A crazy few weeks, a few crazy people

So last i left off i was supposed to be on my way to Granada. Well, my friend Jenna pulled the biggest blonde move ever and booked her flight from Ireland to Granada for the following week, so i ended up staying home and doing homework. Not the most fun ending to a spring break, but somewhat necessary.

(+) 2 tapas: cousin Jen visits Madrid
Tuesday following spring break, my cousin Jennifer came from Paris to visit me. While i worked on wed and thurs, she gave herself a tour of the city via the MadridVision tourbus and spent some time in and out of the big museums. On thursday night we went and saw "Carmen", a flamenco show choreographed by Sara Baras, one of the most famous flamenco dancers in Spain. The show was amazing and beautiful, and nothing like the flamenco show i saw before which was much more intimate and less glamourous. The rest of the weekend we basically spent walking around the city and doing our fair-share of shopping. Jen got to meet a bunch of my school friends at one's birthday party, and was able to practice her french with a few of the French guys there! Sunday i exposed her up to true madrileño lifestyle by taking her to the massive flea-market, eating some cheap but hardy tapas, and drinking in the sun with the rest of the city. It was great to see cousin Jen in Madrid and actually get to show a family member what i've been up to for the past 7 months.

(+/-) 3 tapas: Jenna's visit, Sebastian's return, Nicole's unexpected departure
This past weekend was a BUSY and INSANE one. Thursday night i went out with my friend Negeen and her ucDavis friends to this bar on top of the MElia hotel. It was beautiful and you could see a lot of Madrid from the top. Fun, but a little too swanky for my posh-lacking life. My friend Sebastian was supposed to come back from Germany (he studied here last semester then went home to finish uni), but i couldnt get a hold of him until Friday, which happened to be the day of all chaos converging in my life. Friday, Jenna (the friend living in Granada) was supposed to come with her friend Cambria around 2pm, but then found out they were coming at 6pm. Then, at 6pm i got a call from my good friend Nicole saying she's being deported. WHAT?!?! So i spent most of Friday night trying to coordinate with Jenna and Cambria, as well as back and forth between Nicole's apartment and mine, with Storm in tow, trying to figure out what to do. Eventually Jenna and Cambria left without me, I was able to figure some things out with Nicole, and still found the energy to meet up with Sebastian. I had good old fashioned tired fun with Sebastian, and our friends Ken and Ville who i hadn't seen in awhile. Unfortunately i was so tired that i had to leave them right when we were getting to the club (altho it was already 3am, still an early night). Saturday morning i woke up at 9 and went with Storm to Nicole's apartment to pack up EVERYTHING. Nicole had been held in a holding-cell at the airport in Madrid over night, and we were waiting to hear from her to see what was happening. From what it sounded like, it was way less glamourous than Tom Hanks's stunt in The Terminal. Basic rundown is that Nicole left the EU and came back, but she had overstayed her tourist visa so they made her leave :( So we finally heard from her and she was to make her way back to Tangier (Morocco) and then to fly to Macedonia, where Storm would bring her suitcase at the end of May. After packing up everything, and Storm going home, I let Jenna and Cambria study the city on their own because i was so tired already, but then met up with them for lunch with Jenna's older brother. I took them to my favorite haunt, the Chinese place under Plaza de España... it received mixed reviews from them. After I showed them Templo de Debod, then left them again for a nap so that we could go out later. That night Jenna, Cambria, Dylan (j's brother) and i went out in Malasaña for some quality bar-hoping and late night discoing. We had tons of fun, but i woke up with a big scrape on my back, and Jenna with an enourmous scrape on her elbow/forearm.. i think my fault, whoopsies. Sunday the four of us spent the day laughing and drinking and being jolly in La Latina. Great visit, hectic weekend, i miss nicole.

(-) 1 tapa: school
worst day of school EVER today. I have a discussion every tuesday for my Latin American Econ class based on a few readings we have to do weekly. Well the last 3 or 4 discussions i haven't made a peep, due to my immense fear of speaking in front of large groups or when being evaluated, made worse by it being in spanish. Well today was the day, and it was probably the most embarassing class OF MY LIFE, no joke. I started to put in my two cents, but then i forgot how to say a word, so i got embarassed, then nervous, then couldnt think, then couldnt speak, then couldnt form coherent sentences and ended up with a hardcore gringo accent. For the rest of class i was basically distracted bc i was so embarassed, trying to hold myself together. Now who knows if i'll ever speak in that class again, all i wanted to do was disappear.