que sera, sera.: lazy girl problems

i am officially done being ms tour guide for my family and now i think it's socially acceptable to spend all afternoon watching laguna beach online. can't stop, won't stop. this week with the fambam was actually really great. i showed them all the typical madrid touristy things: museums, parques, templo de debod, and a royal palace. i also managed to introduce them to a wide variety of spanish foods. it was so nice to be able to eat out at restaurants cause i'm usually too cheap to buy anything but tapas. i even survived a lunch with marisol and eduardo where me and kim were translators the entire time. it was surprisingly less painful than i had anticipated.

while it was great having my family here, it was still so weird for me to be away from home on thanksgiving! i am so grateful that my immediate family was able to be with me, but i still missed everyone getting together at grandma's house and watching football. and of course all the food. (i'm trying to convince my mother to cook all thanksgiving food for christmas. i'll let you know how it goes.) however, after eating a dinner that did not include potatoes, turkey, or pumpkin pie, my family and i headed to an irish bar in the center of madrid. why? because they were broadcasting american football obvi. this place was packed with american college students and even a few of my friends showed up. it was the perfect taste of america that i needed. even though the niners lost. plus, who doesn't love an opportunity to get shmammered with their parents? it was sad to see them leave yesterday morning, but not really because i'll be on a flight home in just less than 3 weeks.

while i was running all over madrid showing my family around, i got a chance to remind myself why i chose here to study. i got a chance to appreciate things here like i did for my first few weeks. i feel like sometimes madrid feels like such a home base that i forget all the cool stuff it has to offer. highlight of this week: all the christmas lights are finally up! madrid is even complete with an oversized tree in the middle of sol.

other things:

i got my nose pierced! sins mom and dad.
i got a caricature of myself in plaza mayor and i now have self esteem issues.
i kissed a boy wearing a giants hat. can check that off my abroad to-do list.
i posed for 395876 christmas card pictures. i hope one turned out okay.
t minus four days till i'm off to brussels.
i'm terrified of how fast these next few weeks is going to pass.
the holiday season has begun and i'm thinking about anthony more than ever. praying to ya every night and missing ya everyday. so extremely thankful to have had you in my life.