Dec 9th - Dec 14th

SNOW DAY, yes you heard me right, SNOW DAY...Unfortunately, school was not canceled, but it was fun waking up to a white Madrid. The city looks much different when covered with a light dusting of snow.

So it has been a short week since I last wrote on Wednesday. The end of the hectic week at school wrapped up well. I finished with a presentation in my first year class, had an exam in the same class, and then worked on preparing a presentation for Marketing class, today, Monday. Apart from that, Thursday night I went out for Tapas with some of my colleagues in my marketing class. It was a nice little end of the semester get together.

Well, before getting into the dinner, lets take a step back and touch on something I forgot about last week. So, mom has been riding me to tell more about the culinary experiences I have had here in Madrid, what kind of different things have I eaten. After writing last weeks post something hit me like a 2"x4" across the head, how could I have left it out. If you recall, last weekend at Marc's house we ordered Chinese food, and one of the plates that we got was Kung Pao Chicken; well, much to my surprise when I opened the container, the Kung Pao Chicken had Tripe mixed in with it. Needless to say this would never happen back home and I was at a loss for words when I turned to Marc and said something along the lines of "Pero que es eso, ponen Tripas en el Pollo?, No puedo comer eso, que hasco." (simply translating to "what the heck is going on, they put tripe in the Chicken here, I can't eat that, Nasty!) and he laughed and replied "Con dos Huevos, vamos" (Come on man, grow a pair)...Sorry for being blunt, but that's just about how it went!...What could I do, he was challenging my masculinity because I could not eat tripe, so I buckled down, overcame my fears, and ate a piece while trying to keep a straight face! Ok, so it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be; I was truly surprised by my courage, never would I have thought I could stomach eating Tripe. So there you go mom, culinary experiences.

Where were we...ah, yes the Tapas on Thursday night, that is how I got onto this subject in the first place. So we sat down at this Tapas bar where you pay a flat rate and they just keep bringing different tapas out until everyone is done eating, perfect for college students right! But what is the first thing that comes out of the waiters mouth, "Todos le gustan Oreja?" (Everyone likes Ear?) and without skipping a beat everyone said " si traigalo" (Yea bring it out)...[GULP]...The first thing that came to my mind was Marc the week before saying "Vamos, con dos Huevos!", another thing that I was not too sure about eating, but I had to try it! Sure enough as before it was not half bad, as a matter of fact the pigs ear was actually pretty good, I am not sure that I would order it, but if it were in front of me I would eat it again. I actually ate two or three pieces. Other than the pigs ear, the tapas were pretty standard: Tortilla Espanola (potato and egg), Chorizo (not like the Mexican one we are accustomed to at home, I think this one is much better), Patatas Bravas (potatoes with Brava suace, red sauce), Pimentos de Patron (little roasted, salted peppers, not spicy), and of course Sangria. I am pretty sure a great time was had by all. After dinner, we all went out to a few different places, and then I made the long trek home. From the part of town where we went out it took me about 30 minutes to walk home, unfortunately the Metro does not work at 4 a.m.

Friday morning I woke up with a cold. If I had to guess, I would like to say that it was not from the walk home with just a sweater and low 30's temperatures, but I probably would be lying. I spent most of the day sleeping and trying to get better. That evening, there was a get together for one of my best friends here Ismael. His birthday was on Saturday so Friday night we were all going to meet up to go out to dinner and then to the clubs after to celebrate, there was no way I could miss it. We all met up at a German restaurant, and had a big group dinner with about 18 people from his university and other friends of his such as Marc, Javier,Joaquin and the rest of the usual suspects. I tried to go home right after dinner, but for some reason I was talked into going out for a little to celebrate, stuck to sprite, and was able to duck out before to long and make it home for some more R&R.

Saturday was another day of laying in bed sleeping as much as possible, watching some movies, and drinking a ton of green tea. Yet again, another one of my friends had a birthday party and I could not miss it. I met up with Marc in the evening around 9 and we went to a Indian restaurant that we are now regulars at I would say; we walk in and the owner comes over to give us a hug, welcome us, and asks how we are! I had a nice Lentil soup, and some spicy chicken Vindaloo to try to kick the cold, it did not fix it a 100% but I woke up feeling better on Sunday! After dinner, Marc and I stopped by my friends Ries' apartment for his birthday party. I tell you what all of there people from the Netherlands stick together, there were about 20 or 25 people there having a few drinks before going out and maybe 5 or so were not Dutch. It was nice chatting and wishing Ries a happy birthday, and as I did the night before after a short while I was able to get out of there without being sucked into going to the club all night, success. Another long night of sleep, and more R&R, not a bad day to end the weekend. I was able to speak with my parents, and Rick since he took my spot at home for the weekend, and heard about an awesome ugly sweater party that all my friends back home went to, the pictures look great by the way guys!

Well, that takes us full circle back to today...sitting here in the library after my successful final marketing presentation, in Spanish no less, feeling liberated with only a few more lectures between me and a winter break in Lisbon. Hopefully it will not snow too much more this week and the weekend comes quickly.

As always I hope you are all well back home, finals went well for everyone that has finished, go well for everyone that is finishing, and more importantly that everyone has a wonderful Holiday season. Happy Hanukkah to those of you you celebrate.

Much Love,

Phil

P.S. A Huge Congrats to Amanda Fraser for Graduating this semester also, I am sorry I forgot to add you in the post last week, but I am real proud of you too, CONGRATS!!!!