We all woke up starving, so we decided to go to the supermarket (Mercadona). It was a pretty interesting experience trying to find things like peanut butter and snacky foods that I'm used to. They don't usually keep their milk refrigerated here, which kinda freaked me out at first, but I'm rolling with it. It was kinda a rough walk back to the apt. with all my bags, but I made it with the help of Emily!
After we got unpacked we set off to buy cell phones, which turned out to be a ridiculous adventure. We asked at the front desk for directions...all in spanish mind you...so needless to say there were some language barriers. We ended up walking past an abandoned building that none of us were able to identify...so I'm going with some sort of E.T. dealio. We walked as fast as we could before we ran into the spanish equivalent of I 695 and for some odd reason couldn't find a crosswalk...probably because most people were driving about 75 mph...so we decided not to risk our lives for phones and headed back to ask again. She informed us...after laughing at us...that there is a path through the train station to get to the mall. cool. I mean that's normal right? So we set off yet again for the promised land of phones and rebajas (after christmas sales). This time we were successful. score! It only took us about an hour and a half to try to negotiate our phone plans in spanish...yea kinda difficult...and I learned that the phone that Ellen was kind enough to give me so that I wouldn't have to buy one only works with a specific sim card that they sell as a package deal with their phones...so I still have to buy a completely new one! Thanks anyway Ellen!
After we got back, we decided to head into the city of Alcala for the parade for el dia de los reyes (3 Kings Day). We were a little bit late getting there, but we were able to catch the very end which was awesome. All the families from the city were there with their kids and it was just really cool to see everyone interacting...especially in spanish! The city is decorated with lights on the main streets and the plaza de cervantes has these beautiful old trees called platanos that line the streets and they are strung the whole way around with lights. At night it is absolutely gorgeous with the university buildings, cafes, and churches all lit up! We wandered around and found some bars and restaurants. I went to El Baserri with Caitlin, Laurel, Evan, and Jenna. It's a small bar and restaurant with a really warm atmosphere and great food. Our waiter was really sweet and brought us free food with our wine so that we could try some of the local dishes.
We headed to another bar after dinner just to check the scene...you know because that's what the cool kids do. We found a ridiculous bar called Rock Louisiana...it was just covered in American music posters and had horrible old american music playing...so we decided eeeeh...not the best. We ended up at Versus where we had a dance party with ourselves because everyone else was looking at us like we were crazy...but in all honesty it was a pretty lame bar. It was the group that made it fun!
The next day was a holiday so we literally stayed in the dorm all day and chatted/snuggled...and we coined the verb "snugglear." que bueno! I made dinner with Jenna, Caitlin, and Evan and we played Gringo! (thanks Liz!) We crashed early because we had our placement exam the next day...which we were all so stoked about!...
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