Complutense Alcala De Henares

... a better option comes up. What a relief to finally have a home! We move in on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I've been feeling a little sick. I think I might have a cold from being on the airplane. The comes at a really inconvenient time, as orientation in Madrid starts tomorrow. I hope a can feel a little better before I have to meet the fellow assistants. Well, That's it for now. I will definitely let you know how Madrid is. I'm sooo excited to get to see the city tomorrow! Pues, Chiao!!

... another. Of course, my sense of direction is so atrocious - as is my memory for names - that this time I could not for the life of me find the little bar with the wonderful mojitos that are 8 euros for two. However, I did buy the valencianas (a.k.a. espandrilles) that I had wanted forever. There's a little shoe shop near Plaza Mayor where they hand-make typically Spanish shoes and sell them for very reasonable prices. Every time I've been to this shop, there has been an enormous line of ...

... a time a "city of three cultures" where Jews, Muslims, and Christians used to live side by side--in harmony. This explains the balanced mixture of art and architecture styles that can be safely called unique. While we were in Toledo, we visited a few major historic places: the Gothic Cathedral, Sinagoa de Santa Maria la Blanca (the white synagogue of St. Mary), and Sinagoga del Transito (a synagogue converted into a church for Catholics ...

... airport does not make boarding calls it got to 15 minutes before the plane was due to leave that the board said it was delayed. I had an inkling that something like this would happen coz the flight to birmingham was so smooth. The plane ended up leaving 40 minutes late. I slept through most of the flight, until the captain announced that it was 10 minutes to landing. Yay, I thought to myself. I looked out the window and I saw another plane rather close ...

... or a paseo because they have fountains, benches, and a variety of plants and trees. They just happen to be in the middle of the street. Anyhow, we watched to sun go down and watched the brilliant colors of the sunset reflect off of the ornate white buildings of central Madrid. Then we made our way back to the Plaza del Sol (a super famous plaza in Madrid) to look for a not-so-expensive place to eat dinner. We decided on a place called Nebraska, which was like a ...

... walking around the Bull Fighting ring. Tom thought the place smelt of horse poo and was a bit sad when I explained it was Bull poo for the Bulls who were to be killed in the Bull fight (I think I would poo my pants too!). After the walk we went to a café for an espresso and hot chocolate (the best hot chocolate in Europe according to Tom). The café had real Bulls' heads around the walls and photos of matadors in action at the local bullring, quite ...

... stripping the tops off in the street, dumping the wigs in a bin and finally blagging our way into Madrid's equivelent of Ritzy ... with a kareoke bar in it!!! Abby and I performed a fantastic rendition of the Proclaimers much to the delight (dispare) of the audience followed by a string of other great hits performed by the rest of the hen party. The night then got messy and for some reason I managed to persuade everyone that they wanted to go back to the hotel and ...

... of the exam. The exam lasted 20 days, in which the student would have to stand in the centre podium, with 80 professors seated all around the salon's perimeter. Each professor would ask one question, so naturally the questions were ************ly that, the professors competed amongst themselves to see who asked the hardest question. To top that off, the entire student body of the university could be present during the exam, in the second level, where they ...

... es una ciudad hermosa, medieval y por lo tanto amurallada, con callejuelas angostas e inclinadas y rodeada por el rio tajo. Es realmente maravillosos, lamentablemente un poco caro (por ser tan turistico) y ayer por la corrida y eldia estaba casi todo cerrado. Igual estuvo guay!

... ever before. I'm experiencing the power of saying/intending a thing to bring it about. The noise on the street and in the cafes/bars is like a party all night. They don't even begin to go out here until nine PM or later! In other circumstances I might well have been irritated by this. Now I either go join the procession up and down the calle or it's pleasant background to sleeping in a foreign place. I see that I keep wanting to find someone to ...