Redhead on the Metro

The past few days have been very busy, but at the same time very free.

Wednesday we didn't have any orientations, but had an optional free trip at 3pm to El Pardo outside of the city.  We met up in front of Padre Rubio Hall (where I have all of my classes) on the sidewalk as the buses arrived.  I saw a bunch of girls I kind of knew so I stuck with them for the duration of the trip.

We took buses (naranja bus represent!) to this park area with lots of trees and grassy areas up a "mountain" (by my standards haha).  We stopped at this restaurant called Restaurante El Faro Del Pardo where we got off the bus and went inside this permanent tent-like area.  It was pretty fancy looking and had a bunch of tables put together in a rectangular shape with glasses and pitchers of water all around it.

After standing around for a bit and talking, the waiters started carrying in trays of churros and chocolate.  Can you say, "Best trip ever??"  We stood around eating churros and chocolate for a while and then headed outside and spent some time out in the park.  Then we were back on the bus home.  We stopped and hung out for a little while at a bar nearby.

The next day was the first day of classes!  I had my Spanish 115 class at 10AM with no one that I know, then I had a break until 12:30PM so a few of us went to VIPS and had a late breakfast.  At 12:30 I had Macroeconomics with a bunch of people that I know from SLU and then I had my theology class called Jerusalem: City of Three Faiths until 3:15 then I was finished for the day.

That night, Miriam, Jess and I got ready and went out to Sol, a part of the city that has many clubs and bars, not to mention shopping.  Miriam and I navigated the Metro for the first time and I quickly noticed how much we stood out.  It wasn't our outfits, those were pretty normal and nonflashy, but a blonde and a redhead on the subway in Spain?  That's a sight, I guess!  We met up at Dubliners then headed to a club called Joy and stayed there until after 3AM.  We had a free drink but anything after that was 12 euros!!!! So I just stuck with the free drink and danced the whole time.  These drunk Spanish guys kept coming up to the girls I was with and it was hilarious.  But almost as soon as I got into the club did I notice that this was not a Spanish club, but an American one... Next time we're going to a Spanish bar.  There were sooo many SLU kids there and Americans studying abroad with other schools!  We met back up with Jess and the three of us navigated through the city to the buses and took the night bus back to our neighborhood.

On Fridays, we don't have class, so we slept in pretty late.  Then we went to the bookstore on campus to get our books (just one or two for now) and then bought some bread and meat to make lunch and some notebooks at the chino on the next block up from us.

Last night, we met up with the guys and some more girls at a cheap bar in Sol where we could get 5 beers for 3 euros, granted they were a little small in size.  It was nice to just sit and talk, even though it was OUTSIDE haha.  It was a little chilly for that...  On the way over, it was much easier to navigate, but Miriam and I quickly noticed that people were staring; I had left my hair curly last night so that stood out pretty easily.

Today I woke up pretty late and am taking a day to be alone, as I really need that sometimes.  Later I'm planning on going shopping down in Sol (after siesta... so maybe around 5PM) and meeting up with some others.  Tomorrow we have a trip to Toledo!