so the past couple days have consisted of a lot of walking around trying to figure out and remember the road names. it's been really warm but a little over cast so the past two days i've been walking home after class and kind of exploring different routes (while trying to find an atm that'll take my card...). classes are really entertaining, we learn about phrases that are and aren't appropriate in different spanish speaking countries (don't say correrse here, or terminar in central or south america) and about colloquialisms and some slang phrases.

on tuesday night i played a pickup soccer game with some people in the program. i was expecting to be pretty awful cause i was never particularly talented and it's been about 2 or 3 years since i've played, but i actually kind of held my own, even when we were joined by two local guys who knew what they were doing. it was really nice to get out and run and stretch my legs and work up a sweat from something other than walking around in the heat. the heat really isn't as bad as i thought though, but maybe that's because the temperature displays are in celsius so i don't really know a reference point for them. it's typically pretty breezy here too so that takes off some of the edge. other than the occasional night time thunderstorm, which also helps to cool everything off, the weather here is pretty ideal.

last night was definitely the most fun i've had so far here. i went with two girls (samantha and lauren) to an american bar they found near their house where the owner, who's from buffalo new york, hosts an intercambio for spaniards learning english once or twice a week. so we got free drinks, they have their own microbrews, and free turkey and cream cheese sandwiches to just sit and talk to people in a little bit of spanish and a little bit of english. i spent about two hours with a guy named raul and a friend of his mary, who are both about 30. they were the sweetest people and they had the cutest american accents so that was entertaining in itself but it was funny to be on the other side of the language barrier for the first time over here. raul's english was pretty top notch and mary kind of struggled but they had obviously learned some key american words like "tipsy" because she kept dropping that one around a lot. also the phrase "i have to piss" is really popular apparently.

all three of us were split up with different groups of people but ended up having the best time with the people we met and are going to try to go back next week and meet up with the people we met. so we then catch a cab to head toward a flamenco bar near our school. talk about a crazy cab driver, he was blaring kelly clarkson and speeding around curves so we were all forced to play jello in the back seat. so we ended up missing the block we wanted so he proceeded to reverse through 3 blocks of traffic through stop lights and everything. it was one of those things where you feel invincible in a cab or else it would've been terrifying.

the flamenco was really fun, so much pride and personality in the dancers. it was a family of 6 and the two women were the mother and daughter, probably 60 and 35 years old respectively, and the men played guitar while the grandfather sang. after a few performances with fans and lots of wrist movements and some really quick footwork and a step performance that would make any college step team jealous, i got called on stage by one of the guitarists to dance with them and ended up doing the spanish version of dropping it with one of the waiters. and then the whole bar started dancing on the stage and in between tables and it was a blast.

we left after about 2 hours of that and went to a hole in the wall bar that served two beers for a euro, but was also the tiniest, hottest, smokiest place i've been so far. we talked with some local boys but didn't stay there long before heading to the centro to a place called the bolseria. again with the awesome music there, more spanish techno mashups of older american songs. oh and one song that i love right now that is a french song with accordions but a techno back beat that is oh so fun to dance to. i heard it the first time when we went back and had crepes at the feria de los naciones at the french tent.

got back a little late last night which made class a little tougher today, but so worth it since i took a great siesta all afternoon after lunch in the plaza near school. i'm getting more and more confident with my spanish, probably helped by my numerous encounters with bank representatives telling they don't know where i can find an atm to use my card. so now i'm just going to play the "let's see how long i can go on as little money as possible" game. it wouldn't be a summer in europe without that