Waking up to snow!

This morning I woke up to my beautiful view covered in white..even more beautiful than usual! I think I was the only one of my roommates who was excited to see snow considering all of them are from the north where snow is a daily occurrence. I will admit though, that the commute to school was a little longer today since the air was so bitter and cold! Orientation is over tomorrow and I will take an oral exam Thursday to determine the level of my language class for the semester. I am so excited to get the next few days off for break because my aunt Nancy, who is a flight attendant for Delta, will be spending her layover with me in Madrid! As luck has it she is also staying only one metro stop away from me across from the huge Plaza del Toros.

I had a great start to the week complete with a tour of the beautiful Parque del Retiro (most famous in my life for its appearance on Jillian's season of the Bachelorette as the romantic spot for her and Kiptyn). It definitely lived up to all of its glory! After my roommates and I stopped for some churros and chocolate (my favorite new dessert) we met the rest of the IES group for the tour. The park is huge and filled with greenery, waterfalls, soccer fields, a monument for the victims of the Madrid bombings in 2004, and the Palacio de Cristal (pictured below). The walk through the park was also nice because I am slowly beginning to meet more and more people and form more friendships with those outside of my apartment and Wofford. After the tour I came home and made my typical pasta dish for dinner because that is all I have mastered in cooking.


Monday after class I met up with 4 girls from my program and we went shopping at the Principe Pio mall. The mall had stores like H&M and Zara that I don't normally get to see. I had so much fun with them and practiced some major self restraint. My only purchase was some black leggings because it appears to be a staple item around here....let's see if I can pull off the European look? I came back to the apartment and had dinner and then skyped with Ruthie and Catherine which absolutely made my week! I finally feel like I can be part of both worlds because I am starting to like it here so much!

So I have a funny story from last night to prove that through all of my effort to adjust to the time difference, my sleep schedule is still very messed up! My alarm didn't work Monday morning and I woke up with 30 minutes to get ready and still had to shower, eat breakfast, etc. Therefore I made sure that my phone alarm would work for Tuesday morning so I would not be caught in that predicament again. Last night around 2:25 a.m my roommate's phone buzzed on our bedside table (keep in mind I didn't fall asleep until 2:00). Convinced it was my alarm, I jumped out of my bed and ran to the shower without even looking at the time. Needless to say, I took a shower at 2:25 in the morning and almost started getting ready when my brain came back. I realized I still had five hours to sleep so I climbed back into bed with wet hair and slept until it was time to go to class. I promise my body will adjust...just in time to go back home!