First night on the town

Well hello there!

I’m a bit behind on my blog as I did not get a chance to update it yesterday after class.  But that’s okay.  I figure that once the culture shock wears off a bit, I’ll probably only update for super important things (or at least every few days).  Anyway, yesterday I didn’t start class until 12:30, which is nice, but also means Abbi goes to class and comes home before I leave for my first class.  Oh well.  My first class is Positive Psychology, which I’m really excited about.  It’s a relatively new field in psychology, and it focuses on people’s happiness—how cool!  The professor seems great as well, so I think I’ll enjoy that class.  After that, I had a long break until my second class at 4.  I got lunch from the cafeteria again and then walked a block away to a sandwich shop to put more Euros on my phone (don’t want to get caught without money to make a phone call!).  Yesterday was very sunny and in the 50s, so it was lovely to just sit outside and soak in the sunshine.  Finally 4 o’clock rolled around, and I headed to my art history class—Goya to Van Gogh, the 19^th Century.  There are only four people in that class, which means I’m going to be participating a lot more than I thought!  I don’t mind participating, but at this point, I don’t really know much about art or art history, so it’s difficult for me to offer good ideas… we’ll see how it goes.  After class, I met up with some friends and made plans for the night—first night out in Madrid!

For dinner (around 8), Maria made croquettes, fries, salad, and fruit.  Very good, but she always makes way too much!  Abbi and I rarely finish everything we’re given.  Around 10, I met some friends and got on the Metro to go downtown to Sol, the heart of the city (where a lot of bars, pubs, and clubs are).  We met a big group of people from school and were ushered into a bar with the promise of free drinks.  All the bars were crowded because a soccer game was going on (Real Madrid won 3-1, but I’m not sure who they were playing).  We didn’t stay long in the first bar before heading to Dubliners, which I really enjoyed—fun atmosphere!  From there we headed to a dance club (“la discoteca”) called Joy.  We must’ve been there early because no one was dancing.  However, after 20 or 30 minutes, it filled up, and there was barely room to move around!  Lots of people, but it was fun.  Around 2:30, I left with two friends, took a taxi home, and went to bed.  Good thing I don’t have classes today!

I slept in a bit this morning but now am going to get ready for the day.  I signed up for museum tours of the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza and after that, some friends and I will hopefully go get tapas.  Should be a fun day!

Happy Friday everyone!

E