Birthday and beyond...

So the last time I wrote on here it was my birthday, but I didn't write anything about my birthday because it was my birthday. Claro? Well, that day was a fun one for me, and after class it got a lot funner. When I came home I had lunch with Carlos and Isabel, and afterwards she surprised me with a chocolate cake with raspberry filling, which was totally awesome. She didn't even know raspberries were my favorite fruit, but it was a great coincidence for me! She also gave me a t-shirt that says Alcala de Henares and has an Arabic design. This was also very cool because if there is one thing I needed more of in Spain it was clothes. After that I just chilled out for most of the day, then went out that evening with a bunch of friends. It just so happened that it was also my friend Kyli's birthday on the 17th too, so when we all met up it was quite an entourage. I had a great time though and got some good pictures of everyone having fun that night. Plus I didn't have to pay for any drinks due to it being my cumpleaños and all, so that was pretty fantastic. All in all it was a good night, and I'll always remember having my birthday in Spain.

The Friday of that week for my media class we took a field trip to Madrid to visit El Pais, which is the most-read newspaper of all the ones you pay for (there are a couple free sports newspapers that have a larger reader base). We learned about the history of it, what people do there, how it is made, then we got to tour the factory a bit to see how it is printed. It wasn't the most exhilarating field trip of my life, but it was free and somewhat interesting, so... And I got a free Spanish CSI computer game and a free newspaper which made the whole thing totally worth it! Yeah!

The next day was a great one too. Myself and a bunch of friends all went to a pro futbol match here, which pitted Real Madrid against Real Betis in what would turn out to be a humilitaion-fest for the latter. By that I mean by the time we got our tickets and were making our way up to the top section, Madrid had already scored 2 goals in the first 2 minutes! ...and then it started getting ugly for Betis. Madrid and my main man Raul went on to score 4 more goals to Betis' 1, 2 of which were by Raul. It was lucky for me because I had just gotten a Raul jersey before the game because it was a 19 Euro discount from the other named and numbered jerseys in honor of his having recently passed the 300-goal mark for his pro career. Niiiiice. Our seats weren't fantastic but they were only 25 Euro, so I wasn't complaining. It actually ended up being really cool because we were pretty much in an almost exclusively Betis section, and they were cheering and singing throughout the whole game (and even afterwards) despite basically having their asses handed to them on the pitch. It made it more of an adventure than if we would have been with a bunch of snobby, complacent Madrid fans at least. Also of note is that nearly the entire stadium was sold out, save ~100 tickets, so it was a rowdy time all around.

We all went back to the hostel after that and I got into my "costume" for Carnaval, which consisted of a child-sized suit of armor and sword (hey, the package said it was for ages 3 and up!). There weren't a ton of people dressed up when we went out, but we did see some good costumes that night. We ended up just going to a club that was fairly close to our hostel on Puerta del Sol, in part because it was cheaper to get into than others, and in part because it looked like it had a good number of people and some good music going on. We danced the night away, or at least part of it, and retired to our hostel after a while.

This past weekend my friends Abram and Molly and I went to Toledo for a day trip on Saturday. We took a high-speed train from Madrid and got there in only about 20 minutes! We walked like crazy folk that day, several miles at least, through one of the steepest and hilliest cities I have ever seen! It is famous for it's swords, chessboards, ceramics, and something way cooler than any of those things... marzapan. Yeah, marzapan. Just kidding, the swords were the awesomest part of the whole touristy window-shopping experience, and I couldn't believe there were so many! On a side note, if anyone needs a sword I'll be going back for a field trip, just let me know and I'll get one for you. Just saying... But anyways we went and saw a couple cathedrals, and lots of different paintings by El Greco, which were also superguay. I'm tellin' ya, that man can paint! I took a bunch of pictures there, and all-in-all it was a perfect distance for a day trip.

That's all for now, I will try to keep this more updated than I have been, I pinky swear. And if you want to know more, feel free to email me or send me a message on Facebook. And with that, I'll leave you with this little gem, enjoy: