Cosmopolitan, Nine Black Alps

Alright, I know, I'm late again. But this time, I have an even better excuse than before. The internet broke! For about the kajillionth time, but finally, I guess I spoke to the right person, because as of right now, its working pretty well. Keep your fingers crossed that indeed, it continues to work.

So this week: again with the uneventful-ness during the week, but adventures on the weekend. I went to Malaga this weekend. As Picasso's hometown, I was excited to see that it contained a lot of funky looking street art, some of it reminding me of San Francisco and once the fog rolled in, I was at home. I absolutely loved this town.

Friday, I arrived before the rest of my group. I walked around the town for a while, exploring, getting lost and taking pictures. All around the centro are footprints to walk in, so visitors can "follow in Picasso's footsteps". Each of these led to different areas that Picasso spent parts of his life before the exile to France after stating his alliance to the Republicans in Franco's Spain. I followed these, completely out of order (typical), all around the city until Allison, Zach and Victor joined up with me. We changed and went to find dinner. Meandering through this town is wonderful. Despite the two midterms I have this week and an essay (as well as an impending MRI to finally figure out what exactly I did to my knee..), it was utterly relaxing to walk around and see everything this town had to offer.

Saturday, we took the bus into another smaller town to hike around. Unfortunately, my knee was in worse shape than I had originally thought. I could barely make it up hills, let alone anywhere else. We ended up returning to the Malaga earlier than we had originally planned. Allison and I returned to the hostel before everyone else, since we had decided to explore the day before - and the boys wanted to gamble, a pastime we could never understand. So we went back to the hostel and talked with all the people who worked there while they were all preparing for the big Halloween party that night.

Halloween abroad is an interesting idea. While, yes, it is an Americanized holiday, in recent years, other countries have adopted it. Well, Spain decided to return to the original, terrifying idea of Halloween. There were zombies, vampires, witches and everything else you could imagine. It was amazing. For the first time since I was a child, I was genuinely scared by certain Halloween costumes, especially when they'd sneak up behind you! (Hola, guapa!) We were unprepared, without costumes and, well, looking pretty out of place. But we still joined in the party, botelloning with the best of them. We went to bed that night having experienced something completely new. I think next year, I'll be dressing up as something crazy scary for Halloween. None of this typical American stuff.

Sunday, Allison and I walked down to the Iglesia to enter for free on Sunday. It was absolutely spectacular, but unfortunately, we could not take pictures on Sunday. Well, I guess you have to give a little to get a little (that is the saying, right?). I returned to Madrid on the 12:00 bus, sleeping the whole way. When I got home, I started studying.

Last night (since I slacked on posting yesterday, you get a few days thrown in free!), I cooked dinner for a friend living in the campus apartments. We made french toast, which was delicious! Then I came home to eat dinner with my Senora, getting to have two dinners in one night.
The time has come for me to return to working. Stay tuned for next week!