OUCH.

First week of classes shaped out to be pretty good! Things are just moving right along here, as I get my life in order and finally down to a routine. Hopefully I can find some private lessons to teach soon because my afternoons are boring right now! But anyways, after classes on Thursday I met up with my co-teachers in the cafeteria that they have here, and we basically sat around and talked, laughed, drank and ate. It was the perfect staff meeting! And I got to try some AMAZING Spanish wine... they said it was about 30 euros for the bottle ($40), so I can never buy it myself, but it was wonderful to be able to try it! But one of the teachers told me that if you buy any bottle of wine from 4-5 euros, it should be pretty good.

After the meeting I got on a bus to Cordoba because the next morning I had to go to the police department there to apply for my Foreigners Identification Card. I met up with my friend Ashley and we went to her apartment, where her Spanish roommate was making fajitas!! We stayed up late talking, drinking wine and playing Taboo with all her Spanish roommates (she has 3), which was really fun! But I decided to go to bed at 2:30, and they decided to go out. So when I got up to head to the police station, Ashley was just getting back and into bed... crazy Spanish nightlife. But I woke up and went there, and instead of getting a meeting with someone, I just got a number. I have to go back the 20th of October for my actual meeting, which is annoying but such is Spain.

I ended up going home right after my appointment rather than sticking around and doing touristy things, which turned out to be a wonderful idea because I was able to skype with my best friends from college, Claire and Julie. Claire is in Korea and Julie is in Portland, which means that we were all about 8 hours apart, so for Julie it was 7am, for me it was 4pm, and for Claire it was 11pm... we had decided earlier that this was going to be a wine date, so even it was early for Julie, we begged her to have a glass of wine with us, which DOESN'T make her an alcoholic, just a very good friend. And also, it seems that the rest of the world is much less puritan in all things than the US, but especially in rules about drinking. Basically... there are no rules about drinking anywhere else, like you can't start until 5:00. Spanish people would laugh at you if this was your rule.

Yesterday it was raining, which was actually really comforting to me. I love the rain, and going so long without it so far was really starting to weird me out. So I was inside all day, and I decided to get down to planning my Christmas break plans. I decided that I'm going to leave the day after Christmas (because it's WAYYY cheaper) and go to London for 5 days, then to Bruges, this town I randomly picked on the map that was between London and Brussels (I googled it and looked at the images and they were BEAUTIFUL, and this was my deciding factor) for 4 days, and then to Brussels for 3 and fly out of Brussels back to Spain. I even looked up hostels and found some good ones to stay in! At first, I was going to go alone, mainly because I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with me, and because honestly it's extremely easy to meet people in hostels and make new friends, so I wasn't worried. But my plans to go alone changed last night.

Later that evening, I met up with some new American friends (Kate and Veronica), Will (ex-travelling partner in crime) and James (that British dude), and I met a guy from France as well! His name is Clemente (I think this is how it's spelled), and he knows barely any English... so when I met him I instantly asked, "Hey! Can you teach me how to speak French??" and he said, "If you pay me!" to which I replied, "Well, what if you teach me French and I teach you English?" And he looked at me and said something to the effect of, "That would be awesome!" Then I was talking to the girls and telling them about my Christmas plans, and I found out that though Veronica won't be here for Christmas, Kate will be and doesn't have any plans yet, so I invited her along with me on my newly created plan, and I think she's going to come with me! I really dont know how things like this just fall right into my lap... it fascinates me.

Anyways, so we all met up and we played some good ol' America drinking games, like Flip Cup and Beer Pong. We didn't have ping pong balls so I resorted to what Claire, Julie and I did while camping... aluminum foil balls. We are very resourceful. And I think the French guy and the British guy liked it! And us Americans got to feel back at home again for a little while... ohhh chugging beer. How American. Our game for next time- Kings Cup.

I had to leave at 11:40ish to meet up with my Spanish friends for botellon (like pre-funking, or if you prefer, pre-gaming), where we drank extremely delicious mojitos that my friend Sonia made! We went out to the club around 2, and at around 5 I sliced my foot open. We were at the bar and a glass fell off the table and onto the floor next to me, so I picked up some of the big pieces and the STUPIDLY tried to sweep the rest of the glass to the wall with my foot, and of course was stabbed by some glass. I bent down and saw that I was bleeding, so my friend Montse gave me a napkin and we went outside, and I sat on the sidewalk and held the napkin to my foot. Clemente came out to see if I was alright, and actually stopped my freaking out by talking to me and Montse... I was worrying about my foot getting infected and I jokingly asked them if I was going to die, and he cheered me up by saying, "Ohh yes. Don't worry, I will find a machete and fix that right now. Where is that machete??" Which made me laugh and really lightened the mood for me, something that I needed at that moment! After my foot stopped bleeding for the most part, Montse said she had to go home so Clemente walked me home... or should I say, he walked and I limped. I got home and put alcohol on the cut and wrapped it up so hopefully I stopped any possible infection right in it's tracks! I guess the price I have to pay for a great night is a bloody foot. Magda came home and was worried about me, which was sweet, haha. Me and Magda get along really well, and I'm so glad I found this apartment with her! Maria is nice but she's older and likes to do other things than we do... but this is fine. In general I'm really loving my life here in Spain... well besides my injured foot.