I am truly, truly terrible at this job.

At school, it was easy to write things down. My days consisted of doing homework, complaining about Saga food, and working. My life literally never stops these days.

The past week was a bit more chill. We have been attending grammar classes each morning...and by grammar I mean our teacher tells us which bars are the best and where to eat dinner and how to stay safe and how to swear and jerks. It's helpful.

Making friends has been easy and difficult. Easy because I made a new best friend t

he first day there. But it has also been hard because that has been the only true friend so far. Ther

e are so many people on this program and while they are all extremely nice and outgoing, within five minutes of small talk I hear how their boyfriends have slept with hookers, or how many times they have been high and in rehab, or how many days in a row they have been drunk since arrival. Nice, but not someone I feel like trusting...

But me and Kati are incredibly happy and having a blast. We get out of "school" around 1 at which point we walk home and enjoy an AMAZING lunch from our Senora. We have yet to be disappointed. The three course meals are amazing every single day and we have yet to have a repeat. Then we take super long siestas simply because we can.

Last week we took an amazing day trip as a group to Segovia to see the castle that Walt Disney based his idea off of, and the Cathedral, and had an amazing lunch with abut 7 courses and a famous Segovian dessert.

We have also been busy planning our trips! I am actually leaving for Valencia, Spain (about 4 hour bus ride from Madrid) tomorro

w (Saturday) at 7 AM! I am also SO excited for my two planned trips: Portugal on February 4th and Paris for Valentine's day!! I am truly without words for how amazing this all is. I am trying to live it up until my money runs out. Which will happen pretty darn soon since the American Dollar is worth NOTHING. Thanks.

The week before we checked out a trendy bar and danced til 6 AM at a gay club. It was beyond amazing. They have a different feel and attitude towards gays here, so there were many straight people as well. And last night was amazing. We stayed out til 6 in the morning again, dancing the night away and receiving tens of thousands of compliments regarding our beauty from every type of European. Please beware of Italians. They are trouble.

Today we took it easy and strolled the beautiful Casa de Campo - miles upon miles of hills, trees, a

lake, and trails. Madrid truly has everything....everything! As the Italians kept telling us, "Madrid iz zee best, zee best."

We have also been eating a lot of chocolate because it's beyond amazing.

Love you all! I'll try to be better. :)

I do not know how long I have been in Spain. I do not know how much sleep I have gotten in the past three days. I never know what time it is. And I never know when to eat. But I am going to consider this my first official day in Madrid.

After an obnoxious hassle with security, a two

hour delay once we had already been seated and on the runway, a stressful transfer, being woken up after only half an hour of sleep by bright lights and random breakfasts because it was 8 AM in Spain and 1 AM in my cabeza, and a completely nauseating plane ride that forced me to whip out

some mad pilates breathing skills to prevent vomitarse in public, we arrived safely in Spain.

I was shoved into a taxi with some random 6'10" boy and essentially had no idea what was going on. I don't care how fluent I am. I was running on half an hour of sleep and my

contacts were mad at me and resembled a dirty fishbowl. Excellent. We arrived at our hotel and had to pay...ready for this...61 USD for a 15 minute cab ride. Please send money. Love, Erin.

The hotel was gorgeous. Kati and I were running around like idiots. The most idiotic, however,

had to be the fact that we could not, for the life of us, figure out how to get the lights on. After peeing in the dark I demanded help. We went down stairs to ask for assistance. Apparently Europe is actually serious about being green rather than it being the cool thing to do, so you need to put your hotel room key into a slot in order to activate power. Schnazzy, eh?

Also, while we're mentioning Spanish culture/customs, there were no clocks. None. Seriously.

Not surprised. Also, there were no locks on things such as bathrooms and the shower only had half a door. They truly have completely different ideas on personal space and privacy.

Oh PS - I may have forgotten all my bras...

We had an amazing meal in the hotel where we met some cool students, we had to dinner and followed people around to restaurants for tapas and drinks, and we

walked the beautiful streets til about one in the morning and the streets were packed. It was a

Monday night. Amen to things being open and people being out past 8 damnit.

We checked out of the hotel in the morning. Kati and I had used a free calling card to make a 4 minute call hom

e. When we checked out, they said it cost us 63 dollars. About 8 bucks a minute. Not free. Not okay. Please send money. Love, Erin.

We met our host families before we started bawling and causing a scene.. They, and the home, are absolutely

adorable. Kati and I are sharing a room with some rad bunk beds, complete with fenced in area to prevent death while abroad y arriba.

We had to take some pathetic test today. A great thing to give to completely jet lagged, hungover, and for a lot of people, both, students. Afterward we were standing around with a bunch of guys, all of us holding our 3 x 3 foot maps of the city. It was so touristy, I wish I had had my camera out to top it off. None of us knew how to get home. En serio. One kid a

s trying to find his way back on a metro that would take him 40 minutes. Yah. That's unfortunate. Kati and I live about 5 minutes away on the bus, so we guessed. And yes, we made it home.

We just got back from exploring our own little street. When I say little street, I mean there are hundreds of taxis, people, a palace, parks, and a mall that looks nicer than anything the United States has ever created. And it's just a frickin mall (in photo). We couldn't afford dinner, so we ate McDonalds. And we couldn't afford that. Kati

sandwich cost her ten bucks. At McDonalds. Yah. And she spilled her drink. Please send money. Love, Erin.

So between buying phones, buses, stupid phone calls, meals, and all around making mistakes like it's going out of style, I hope to be well on my to running out of ideas to mess up in the first place and become a Madrileña.

Perhaps next time I right I'll only be 100 euro shorter instead...

Paz. Todo el tiempo.

Pre-Spain Excitement

As much as my previous and bitter post cracks me up, I have a much more excited attitude as the days get closer and my trip seems like more of a reality.
While it still feels surreal, we finally received some housing information today. I of course spent the entire afternoon in my pajamas Google earthing all of Madrid, looking up the houses and parks nearby, and getting completely ecstatic about my next four amazing months.
My new madre's name is Carmen. She has a 14 year old daughter and a home. That's the extent of my information but it works for me.
I am to share this residence with the lovely Kati Hinshaw. I have studied abroad before, and while it was short, the girls that I lived with have been my hermanas ever since, and there is this little bond that is completely undescribable until experienced. I cannot even put into words how excited I am to be sharing this life changing experience with such a brilliant and wonderful girl. I cannot wait to get into trouble, laugh hysterically, and grow as a person with this crazy farm girl from Hudson Illinois who just happened to cross my path. :)
I am absolutely craving this study abroad experience. It may sound ridiculous, but I am honestly so excited to be proud of myself. It's a personal goal and feeling but I always felt that everyone was put here for a reason, and so far all I have done is gone to school and gotten good grades. I am so ready to move above and beyond my acquired education and simply be somebody. And the fact that I know that I can do this just makes me happy and makes me proud.
In the mean time, I have long lists of all the things that I need to do. I paid money for more money (damn exchange rate). And I am packing my suitcases, which, by the way, I put on my scale frequently to make sure I stay under all weight restrictions! Erin Howes will be spending her money on plane tickets and clubbing and European clothes, not luggage thank you very much.
I write so much. Win. And I think I will hold off until Spain.
Hasta y amor.