i realized yesterday, sitting on the metro during my hour-long commute to my apartment from school, that i've finally settled into a routine here. more than that, really, because routines don't mean all that much... more that i've found ways to spend my time that i like, that seem like real life to me, not just play time or something random before i get back to real life.
this is my life now... for now. hour-long metro trips to school full of people-watching and that electronic piano-playing man in plaza eliptica, class friends, church friends, weekend trips, being anti-social during the week... i like it.
i could be more social during the week, and probably will try to be after semana santa when school slows down again, but by the time i get to my piso after school, i'm tired and have enough little things to keep me busy until skype dates and bed. i don't crave interaction or feel like i'm missing out here like i would at home... i'm not sure why that is, really, but i like it. being social all the time would be exhausting :)

last weekend i stayed in madrid (gasp!) for the second weekend in a row... spent friday locked in my piso with the intention to get quite a lot of school work done... which halfway happened. i got enough done, though, and went to sleep.

saturday i met up with nora at 10 to visit el escorial. it's a monastery a little bit north of madrid, something i've seen as a 'must' on every list of what to do while visiting madrid. it was a neat place, but a bit overrated, i think. the weather was beautiful, with clear blue skies and just enough of a temperature difference between sun and shade that bringing my coat wasn't pointless, but i didn't have to wear it all the time. we walked around in the gusting wind, strolled through the art gallery area, snuck pictures (well, i did, anyway) in the interesting part of things with the original architecture, paintings, and furniture, and ate at a nice sidewalk cafe. we actually got to spend a lot of time outside, enjoying the weather... when we arrived at the train station, we decided to walk to try and find our way, rather than figuring out a bus to take. so off we went, wandering into a park and realizing quickly that that wasn't it, then off uphill on a road that luckily was the right one, though i can't actually remember why we chose that direction. maybe there was a sign or something. the monastery also had a nice garden area, so we spent a little bit wandering around there just before leaving.
even though we were back in madrid by 530ish, with all the walking and the fact that we met up at 10am, it was a rather long day. poor nora practically passed out on the train back, she could barely keep her eyes open. she was a great travel buddy, though... we tour at about the same pace, so neither of us had to wait much on the other. didn't run out of things to talk about either; silence isn't always bad, but why bother with it if you don't have to? hahah

that night at 7 the esn group was getting together to watch the real madrid vs. atletica soccer game, to start at 8, at a pub... the pub i watched the soccer game at last time, actually. so after resting and skyping a bit, i headed off to sol to meet them. considered different ways to bail for about the first 15 minutes, as the only people there were the french girls (they're nice, but they don't really speak english i don't think, just talk to each other in french. so... yeah.), and some boys i didn't know. i chickened out on bailing, though, and this finnish boy ended up talking to me, so i wasn't all alone. eventually some other friends showed up, but i left around 845 because i was tired and being around soccer crazies just makes me more tired.

plus, i had to get up for church in the morning! yay church! but seriously, i didn't realize just how much i'd missed being around a community of believers. immanuel baptist looks a lot different than any church i've been to in the states, with tons of backgrounds, nationalities, and accents, but the songs were familiar and the message rang true. i won't be around on a sunday to go to church again until the beginning of april, but i've got wednesday night Bible study to tide me over... i really like the kids at church, even met a few new ones this week. hung around for like an hour and a half after church, just chit-chatting and enjoying their company. i would have stayed for longer, but...

there was a picnic in retiro park that afternoon! nora, having noticed that good weather was predicted for sunday, arranged a huge potluck picnic with the esn kids. the weather was incredible, there were like 40 people there and i made even more new friends... i really wonder how there are still brand new people in esn i've never met before. oh! and i finally met another texan! though he's from austin and goes to school at wash u, he's still a texan. hahah... there was tons of food, a few of the boys brought their guitars... fantastic. there's been talk of making it a weekly tradition (yes, even so far from texas a&m, people still make 'traditions' for any reason), and i hope they do so i can join whenever possible.
i was going to go to the prado museum at 5 with the formal esn group, but decided to skip it because i didn't want to leave the park yet. wound up staying til 6 at retiro, then heading back to my piso just in time for a skype date with jen, steph, kayla, and carly. that whole daylight savings time in the western hemisphere thing caught me off guard, so it was a really good thing i skipped the prado, or i would have missed the date entirely. yay skype date! yay jen is engaged! yay kayla being here in like two months! yay steph is 21! yay talking to carly for the first time in forever! yay susan is engaged and was having a party for it so she couldn't make it to the skype date!

hahah, lots of yays... exciting weekends like that make me wish i was home, but i know that this is my place for this semester. i won't be in college station or always in the same city as my friends after we all graduate anyway, so i suppose this is as good a time as any to become ok with not always being there.

i do love skype though, seriously. it is one of the absolute most amazing inventions ever. EVER. to be able to talk to someone 5300ish miles away on a daily basis, for free? love it.

anyway, back to what i'm up to. just going to class, trying to get ahead in schoolwork a bit so i don't end up busy and/or stressed right around semana santa, and getting ready for mommy to be here! yay! i'm really looking forward to mommy being here... she's a good travel buddy, and from what i remember from past trips, we tour at the same pace, too. i'm looking forward to being able to show her around madrid, showing the little bit of the city that i've learned so far. vienna this weekend will be fun, but let's face it - paris next weekend is the real highlight. mom has been before and loves the city, so it will be fun to have her show me around there, too. whoo boy, get ready for lots of pictures in the next few weeks!

tonight i tried to go to a salsa class in sol, but couldn't find the cafe it was at. i wound up just walking all the way up calle mayor to the north, by palacio royal and other places i only barely vaguely know. the only reason i had any idea where i was was because that was where paloma and i had walked last thursday when we met.

oh yeah, had i mentioned paloma yet? she's this really nice spanish girl from my marketing research class who is taking an english course and wants to practice her speaking and listening. so we got together last thursday to talk a bit, just hang out and let her practice english at the same time. she kept apologizing for not speaking well, but she definitely speaks english way better than i speak spanish. she was fun to talk to too... we walked around for a while, then settled in at la mallorquina, the amazing old bakery that i love. ended up talking for like 2 and a half hours, it was neat.

but anyway, tonight. yeah, i just sort of walked. figured i was on a main street, so i'd hit a metro station at some point. false, it turns out. of course, i could have turned around and gone back to sol, but i didn't want to. so i just kept walking, wandering, with my mace tucked accessibly in my coat pocket, just in case :) it was nice to just walk, not really having anywhere to be in particular. the buildings are all lit so beautifully at night, i love the way the use lighting here.

and speaking of night, it is now 1032 pm and i have to be up at 7 am. stinky 9 o'clock classes here are like 8 am's at home...

Bible study tomorrow night, maybe meeting with paloma again, booking hostels for italy over semana santa with alex on thursday, then off to vienna on friday!

p.s. pictures!