Elena turned 21. Then she turned into a Gypsy.

So, I deem it extremely necessary to tell you trusty bloggerz about Elena's 21st birthday.

Before I start I need to explain a few things. First off, you may be wondering why I made the gypsy reference in the title. I LOVE gypsies. They are probably the only reason I came back to Europe. I could sit and watch them all day long. The best part about them is that there are several different types. You have the gypsy who may try to sell you useless merchandise, like miniature Eiffel Tower figurines. There is also the Ring Guy gypsy. The Ring Guy is the type of gypsy that tries to duke you by asking if you have dropped a big golden ring. You probably think I am kidding, but I am not. Last year in Paris, Annalise and I had quite the run in with him. And of course, there is the type of gypsy like Esmeralda from the Hunch Back. She wears lots of scarves, golden jewelry, she is probably of easter European descent, and she asks you for money while she attempts to pick pocket you.

If you don't quite have a handle on what she may look like, here is a picture:

What a jem. You get the idea... and what I am getting at is I love gypsies so much. Because of this, I am trying to bring about a new fad, that in my opinion, is righteous. I am starting to use the word "gypsy" on the reg. "What the Gyp?"and "You are so lame, stop being such a gypsy right now." would be two very good examples of what I am trying to explain.

So, I am sure you have been able to put two and two together, seeing as it was Elena's 21st birthday. She got wild and legit turned into a gypsy.

The night started out with us going to a cerveceria (little pub that usually has food and beer for sale). We invited a few  new friends that we had just met to come a long as well.

Here is a picture of our first round of Spanish beers:

Shortly after a few rounds of these guys, we started our night on the town. Maria is a girl in our program who is from Colombia, and she speaks Spanish fluently. In Europe, all the club promoters stand on the streets and promise you free drinks and shots if you come to their club. Maria hooked us up, and made sure we would be a having a good night. We went to some bars, and I bought Elena quite a few drinks. True to Elizabeth form... I also bought myself quite a few drinks to keep up. Oooops. Here are a few pics of the fun night:

 Amigos nuevos!

 Tequila shotz can never be a good start...

 Not limes,  just lemons. Oh, Spans....

 Some sketchballs we met on the street. Naturally we took pictures with them.

El groupo mas mejor (the best group).

As you can see we had a WONDERFUL night. It was wild! The most crazy part of the night was definitely the walk home with Elena. She had hit her limit, and had a bit of a problem fending for herself. She needed the help of Brad and me to get her back to the hotel. Andrew was there too, but sensing that he could get some really great footage, I handed him my camera and told him to go to town. He got some great footage alright. He let the video recorder function roll. When I woke up in the morning I had a five minute hilarious video saved on my camera. It documents our wild walk home, and I could not be happier about Andrew's cinematography skills. Sorry to disappoint, but I cannot post the video. As a friend to Elena, it would just not be right. However, he did snap some quick shots:

 I look ridiculous, but if you look in the background, Elena is headed down fast.

Clearly, she was headed down fast.

I can honestly say that the night of Elena's birthday was one of the most fun nights I've had in a long time. It will definitely be memorable, and I cannot wait to top it. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post, because it is truly my favorite so far. Thank you for all the wonderful feedback. You guys have made me feel like I am not wasting my time blogging, and I am so glad y'all have liked it so far. Keep the comments coming! 

I got a head buzz at the HOOKAH BAR...

well not really. I lied, but it was so fun.

As many of you know, I flew to Madrid a few days early so that I could spend time with my friend, Constanza Babio (if that's not a Spanish name, I don't know what is...), and her family. I left Knoxville on Thursday and arrived in Madrid on Friday morning around 9:30 am. Cons and her mother were waiting for me at the international gate. This was so nice, because I did not have to putter around Madrid with my giant bags trying to find her house. We got to Cons's house and settled in a bit. Her apartment (Spaniards do not live in, as they would put it, "proper houses" they live in flats) is so nice. It is covered in art and pictures of the family. It is so cozy, and I loved being there right away. Right away we took a bus to a metro station at la Plaza de Castilla. From there, we rode into downtown Madrid. For those of you who have not spent time in Madrid, it is a FANTASTIC city full of color. You should come here if you like big cities and lots of partying. Side note: I was here last Summer when Spain won the World Cup. It was absolutely NUTZ.

Here is a pic of the Madness:

Anywhoo, Cons took me to a phone store to buy a prepaid phone. The phone I got is hilarious. I feel like  I'm in middle school again. Actually, I retract the statement, Luanne (mom), did not allow me to have a phone until I was in high school. Nevertheless, it is an old school Nokia, with no T9 word or camera. I. LOVE. IT. After the phone store we went to lunch. Cons has an uncle who owns a swanky restaurant. It was interesting food, not bad, but I probably would not choose it for myself. The best part? Her uncle, "invited" us to lunch. I was confused with Cons told me this, but what she meant to say is, "we don't have to pay, it is covered!" I was so thankful. It was very unnecessary, and so sweet. After that I hit a "wall." I could not keep my eyes open. On the way home I fell asleep on the Metro. Good thing I was not alone, I would have probably been mugged. After we got home, I went straight to be and did not wake for many hours.

The next day (Saturday) Cons and I hung around the house. Little did I know that she was making big plans for the evening. She told me to be ready around 5 pm, because she was taking me with four of her friends to a hookah bar. I had never been to one before, so I was game. Let's be real though, I can't imagine that I would have objected to smoking something while in SPAIN. Cons just recently got her driver's license so she drove me and two other friends. Then once we were downtown we met two other friends. We wandered around for a bit until we found the bar. We walked in, and it immediately looked like a place that would have been featured in Aladin. The lights were low, there were burning candles everywhere, and it smelled a bit musky like flavored tobacco (imagine that!!!). We went to the counter and negotiated with the barista. (Like that word, Kev?) We walked down the stairs into a small room, and ordered some drinks. The catch was that you had to order drinks and you got hookah for free. It was so fun to sit down on the floor with all the Spanish girls. They chattered away about boys, school, their families, and TV. Even though I did not have a clue what they were saying most of the time, it was so fun to just sit and listen. They were so sweet to me. Not to mention, they are all so BEAUTIFUL it makes me sick. Cons has the best friends.

Here are a few pics form our hookah experience.

 Cheeeeeezin'

 CHICAS HERMOSAS... why can't I be Spanish??

 El groupo.

 Hookah Man.

Cons, do I see a smoke ring? Good girl!

After the hookah bar we went back to Cons's house for copas y cena (drinks and dinner). We had tortilla (traditional spanish food, kind of like a potato bread cake- very yummy) and pizza. After dinner the girls played all their favorite songs form the clubs and danced around. I loved it, and of course snapped a quick pic.

The next day, I literally slept all day long. I was in bed until about 4 pm I believe. I cannot seem to get my sleeping schedule quite right. When I finally came out of my coma, I went into the living room to hang out with Cons and her little brother, Jaime. He had a few friends over Let me tell you, they were the funniest and cutest little boys I have ever met. They were so silly, and still had this "I'm Spanish and amazing" air about them. They used words to describe things that a 12-year-old boy in the states would never use. "Lizzy, you are so very beautiful" or "I live for one thing only... Real Madrid (very famous, very good soccer team)" were two phrases I heard a few times. Even though they were so sweet they were wild too. I heard the spat off about a million english curse words, the "F" word being the most popular. They were so great. 

Here is a picture of them:

They even used their iPhone apps to take funny pictures of me:

I need to touch on one more thing before I let you go. I do apologize for the small novel I have written this morning, but I just had so much to share...

I was supposed to meet the rest of my program at a downtown hotel in Madrid. Cons had school this morning, and her father had to work. So I was left to brave the Madrid metro all alone with all of my dreadful luggage. I am fully confident that after last summer, I could pretty much get from any point A to point B. However, I was not looking forward to lugging all my crap with me through all the entry gates, stairwells, escalators, tight hallways (during rush hour), and mobs of irritated Spaniards trying to get to work. Well, I did not have much of a choice, did I? Cons made sure I knew where I was going (i.e. which stops to change trains at) and then I was off. Everything obviously went smoothly because I am here writing this blog about it. The only troublesome spot was right towards the end when I had three (not two, not one) but three flights of stairs to climb. Mind you, my bags collectively probably weigh about 80 lbs. This task was not fun. However, a really nice Spanish man helped me all the way out of the station. He carried the biggest bag for me, and he held all of the doors open for me. When I got to the top, he then proceeded to ask if I knew where I was going. He was so sweet. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Spain? A few short minutes later I was sitting on my bed in my upscale hotel room (thanks ISA!). It is REALLY fun to act like I am rich. Life is good.

Well, so I guess my next and final topic.... is my Spanish getting any better??? I will answer humbly, NO. But I do feel like I am picking up on it much better. I am even becoming more comfortable with practicing. I hope this continues to go well.

Once again, sorry this is so long. But in all honesty you didn't have to read it. For those of you who aren't ticked about it, thanks for catching up with me. I hope you enjoyed it.

Good Friends, Good Times, and Goodbyes.

So, I figure it would be a move in the right direction for me to start my blogging this semester with telling you all about my going away party. This should be fun, seeing as I love talking about myself, and I REALLY love talking about parties.

I had a joint going away party with my two friends Cece and Elena. Cece is going to Salamanca, Spain, while Elena is going to Sevilla with me. Obviously Spain is a super original to place to go when studying abroad. It is almost like no one does it.... right? Cece and Elena are great, so get ready to hear about them a lot. We had our party at a friend's house. They have hosted several parties this semester, (BP pre-game, UAB after party, Halloween, and now our going away party) and have never disappointed. Let's just say these peeps know how to throw down. Cece made a facebook event, and we probably invited about 100 people. Keep in mind that I said 100, and the start time of the party was 10 pm.

This picture was taken at about 10:40. This is literally every person that was at the party at that time.

If you had trouble counting, there are exactly nine people in this picture, NINE. We felt real cool. NOT.

Around 11pm, the party took a turn for the better. All at once everyone showed up. It could not have been more fun. I am a lucky girl with the best friends in the whole world. I don't know if so many people came because I am leaving for four months or the fact that it was a Friday and people wanted to get drunk. Let's be real, it was most likely the latter. It doesn't matter one bit to me, because the party was full of fun friends. I could not imagine a more perfect way to spend my last weekend in Knoxville.

Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Just some of the lady friends

BEE JAY and me- he is cheezing, and I look borderline terrified.

I imagine that we were saying something a bit like, "9999.10101010"

Not quite sure about this one, but so fun.

Just another neck TAT. 

There is a plethora of reasons why I love this one. The guido in the front and Nick Stewart's closed eyes are two of my favorite reasons. 

Couple's retreat right here, is it weird that I am not even mad that they like each other more than they like me?

Few parties that I have attended have topped this one. I am sure my opinion is biased, since the party was a celebration of me. Whatever though, I had a blast, and I hope everyone that came can say the same thing.

I have so much to look forward to in the next four months. I literally cannot wait to be in Spain soaking up the food, drinks (mainly red wine), people, and culture. Once again wish me luck, and check back soon.

This is SLY-cat over and out.