Welcome back to Madrid

Our last day in Venice was a rainy, cold one...but still so much fun. (No more Venice pictures due to rain :( )We went into town to cruise around and have lunch. After we ate lunch in a little cafe, we went to a Leonardo da Vinci museum. It was awesome! He had unpublished journals filled up with sketches of machine inventions that were way ahead of his time. So the museum had tons of his inventions built and we got to check them all out. It was pretty freezing in Venice and we just wanted to curl up in our pjs, so we headed back to the hotel. We ate dinner there that night and were pretty glad to see that they had a hamburger on the menu. The only problem was that they brought out the burgers with about 1/2 of a teaspoon of ketchup measured out. This was a bad situation..I needed some serious ketchup (I was about done with the Italian food). So Mom came to the rescue after we asked our waiter 3 different times for more ketchup and he kept bringing another one of those joke baby measuring spoons with a drop of ketchup. Fear not, Mom asked him if he could bring out the whole bottle. He thought we were totally insane but it brought us a good laugh.
We caught a flight back to Madrid yesterday afternoon for Jacob's last night. Jacob and I went to the coolest market (Mercado de San Miguel). There is all kind of food at different little stands and people just walk around and eat standing up at a bar. After dinner, we went to a park that overlooked El Palacio Real. It was such a fun, last night. I had a few emotional breakdowns throughout the day since Jacob was leaving the next day, but he helped me hold it together by making me laugh all day long. He is truly the best.
Now it is siesta time here on Tuesday afternoon. Jacob left us this morning to go home to start summer school in Auburn. I'm not going to type too much about this since I am fragile at the moment. I am so unbelievably glad that Jacob got to come with us on this trip. Having Mom and Jacob here with me to help with the adjustment has been so helpful. I wouldn't have had it any other way (unless the rest of the fam was here)...but I miss my boy! Haha, all I need to say is we were that pathetic couple on the side of the street saying goodbye at the taxi. What can I say? He is one of my best friends, who I love to hang out with and laugh with. It just feels weird knowing that we don't get to hang out or laugh in person for 10 weeks. But we both know that it is going to be an awesome summer for both of us and know that the Lord is going to teach us both so much over the next few months. Woo hoo! But Mom is taking care of me and treating me like a break-up victim. We have been shopping today and she bought us face masks to put on tonight, ha!! Maybe that mask will help reduce the swelling in my squinty little eyes.
Mom & I have been exploring today. We tried a bunch of different tapas today at the market (tapas are small appetizer-like foods). It really has been awesome speaking Spanish here. I can already feel my Spanish improving and it's rewarding to be able to use what I have been learning in school in a real life. Today I had to figure out how to buy a new camera battery, mail a package at the post office, try on shoes, and make food orders. All of my vocabulary flashcard practice through school seems to be worth it now...actually I just had awesome Spanish teachers in school. We were walking along the streets of the city and walked into what we thought was a little store, to find out it was 7 stories! Like a super plus maxi giant Target! Awesome. We roamed around like lost children amazed at how different the grocery section was. She made me laugh all day long and for that, I am so thankful.
  Pop is coming to join us on Sunday and they will be staying until May 29th. Then they will leave and I will stay here for 2 more months to study in Madrid through API (Academic Programs International). I don't know anyone who is in my program, but I will meet them on May 27th. I applied to live with a host family and just found out that I will be living with a single woman who is a Tai Shi instructor and acupuncturist. This should be interesting! I'm sure she is one cool lady.
  It's time for Mom and I to take our dirty clothes to the "lavandería" aka Laundromat and play cards and write postcards while we wait on our clothes to wash. I wish some more people would send me their address! Sorry family, you will be getting an abundance of postcards. (I am a little postcard happy with a lack of recipients other than y'all). All in all, it feels good to be back home in Madrid. This city is so cool, so safe, and just plain awesome.
Adios mis amigos!

Here we are laughing in our hotel room today (living proof of my swollen eyes)

And here we are at the spa