Merry Christmas from Spain.

Likely the least Jewish picture I have ever taken.

Enjoy your today and tomorrow and the day after that etc.

I am so smart

As you fashion fans may be aware, today was the big day for the Lanvin hearts H&M collection. In Madrid (and I assume everyother one of the 200 H&M stores carrying the line), the store opened at 8am and you had to be in line by like 4am to get a special wristband that would let you in for a 15 minute period later. I was going to try and line up for the spectacle (and Lanvin!), but I decided it wasn't worth the lack of sleep.

Around 1pm I was doing my regular old round of the shops between the Stanford Institute and home and I stopped by H&M and saw that there was a whole section separated with fencing and guards and very little Lanvin left. It appeared you still needed a bracelet to enter. Then, being the crafty shopper that I am, I went downstairs to the men's section where there was lots of delightful Lanvin menswear and no hubub.

I bought this man's shirt in a large for 20 euro! Its a perfect t-shirt dress and has sparkly jewel eyes. So, basically, I win. (I think I came out a little angry in the photo, but I am not! I was trying to get all of the shirt/dress in.)

Make it work

This couple on the street is WORKING IT.

In other important news:
I have muscular calves (we're going to blame it on ballet). While I have no body issues with my calves it makes shopping for boots extra difficult because size 6 boots have very small calf spaces.
I think I still have a welt on my finger from pulling on boot zippers yesterday. In the end, success was found and I have a new pair of boots so I can look like all the other girls on the street. (This is very important).
They've already stretched out since yesterday, so it only takes 10 minutes to put the two on.

Mooo

I bought these socks this weekend:
They are from a Spanish store (I just Wikipedia-d this and it turns out to be part of the same company as Zara, in case you were interested) called Oysho which sells sweaters and underwear and the like.

My host mom said that they didn't seem Spanish because they were too creative. She said clever things like that are usually American. She also thought that corn dogs (as I explained them) were ingenious. They're definitely not something Spaniards would invent.

Self Control

The letters are Zara locations. The house is my house. This is very dangerous.

Hace mal tiempo en Madrid

Remember how I couldn't decide whether or not to bring an umbrella? I really should have, but it's OK because I bought this sweet one in Leon:


It's great because
1) it's easy to find me in a crowd. Cellphone minutes are too expensive to waste on the whole "I'm here. By the fountain. No, the other fountain." business and
2) it's a conversation starter. Conversation goes like this: Them: "Me gusta tu paraguas."(I like your umbrella) Me: "Gracias". Awkward silence.

Other things that happened this weekend:
Hung out with Spaniards!! Learned bad words.
Hung out with Mexicans.
Salsa-ed.
Tried to get the smoke-smell out of my hair.
Went to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Came back to the apartment last night at 5:30am just in time to see (watch the ESPN thinger) the end of the Stanford/USC game.
Drank lots of coffee. Spanish coffee is almost always "con leche" and the coffee is more like espresso and the milk is hot so they're really just cafe au laits. And I love it.
Read an edition of El Pais.

Fact: Between 1-6 am I have two options to get home. The night bus or a taxi. From Sol, the night bus is free(with my Stanford bus pass) but takes 45min/1hour. Taxis cost about 5euro and take about 5/10 minutes. Its a very difficult decision to make. 5euro is like 2 two and 1/2 cafes con leche.