The beginning of my BIRTHDAY WEEK!

COUNTDOWN TO 21: 3 DAYS!!!!

That being said, here's my Monday. Woke up at 10:30 feeling well-rested, but with a slightly sore throat. Shouldn't have smoked all that hookah on Saturday. I was very excited this particular morning because the night before I had received a call from Allan (to all you none UofMers, one of my good college friends dating way back to freshman year) saying that he and Kate (his gf who has been studying for the year in France) were in Sevilla and wanted to meet up on Monday. Allan met Kate in France for his Spring Break, they traveled to Portugal, and now they were in Sevilla for a couple days. So that's exciting. Anyhoo, I walked to Historia del cine, which was OK, kind of boring. The prof. started a lecture on the true history of film...I mean, who invented stuff, dates, etc. etc. Nothing too special. Then I walked home for lunch, which was sooooo good: more grilled artichookes and boiled potatoes (but this time in olive oil, not broth) and some really good lightly breaded chicken breasts. Very simple, but quite tastey. Oh! When I got back for lunch Marta ecstatically told me that she had passed her big med exam! Therefore, she's a certified doctor now! Can you believe it?? She was so happy, she told me that she had been laughing and crying all morning. Oh yeah, we hugged it out. I am so happy for her! Now she's going to take some much needed vacation time and then we'll see. I'll be sad if she moves out, I love Marta! After a lunch filled with good food and high spirits I did some blogging before heading out to my 6-7:30 Historia del arte. On my way there I coincidentally ran into Allan and Kate walking down the street by the University! I literally bolted across the street and attacked them. They were quite surprised. I hugged the crap out of them, haha. But then I had to run since I was running late to class, but I told them that I'd talk to them around 10 that night. Class was fine, I sat with my new friend, Cristina. I'm starting to understand the prof. a little better, I'm getting used to his dialect. We started talking about ancient Egyptian temples and sculpture. Kind of boring, but still a bit interesting. I got out of class early, around 7, and I told Stacey that I'd meet up with her, Melissa, and Katie at Starbucks at 8 because Katie's mom was in town and she had invited us to dinner. I got to Starbucks and ordered a fresh squeezed OJ (gotta love Spanish OJ) and a huuuuge green tea because I started getting nervous that the tickle in my throat was more than just a side effect of the hookah. Julia, Emily, and Freya from Cornell were sitting on some couches reading, so I decided to join them. We talked about travel plans and such. Good times. Right at 8 Stacey, Melissa, Katie, and her mom entered. Katie's mom is so cute, your typical midwest mom type, has Katie's face--definitely see the resemblance. We then began our walk to a restaurant that Pepe had recommended. It took us about 10 min to find it because we're kind of dense when it comes to directions. The restaurant is connected to some really nice hotel where, once you enter, about 10 people wait on/take care of you. Many (practically all) of them spoke a good amount of English. We sat in the bar area and looked at the menu for about 10 min, then a woman led us up a marble staircase and led us into a private dining room! Oh man, I was in my street clothes! I guess this place was pretty fancy cuz every table gets its own room. It was reeeeeeeally nice! We got real menus, which were in English, with a large, amazing variety of meat and fish dishes to choose from, not to mention gourmet appetizers. A waiter or waitress frequently came around and refilled our water (bottled) and our plates with fresh, hot rolls (the bread in Spain is amazing, but this bread was EXTRA amazing). There was olive oil on the table and, although I don't typically do this, I dipped my bread in it. I chose to do so because Spain is known for its olive oil, and I hadn't yet had the chance to try it on its own. Holy crap it's good, let me tell you. Then we all ordered. I chose a bacalao (cod) dish...I'm a huge bacalao fan now. We also all ordered a jar of sangria--can you believe that I hadn't tried authentic Spanish sangria yet??--which was amazing...so we ordered another. Our food came pretty quickly. My dish was AMAZING. I kid you not, it was the best thing that I had eaten in Spain, hands down. Everyone else's dish was amazing, too, according to them. Yeah, this restaurant just kept on impressing me. I'm telling you, the best meal I've had here. It was a big bowl with a fancy creamy white garlic sauce, olive oil, and fresh diced tomatoes with two small, yet thick slices of fresh bacalao. I cut up the fish and mixed it all together. The flavor was to die for. When the family comes up we're going there for sure. The food...oh man...just thinking about it...! We had an amazing dinner, we couldn't stop thanking Katie's mom. Aside from the food it was so much fun, lots of great conversation, stories to tell, etc. We finished around 10:30, said goodbye to Katie's mom, and Katie who was sleeping in the hotel with her, and Melissa, Stacey, and I walked back to los Remedios. I had talked to Allan upon leaving dinner and he and Kate were chilling in Vicki's (an academic year person who I knew previously from the RC, good friend of Kate's) apartment which is in los Remedios. It was really easy to find, they buzzed me in, and they were upstairs sitting on futons watching some CSI and talking. We all just sat around talking and catching up for a couple hours. We also met one of Vicki's housemates, some random Brazilian guy, haha. It was fun, Allan and I filled Vicki and Kate in on what had changed in Ann Arbor that fall. Allan then told us about the suicides that occurred on campus. Now, of course I knew about Jeff, but supposedly last week another student jumped off the same parking structure and killed him/herself (an LSA soph.)...so sad and kind of creepy. What is up with this year, A2?? Then Allan gave me a bday present that he had delivered from Amanda and Nicole! Yay, first birthday present! It came with this adorable card, a chihuaha sitting atop a big birthday cake. Love it, it's displayed on my shelf right now, it gives me a lil chuckle everytime I look at it. Then the present: an awesome flask! And it's awesome because it's turquoise and sparkley...and Lisa loves her sparkles. It's perfect for all the botellons we have, and it fits in the pocket. Perfect gift for a 21st bday. I love it so much! It needs a name. Suggestions are welcomed. Then Allan and Kate gave me their gift: liquor to go with it! Haha. They gave me my friend, Smirnoff. Gotta love them. Gotta love turning 21. Gotta love the birthday week. Around 12:30ish we left, Allan and Kate walked me home (how niiiice). We said our goodbyes. It was so good to see them. And quite surreal, honestly. Hehe. It was a great visit! I went upstairs to the apt., did some internet shtuff, and passed out around 2.