BIDET

Wait, wait, wait. You don't have a bidet in your bathroom?

As I sat here wondering what to blog about, I thought a bidet would be rather interesting.

When I came to see my apartment I noticed the bidet (bih-day) as soon as I entered the bathroom. Personally I thought it was rather exciting. I felt so sophisticated. I mean its not like you get to wash your butt every time you use the restroom at home. How European of me.

Finally, after about three days in my apartment when no one was home I decided to use the bidet. Not too impressed. You still have to go through all the wiping procedure, then after using it your bum is still wet. No one like o put on tight underwear when their bum is wet. Gross.

I asked my roommate from the Canary Islands if he ever uses a bidet. His response was great. "Solamente para limpiar mis pies." Love that response. I'm sure it is nice for washing your feet I haven't tested this yet, but they do get really dirty walking around Madrid in flipflops.

So, for all of you in the U.S. don't get too upset if you don't have a bidet in your bathroom. They really are not that great.

But please, do wash your hand after using the restroom.

Botellón

Botellón is a great Spanish tradition! Basically you get a bunch of alcohol and some of your great friends and go meet people. Tuesday night we went to botellón and there were a couple hundred people. Last night we went to the same place as Tuesday and there were well over 1000 people there! Its so great to have hundreds/thousands people together ilegally drinking on the street.

After that we went to Chueca to see what was going on there. We didn't get there until really late because we didn't know exactly where we were going. The bars were kind of fun but I think the clubs will be so much better when we finally go there.

Tonight we are going to do cañas and tapas again. Such a great deal to get a drink and free food with it!

Cañas y Tapas

Who doesn't love free food? So when you go to bars in Spain you get a free snack with your meal. Many people call these tapas but the bartender tonight told us that this is not the right word. But I don't know what that word is.

Anyway, we went to a place right down the street from my apartment. It was so good! I got two cañas for 1.25 Euros each. And the three other people got 2 drinks each. With this we got potatoes, oyster, fries, bread with chorizo and oysters. It was so amazing and I don't know how they made any money.

I'm going to love my place that I'm moving into. Its only unfortunate that the guy I'm living with is from the Canary Islands so I can't understand half of what he says. He does seem really chill though and he's not going to be mean at all. I can't wait to have people over and chill on my roof or on my private balcony!

Time to get ready to go out. Calimocho! Only the second time we are going out and I can't wait!

¡CALIMOCHO!

So we finally made some friends with the Spaniards. They are like New Yorkers, once you break through they are freaking amzingly fun. First, its all about the drinks and speaking Spanish to them and them using Spanish with you half of the time.

The drink of young people in Spain is Calimocho. You take some really cheap wine and mix it with coke. About 3/4 of red wine and 1/4 coke. The wine here is incredibly cheap! A good bottle of wine is 8 Euro so about $11. If you are smart you buy Don Simon for .95 Euros or .55 Euros for a box of wine at Eroski.

But anyway, last night we went to a classic rock bar. All this hair band music (Metallica, Twisted Sister, etc...) was playing and there were a ton of "dancing" and flinging their long hair. it was a ton of fun. Then we went to a dance place but only stayed for a couple of songs.

Spaniards do puke! We were told that Spaniards don't really drink theirselves stupid like we do in the states but that's NOT TRUE! There were a couple of crying, puking girls.

So all in all a great night. I can't wait until Tuesday since we don't have class on Wednesday! Chueca is next.

Who has an apartment for the rest of the year? I do! I found a great place in just one stop. The view of Madrid is amazing and its a pretty spacious apartment for Spain! I am going to live with one Spaniard boy and a girl named Becca from IU. It is located in the Barrio se llama Puerta el Angel. I can't wait to post some photos when I move in. It is absolutely amazing.

And I have a terrace!

If You Are Being Touched, You Are Being Robbed

So Spain is pretty freaking amazing so far. Switching to Spanish has not happened quite yet, but I have had to use it a little.

I love the fact that you can get a bottle of wine for less than $2 and its not half bad. Its so nice that $2 later I can have a nice buzz and a conversation with the great people on the trip.

And what is better than going to the vending machine and buying a beer! How great is that? One Euro later and you have a cerveza in hand and you are ready to go. The fact that you can get a beer at the school cafeteria isn´t so bad either. LOL.

As for the title of this post, we have been told over and over again how many pick-pockets there are in Madrid. So if you are being touched EVER, you are being robbed. Doesn´t that make thaking the Metro so nice?

Hope everyone at home is doing okay.

-Ricky