin: I went to this Spanish indy rock festival that was also a fair. I kid you not, the carnival rides were at least 7 minutes long. It was such an intense ride that I have a battle wound in the form of a bruise on my arm. I definitely got my euros worth though. After, we saw this Spanish band called Lori Meyers. They had a Rooney-ish sound and a Beetles look. I really enjoyed it and the crowd was awesome. With a chocolate churro to top it off, I had so much fun going to a really popular Granada event.
I could write a ton more, but those are just some of the highlights thus far. More good news! I finally got my phone which better work this time. The last one they sent me was broken. For this entire month, I have not communicated with anyone from home except via email or facebook. I can´t wait to call my family.
Btw...If you are 3 years old or younger, the Spanish government gives you 100 euros a month. This was intiated about 10ish years ago as an incentive to get people to start popping out more babies. I guess families figured that kids were too expensive.
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