Na Na Spain

Our first cloudy day in Sunny Spain! Not to worry, it was still ~mostly~ sunny, but there were a few clouds, and I swear I even felt a raindrop at one point. I wasn't even on the plain! (Ouch.)

But we were outside most of the day. After sleeping in (again), we went on a free walking tour of Madrid to get some historical insight and that sort of thing. Most of it I already knew, thanks to Ramiro and three years as a Spanish major, but that did mean I got to be the know-it-all American, which was fun. The tour was in English (cheating!!), but the group was mostly from Lithuania. Go figure.

Anywho, we did pick up some new info, like the fact ("fact?") the Isabel II hated bathing, so she just rubbed her skin with goat milk to keep it moisturized. Despite the weird green tone this gave her skin, she apparently got a ton of ass. So for one or both of those characteristics, she got called Spain's "Dirty Queen." #history

Posing with Philip IV at the Palacio Real!

The tour ended at the Palacio Real, close the the Opera Real, which apparently does 15-Euro student rush tickets for shows that normally cost like 150 Euro. Something to keep in mind, as I have never been to the opera but sure as hell will not be spending 150 Euro to watch fat dudes scream at each other in Italian. But for cheap? Could be fun.

We sat around in the park by the palace reading for awhile--I am getting a lot of reading done since I still have no friends here (besides my main man, of course!!), so hit me up with book recs, please--then felt that drop of rain and hopped on the metro home. I stopped briefly at a bookstore, where I learned that in Spain, The Fault in Our Stars translates to "Under the Same Star" (Is it the star of cancer???) and "Okay? Okay." becomes "Vale? Vale." We have seen this on bright-eyed preteens' t-shirts, which is comforting proof that some things are truly global.

Tomorrow's our first day of class, Lit Theory and Spanish language, so wish us luck on that early morning commute!