So after my lengthy trip to Paris, I certainly needed a break so this past weekend I relaxed in Madrid. This week I pretty much caught up on school work, as it is starting to get heavy but I got a chance to do a couple cool things this week. On Thursday, Hansen, Sean, and I decided to do a tapas night. First we went to a bar near Hansen's house where you can eat all the Tapas you wish with the purchase of a caña (small beer). We later went to the Mercado San Miguel, which is a bit higher end, but well worth it - so now I can say I have tried just about every tapa possible, including pulpo (octapus).

This past weekend (February 12th) Carnival Festivities began, and although it is small in Madrid, it is still a really cool event to see. After a huge dinner at Hansen's apartment on Saturday we went out for a bit and were lucky enough to have a couple drinks on the balcony of his parents rental apartment in the Plaza Mayor overlooking all of the Carnival festivities which was really cool. We also booked flights to Morocco this week which should be an unbelievable trip.

On Sunday, we went down to the Felipe Calderon (where Atletico Madrid plays soccer) for the big Match versus Barcelona. After failing to find tickets for less than 70€ we settled to watch the game in a bar right under the stadium with a bunch of Athletico fanatics. Barcelona was the best team en La Liga (the Spanish Premiere League) and had not lost a match in nearly 70 games. To our absolute delight, Atletico (the blue collar team who has a losing record this season) scored 8 minutes into the game and ended up winning 2-1. It was not only a huge sporting moment to see, but all the Madrileños were going crazy. The experience was absolutely insane with everyone partying in the streets - it was as if all of them had just won the lottery.

For the majority of the week, I have been in la Biblioteca Reina Sofia, which is the library that corresponds with the Reina Sofia Museum. It is by far the best environment to work in that I have ever found. The wi-fi- is ridiculously fast and it is absolutely silent which is great. Tomorrow I am planning on going skiing with Hansen and his dad about an hour from the city and relaxing for the rest of the weekend. More pictures to come soon! Hasta pronto!