IT'S SNOWING IT'S SNOWING IT'S SNOWING

First snow of the year in Madrid! More like slush that is not actually sticking, but it is still very pretty. I am sitting in the Bellas Artes library pretending to do work/watching the snow.

Bellas Artes, our not-so-beloved library in Madrid



This past week has not been very eventful because, since about half of our classes (the ones with American students) have ended, we now have finals and final papers to do/more accurately whine about. Biggest highlight of last week: THANKSGIVING!! Or, as it is known in España, EL DÍA DE ACCIÓN DE GRACIAS. Not as catchy. Probably because they really have no idea what it is or why we eat turkey.

After a horrifically full day of four classes, I went home on Thursday to skype with all of my family members who were gathered at my cousin's house in the burbs of Albany. Super fun to see and talk to everybody, especially my grandfather, who didn't really get that I could hear him speaking. Then we all went to our program Thanksgiving dinner at a pijo (fancy) restaurant. Many people's families were there and it was fun to meet them and observe how frighteningly similar some parents were to their children. Our first course of the meal was New England clam chowder. Kind of an odd choice for Thanksgiving, but I appreciate Spain's shout out to Massachusetts and the Pilgrims, and it was delicious. Our main course was everything you would expect to see at a classic Thanksgiving dinner, followed by amazing pumpkin pie for dessert.

HOORAY!

yum yum yum

After such an exciting beginning to the weekend, the rest of the weekend was mostly devoted to studying. I have less finals and work this week than most people, so I had time to do fun things as well. A bunch of us had PIZZA for lunch on Saturday, our first good pizza since August. Afterwards I went to the Rastrillo with Felicia, a charity market where her host mom was working. Her host mom was super nice, gave us cookies, and introduced us to all of her friends. Later we ordered Tio Pepe, which we thought was beer, but turned out to be sherry. It was surprisingly really good. On Sunday I sampled the best chocolate croissants in Madrid (clearly delicious) and saw Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte (again). Even better the second time. This is definitely my favorite movie of the series, and this is just part one. I really like watching English movies in Spanish theaters that are subtitled in Spanish because it's really interesting to compare the English to what is written in the subtitles, and we are always the only ones in the theater who laugh at all the puns because they don't translate well into Spanish.

It's still snowing. I'm so happy!!

Madrid has also begun turning on its Christmas lights at night. All of the major streets are lined with various kinds of Christmas lights. They are super pretty and generally very tasteful. My host mom told me they are much uglier this year than usual and I shouldn't bother looking at them. Apparently normally there are even more lights, but they had to cut back this year because of the economic crisis. ¡Qué pena! What a shame! I will still be looking at them.

Real Christmas tree in Callao

Fake light-up Christmas tree in Sol

Today was mostly spent walking around looking for a cafe to do work in that was not Starbucks, failing to find one, running into my friend Sarah from language class who was headed to a Starbucks (¡qué casualidad!), and joining her because being in Starbucks with a friend is at least slightly more enjoyable. We met a couple from Austria with an ADORABLE baby who were very nice and gave Sarah their email and phone number because she is visiting Vienna in a few weeks and they said they would love to hang out with her. Madrid is a crazy place.

Next weekend Hilary and I are trying to organize a trip to Granada before she goes on her epic adventure to Ireland. I am very excited to see the Alhambra. Get ready for pictures.

Hasta la vista,

Rachel

SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW