Feliz Día de San Valentín

Sunset over the river

The river before sunset... This is the highest the water's been in years

Me, Alli, Kristin, Breezy, and Sarah 

It's been an awesome weekend! The weather this weekend could seriously not have been more perfect (mid-60s and sunny every day)... absolutely gorgeous! We planned some great stuff and I had such a good time! On Friday after I posted, Alli and Breezy and I went on a little tapas crawl. We decided to kind of wander around our neighborhood and look for some new places. We stumbled upon some good ones and had a ton of fun. 

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, which we all knew was going to be a pretty homesick kind of day. Even though it's not that big of a deal (oh man if I had been gone for Thanksgiving or Christmas I would have had to have been slipped a sedative to get through the day), it's still just kind of hard to be away from home on a day like that. So, we decided to plan a fun day and try to make the absolute best of it. Breezy, Alli and I went shopping in the morning and then went home for lunch and siesta. We met up after siesta with Kristin and Sarah and the five of us went down by the river (a really really pretty part of down that we don't get to very often) to sit and watch the sunset and take pictures and just hang out. We stopped at the Mercadona (grocery store!!) next to the river and picked up some snacks and drinks and had an awesome time just chilling out and enjoying the city. After the sun went down and we all got pretty hungry, we went to Telepizza (Spain's fast food pizza that is SO GOOD!) and got some dinner. We then all went home to get ready for the night.

While I was getting ready (sans light bulb-- my light bulb burned out on Thursday night and I just now got a replacement. No pasa nada?), I found out that the Valentine's Day gift I sent to Matt had been opened and emptied. I had sent him a Real Madrid soccer jersey and some chocolate and he got an empty box in the mail. What a bummer! I guess it's a lesson learned about shipping stuff. After finishing getting ready, I headed out for the night with Breezy and Alli-- we met up with some other girls on our program and had a great night out. 

Today, I got up around 10:30, walked around (bought my lightbulb haha), and went to mass at the Cathedral. I ended up running into Christy, Michelle, and Jill there which was fun. Mass was really cool and really intense. There were fifteen altar servers (all male and ranged in age from probably 6-20), two deacons, and three priests. It was a really cool mass and I'm really glad I went. Afterwards, I walked home with Jill in the gorgeous weather, made it in time for lunch, then crashed and took a long nap. After I woke up, I headed out to get myself a donut at Dunkin' Coffee (why not, right?) and then came home and got to skype with my mom and dad plus Mar Mar and my aunts Susie and Jenny. It was SO great to get to see them! And we're at T-minus three days until my dad's visit! I am SO excited I can't even begin to explain. It's going to be so great to see him and to have a taste of home and to get to show him all the places I've discovered here.

We just finished dinner and I think the rest of the night is going to include an essay on Don Quijote and finishing up The Holiday. I bought it on iTunes this morning and am loving it. We watched it a lot freshman year in Beth and Carolyn's room, so it's got good memories attached to it. iTunes is so awesome for studying abroad-- I've been able to keep up with my three favorite shows: The Bachelor, The Office, and Jon and Kate plus 8. Gotta love it!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!