So these past couple of weeks ran with a rampant theme of coming up short of expectations. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy every minute, but that sometimes things work out differently than you had planned– no matter how hard you try. This is giving me some good perspective on my anxiety over planning my anticipated excursions throughout Europe, seeing that everything has a way of falling into place eventually.

For instance, I still haven’t made it to El Rastro market, our first two Latin Dance classes were postponed, and by the time we showed up to El Tigre for tapas it was already packed to the front door. However, I did get a taste of Flamenco and celebrated Australia day with my awesome classmates of Alcalingua before the end of their summer term, and the Chinese New Year when our classmates brought in homemade fried rice and dumplings. Oh how I have missed Chinese food! On our class trip to the city, my professor had to weasel our way in to the Prado (totally worth it! Velasquez’s Meninas and Phillip IV, Goya and Las Majas Vestida y Desnuda, galleries of Santa Teresa, Adan y Eva) we postponed our visit to La Reina Sofia for a weekday trip, and tickets to the tour of a convent were sold out.  We walked back and forth from the Paseo del Prado to Puerta del Sol various times to find each of these little setbacks, though we did get to see an exhibition of Frederico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dali’s early sketches and collaborations at school– by today’s standards it could only be labeled a bromance– which was only up for another few days.

My friends and I spent way more on lunch and dinner than it was worth, found out that sometimes calamari does not come fried, and learned when in doubt, go for the pollo asado, as we fell for each of the camareros’ tricks of suggesting sangria and paella the minute we sat down to squeeze out a couple extra euros from our ignorant American pockets. My camera battery died instantly in Toledo when I could’ve snapped away at the beautiful sites for days, and yet it was fully juiced yesterday when the weather was much less agreeable to provide good lighting. This weekend has thankfully been a lot warmer, and we again had some adventures after tapas in the city, when we tried to make it home on the train before the last one left Madrid at midnight, where running around the metro station and other hijinks most definitely ensued. It was the scene straight of The Breakfast Club trying to run away from Principle Vernon on their milk break. Tonight it’s off to the seven-story discoteca, Kapital, and perhaps a trip to El Rastro on Sunday, finally!

I honestly can’t complain when I’m being given such great opportunities and have wonderful experiences to look forward to, whether they are booked or not. The weekends of my calendar are slowly but surely being filled with plane, bus and train rides to Granada, Cordoba, Bilbao and Paris. And perhaps a short stop in Prague and London and hopefully a spring break in Italy and Greece. My parents are currently booking their trip to visit Barcelona, Toledo and Madrid, and my sister is meeting me when my exams are done to catch the cities we both have yet to see, at the moment we are thinking Sevilla, Malaga, Granada and Valencia. Over time I have seen that having expectations may only serve to set limits, and keeping things open should help to exceed them.

Our Cinema and Theatre class is proving to be quite difficult when attempting to read a play that is in the antiquated Spanish equivalent to a Shakespearian vocabulary, no matter how many people I meet tell me I speak pretty well, this is a whole new challenge. This week we go to visit an exhibit in Alcala featuring the costumes and props from Lope, a movie set in Alcala about the author of La Dama Boba and many other revered works. It got us really excited to watch the steamy movie about the lothario Lope de Vega. It was also interesting to see the men in leather jackets, leggings and boots– pretty much my go-to outfit.

I have also found some amazing international Fashionistas (and a Fashionisto), and my interview with Lauren Froderman, winner of So You Think You Can Dance season 7 is up on Collegemagazine.com. Having watched every season since the 2^nd, and going to the 3^rd season’s tour, it was an honor getting to talk to the latest champion, who completely blew away the competition in mastering each and every genre thrown at her. The interview was pretty spontaneous, but luckily I had an arsenal of questions about the choreographers, All Stars, dances and tour.

Next week we have a trip with Regina to Granada and Cordoba, and every time I tell someone here that’s where we are headed, I get a groan of mixed jealousy and adulation. More stories and pictures to come, I’m sure.