we're making it happen: becoming regulars at a quaint little outdoor bar called casa blanca. it has become the regular meeting spot for late night catching up, especially on days when we all do our own thing and go through some intense separation anxiety after 5 hours apart. this place has the best mixed drinks ever and it's right in the middle of the centro on a little side street near a bunch of big stores so it feels nice to be there. i intended to go out to the bolseria afterword but ended up ditching that plan when i realized how late it was that we were leaving casa blanca and remembering my plan to get up an hour earlier at 6:45 to study for today's midterm. don't worry everybody, i did just fine on it and i have one more midterm to go tomorrow before another week and a half or so of test-free study abroad fun.

took a serious siesta today to attempt to catch my body up on sleep. i actually had a cappuccino from the school's machine today (which is amazingly authentic tasting and delicious, not to mention only 50 cents. i never could resist a deal) to make sure i wouldn't fall asleep during my test and just turn in some pictures made from my drool.

oh but the exciting news was that for lunch i had fideua, which is like a seafood paella but with fideos (noodles) instead of rice. like the semicircle kraft mac n cheese kind of noodles that you make necklaces with. it was delicious, not to mention it had mejillones (muscles), crawfish things, clams, and calamari, all of which i am currently obsessed with. so needless to say, i downed a full plate and a half of it and went back to siesta. i'm pretty sure my madre loves that i eat so much, but then again she'd still call me cariña even if she hated it.