VIVA LA ROJA!!!!!

I love soccer. I mean, football :P I really am in Spain at the best time--Corpus Christi in Granada and La Copa Mundial!! The environment here around gametime is incredible. I wear my jersey all day and all the way to and from school I get honks and shouts and hoots and hollers and chants for ESPANA!! Everyone is so excited and I love it :D The game last night was awesome. We went down to the palacio de congresos where they set up this huge tent with a ginormous tv in it and hundreds of granadinos pack in to watch their boys. I have never seen so much red and yellow in my life. I almost died of smoke inhalation because we were all packed in so tight, but we won so it totally didn't matter. David Villa scored both of the goals and almost a third (and he's gorgeous) but my favorite player is Gerard Pique. He is a total BAMF. He gets injured so much cuz he plays so hard and he doesn't even care. Yesterday he got a ball to the gonads AND he got cleated in the face. He was bleeding profusely, but after about 3 seconds on the sidelines, he went back on the field with a balled up piece of tissue in his mouth to stop the bleeding. BAMF.

So, Madrid was amazing. AMAZING. It was such an awesome weekend. We took a night bus Thursday night and arrived around 7am on Friday morning. Friday we saw the palace, the cathedral, and the Prado. We also did a TON of walking around and just checking stuff out. My friend Carlos has some family in Madrid, so we met up with them in the afternoon and they showed us around a bit and bought us lunch. They were so sweet :) And they complemented me on my spanish and my good accent :D The boys watched the US game after that, and I attempted to, but I was soooo exhausted I passed out. Then we caught some tapas and watched the London game and called it an early night.

Saturday we caught a bus to Toledo, which is about a 45 minute bus ride from Madrid, but you can still see Madrid from Toledo. Granted, Toledo is on a huge hill, but it's still pretty sweet. Toledo was so cool. It's a really old city, and it's uphill both ways on cobblestone streets, so I was really glad I brought tennies! We saw a bunch of stuff, I don't even remember it all, but my favorite part was the view. There is a river that runs along the city, and we found this little park area where you could look out over it and it was absolutely gorgeous. I didn't want to leave. The city was just generally so interesting because it has so much history. It was actually the capital of Spain two different times, did you know that? That and we had an awesome lunch :D

That evening we had a really cool dinner at a place called Casa Mingo. It's famous for it's cider, so we got a bottle and then ordered some of the best chicken I've ever eaten in my life and tortilla patatas and bread. Amazing. Then we met up with some other people who came to Madrid for drinks and festivities that evening.

Sunday we went to the Rastro, which is basically a REALLY BIG garage sale. Like, at least 4 city blocks. I found some really cool stuff for really cheap, so it was pretty fun. Then we hit up this free music festival that happened to be going on that day. There were some pretty sweet bands and the venue was really cool, but I was pretty exhausted by that point so I was excited to go home. I'm just really glad that we had amazing weather all weekend. It was so beautiful. I wish we could've had more time--there is just so much to do in Madrid! Either way it was a really fun weekend, so I'm really glad I went.

Now it's back to the daily grind, which means homework :( Not too many days of class left though! And I've got some exciting stuff coming up. For example, tomorrow we're going to the movie theater in spanish! That should be pretty sweet. And the US plays Algeria--crucial game. Everyone cross your fingers!

Abrazos y besos,
Meredith