Being unproductive is my specialty.

- I got absolutely no school work accomplished this weekend.

- There is a long weekend coming up in three days and I haven't looked at flights so I can go somewhere.

-

My room is a mess and instead of picking it up I keep throwing things into a suitcase. I need to hide that suitcase and clear up my life.

This weekend I celebrated Thanksgiving with my roommates and a couple more friends. I made a mango and mint salad and some black beans, recipe borrowed from my mother and Nitza Villapol. We ate while watching the Masters Final between Nadal and Federer.

MAGIC

Alright, so Madrid might have no beach but when it comes to Christmas lights and displays it is the best, bar none. The decorations were turned on yesterday and will remain on until January 6th.

Despite the budget cut, an estimated 41% reduction, the city turned on its Christmas charm yesterday. I was going down Castellana when I saw all the trees lit up with LED light. It is estimated that the change to LED will reduce emissions, the energy bill, but they are increasing the total amount of hours that the lights will be on this season (230 hours).

Due to the cut the extravagant Paseo de los Arboles Navideños on Castellana is now gone. The city has only put up two Christmas trees, the one on Sol and another on Callao. This year El Corte Ingles' theme for Cortylandia is "Christmas round the world" and it features bears dressed in cute little traditional costume signing and dancing around. The Christmas market on Plaza Mayor will start Saturday.

January 5th is the famous Cabalgata de los Reyes.

this is the closest Corte Ingles to me, on Calle Princesa and Alberto Aguilera.

I am beyond excited!

November Weekend

Today I had Sistema de Información Geografico from 10:00am to 1:00pm. I woke up late so I got to the metro stop late but the metro was waiting there (how lucky! I thought) and waiting; turns out that one of the cars had a problem and we had to wait until it was fixed in order to leave the station. When I got to Renfe Cercanias, I was even more late than before so I got to school almost an hour after class had already started.

Tonight my roommates and I invited two friends (Mar & Iván) over for homemade sushi. I went shopping with Mar & Iván for the ingredients and once home, we cooked the rice and while we waited we made potstickers. Afterwards we all assembled rolls as Michael took pictures of everyone's mistakes.

Saturday night there is a free Julia Venegas' concert and I plan to be there first row.

Sunday will be to recover from the great Julieta Venegas concert I will experience today when nightfall come.

oh Madrid

I love Madrid but after two months of living here I finally noticed that there are some things missing to make it the best city in the whole-wide world.

1. LA PLAYA (the beach)

No matter what Madrileños say, the Rio Manzanares and the lake at Retiro do not make up for the lack of beach. Although this lack of humidity is doing wonders for my hair.

2. A Walgreens or CVS

Where else can I pick up my prescriptions and satisfy my need for a greeting card, a pack of gum, milk, and a lawn chair at four in the morning? Honestly I miss the convenience of the CVS and Walgreens.

Update

I must be the worst blogger on the history of the blogosphere but in my defense I have been very busy.

I have a flat, that I share with two wonderful roommates, on the Moncloa neighborhood about a 30 minute walk to Sol. I love the location and I like my room because it has a balcony. However the street is too noisy and the kitchen doesn't have an oven, well it does but it doesn't work. Terrible!

Since I last wrote I went to Avila, Salamanca, Segovia, and Zaragoza. I also ventured to Lisbon, Portugal for a weekend last month and it was great.

Lisbon, Portugal from This is Lisbon Hostel.