Well,

My back is starting to feel better, remind me not to go sledding again!

So since I left off a bunch of things have happened... On Sunday we went to the Rastro, which is like a giant flea market. Pretty cool if you ask me. I bought Oliver and Company! EN ESPANOL! :) You can feel free to laugh now, everyone else has been laughing at me. I am laughing at myself. In any case, and get this, in the metro on the way home there was literally a lineup of people giving out free hugs! It brought me back home for a sec, walking down the hallway hugging all these strangers. Nothing makes you feel the way a simple hug does. And lord knows I don't get enough of those here in Madrid.

Monday is it's own story entirely. Last night we went to see el Intercambio (or the Exchange as it is known in America) and smoked shisha/wandered the city.

Today was the second time this week that I was told I was beautiful by a stranger. The expression is echar piropos, and it is definitely a cultural thing---not something I am used to by any means. Sabine told me it was a huge compliment to have someone holler "guapa" from down the street or whisper "preciosa" in my ear, but I can't help feeling withdrawn and lost. Little by little I must become accustomed to the life I have entered.

I miss people a lot today. The friends I have here are nowhere near the same as the ones back home, and I don't know what to do about that. Except break down and feel lonely. I knew it wasn't possible to bring the people I loved here but why am I thrown into an environment like this? Hard to explain... just trust me.

Well, I guess that covers it.