¡No me digas!

This has been a disgrace. I have not updated this thin in over a week and a half. Sorry for the delay, but obviously I've been on the move. I won't bore you with the minute details of my past week and a half, but I'll make an exciting list and elaborate on some:

1. El Escorial, Phillip II palace outside of Madrid, was beautiful to look at outside, but surprisingly uninteresting inside, except for the tombs. The tombs, carved out of red and gray marble, held the bodies of the kings and queens since Phillip II until Franco took over in 1939. The ornate tombs of royal children (one of which held only 15 or so of a kings 70 illegitimate children) were a sight as well.



2. Classes began, and culture shock set in as I realized that professors actually speak in Spanish. Every professor singled me and my Tufts amigas out as "los rubios," or the blonde kids. And in one class, I unwisely told a professor that I majored in political science, and he immediately anted me to answer every one of his questions about medieval Europe and city-state politics, about which I know nothing. I decided to avoid PoliSci and instead focus on my minor and take a class about the history of cinema and another about Spanish theater.

3. We discovered the best places for tapas in Madrid AND Alcalá. El Tigre in Madrid and Tapón in Alcalá. I don't think I've successfully expressed to my Alcalá compañeros just how incredible El Tigre is. Let me put it into perspective: Usually, 2-3€ is a decent price for a drink and a bocadillo (sandwich), the normal tapas experience. El Tigre pours half a bottle of red wine into a goblet, and supplies plates full of chorizo, patatas bravas (potatoes in spicy sauce), croquetas, and manchego, all for 1,80€. And it's always packed, but no surprise there. It's the best place in town.

Tapón in Alcalá was a pleasant surprise. It's a little hole in the wall, and the boss likes to politely scream jokes at his customers, and the female bartender is very patient with our extensive 8-person orders, but this place makes the tapas on the spot. Other spots will have cold tortilla or jamón bocadillos on hold, but Tapón prides itself on fresh tapas. And there are more than twenty choices, which makes it interesting for an adventurous eater like myself.

4. We played fútbol in Alcalá, and we won. WELLNESS TUFTS SWEDEN. Sorry if that doesn't make any sense, but it's really not worth explaining. Suffice it to say, it was great fun.

5. I spent some more time with my host-nephew, Alan, who loves to show me Mr. Potato Head (who he calls "¡O-ta-ta!") and a cartoon about horses.


6. Katherine visited Madrid! Andrew and I went into Madrid yesterday to spend time with her and Jake, and we had a blast, getting lost in Madrid, finding mediocre food, sitting in a sunny plaza, singing a cappella (God, I miss sQ! so much), and meeting up later in the day with Emily Code! We got coffee with Emily and Ethan, then bid a fond farewell to Katherine (who I will see soon in Paris and Amsterdam! Did I mention that? I booked a trip for a weekend with Katherine, Gina, and Emma in Amsterdam. It's going to be RIDICULOUSLY fun.) and Jake (who I see every week, but I want to see more...) and took Emily back to Alcalá where this happened:

7. OK, backstory first. At my gym this past week, the trainer Javi, an enormous jolly bodybuilder, approached Erica from my program and told her to come to his discoteca in Alcalá over the weekend. She showed me a poster of this place, which featured two almost-naked models (a man and a woman), and highlighted the word "Streptease." That's not a typo. So we decided not to go, obviously.

Cut to last night. Andrew, Emily, and I met Rachel, Erica, and Andrés in a bar in Alcalá, and we hung out for a while until Mónica, one of our intercambios, showed up with her Spanish friends. Rachel, Erica, and Andrés were "sleepy" (I didn't buy their excuse, though), and the rest of us met up with the tail-end of a botellón, then started to walk toward some club I had never heard of. Turned out to be Javi's Streptease joint. And it was AMAZING. And yes, the models from the poster "strepped" (which sounds so gross...). Probably the most fun I've had in Alcalá...it was what a discoteca is supposed to be: uncomfortable, sweaty, loud, and exciting. Mónica and her friends Marta and David were awesome people, and I hope to see them soon.

But I had an amazing time with Emily and only wish she had more time in Madrid.

This morning, I told my señora about the streptease, and all she could say with disbelief was "¡No me digas!"

And that pretty much catches us up to date. I'll try to be more prompt with my posts. Miss you all still.