Raw Beef

Today was my first full day in Madrid...after arriving at 9pm last night and not going to bed till 1am (and then getting up at 7:30), I thought I'd be insanely tired...but today was absolutely fantastic.
Started out with a fancy smancy breakfast in the hotel...complete with pig leg (which I chose not to have with my cereal). Then we all wandered over to the "office," which I will never be able to find again in my life, where we were inundated with information and maps and details about the different programs. Carmela, the woman in charge of us here, is absolutely AMAZING - this beautiful older Spanish woman who somehow knows each of us by name already. There are also two other amazing women who are helping us make Madrid our home. After a three hour meeting (which somehow seemed like 15 minutes and I didn't fall asleep during, a small miracle), I went out to lunch with Liam and Raquel. We went to the beautiful restaurant, which was probably overpriced, but soooo fun, we sat in a window seat and just had a nice lunch. Then we had to walk about 45 minutes back to the hotel and we arrived just in time to put on some deodorant before our bus tour (it was over 100 here today!!!).
The bus tour was nice, although it was then that I found myself dozing. We went to a monument (I have no clue what it was for) and saw this incredible view of the city (this was, of course, outside of the bus). It was a nice opportunity to talk to more students....we're all sooo different, but everyone is so nice and I hope that we all stay as friendly as we are right now. It's somehow not so awkward - we all kind of talk like we've known each other forever.
Then we went to this absolutely beautiful restaurant for dinner (it's called El Espejo - look it up). Unfortunately, the only thing I really enjoyed was the sangria, haha. Now that everyone has seen what a picky/childish eater I am, I think that the rest of the trip will be easier, haha. I ate about 4 lettuce leaves and two bites of REALLY REALLY REALLY rare beef (it was bleeding...I can't believe I ate any of it) and then about three bites of some weird dessert thing...and of course, I finished two glasses of sangria and some fabulous espresso (that could be why I'm still awake right now). Luckily, I've found who I will be sitting next to at all meals - Andrew will be my meal buddy, if only because he'll eat some of what's on my plate so that I don't look TOO bratty or anorexic (that's a long shot - don't worry about me though, I definitely hit up the peanut butter before leaving).
Tomorrow we leave this hotel, which I've grown quite fond of, and our senoras will pick us up...I'm soo excited and kind of nervous. Carmela assured us, however, that they are amazing women and that they will take great care of us. She made it sound so wonderful, so I'm really not concerned.
Well, I'm going to get up earlier than everyone and go find mass tomorrow morning (I seem to be the only Catholic on this trip?? I invited two guys from the program to go with me, and although Alec seemed like he might want to sometime, they both informed me that they're Jewish...as did quite a few other people, haha). So I think I'm on my own...I better find one close to the hotel, or else this might be the last message you get from me, lol.
Buenas noches mis amores!