No Classes on Friday = Madrid for the Day!

Not having classes on Friday is one of the best ideas ever.  Last night my friends and I discussed going to Madrid today to do some sightseeing and go shopping.  Well we did the latter.  The Prado will have to wait.

We got on the train in Alcalá around 1:30 P.M. and headed off to Madrid (some people didn't get back until 5:00 A.M., so our 11:00 departure time got pushed back).  We weren't exactly sure where we were going, thus we missed our train stop.  But it didn't really matter.  We got off at the next stop and came out on a pretty busy street, so at least we weren't in the middle of nowhere.  But we saw some really cool buildings on our detour, and its fun to get a little lost every once in awhile.  We wanted to get to Plaza del Sol to do some shopping, and we managed to find a bunch of stores on the way.  Spanish fashion sure is interesting over here, and I'm trying to decide how I feel about it.  Some of it's just plain weird.  But we did eventually find Plaza del Sol and it was super busy. We ate at a little restaurant and I had a cheese sandwich.  I thought it might be like a grilled cheese, but it was 5 slices of Manchego cheese on two huge pieces of bread.  Interesting.  But after going into many many shops and deciding that all over the purses and shoes weren't exactly what I wanted, I left empty-handed.  Again.  I'm starting to sense that my picky fashion is paying off here (haha) because I haven't found that item that I just have to have.  Right now, I'm looking for ankle boots and a small black purse.  The search continues.  I guess there's always tomorrow!

After I got home, I decided that I didn't want to go back out and watched Grand Torino with my host sister Christina and her friend Pepé.  It was in English with Spanish subtitles, so I tried to tune out the English and just read the subtitles, which proved to be a rather difficult task.  Overall I enjoyed the movie and it was nice to relax for a bit and my feet are pretty grateful.

But since I stayed out last night, spent the entire afternoon and most of the evening in Madrid, this girl is going to bed.