Monday, the Megan birthday celebration continued with dinner at Doner Kabap. This was my first time eating there and I was pretty anxious to discover what all the fuss was about. Thankfully my caña (small beer) and gyro turned out to be all I could have hoped for and more. I’ve certainly missed eating gyros about 3 times a week back at JMU. After dinner and showers and such, we regrouped at Jacko’s. A few friends we had met at Carnaval de los Toros on Saturday (Edu, Natalio, and Cesar (pronounced Theh-sar)) met us there too. Alex, Colleen, and I really like these guys because they don’t hit on us. It’s so nice to make Spanish friends and work on my speaking abilities. After Jacko’s we let our native Salamantinos show us around, starting at a bar called Daniel’s and then Kandavia. The thing about Kandavia, though, is that no one goes there until 4am, so as soon as we walked in I realized what time it was. Let’s just say I got home around the time I used to wake up for high school…on a Monday night. Why, Sarah, why?! I would not recommend this.
Tuesday, I did a little too much shopping (one of my purchases was a wonderful hair straightener though! Yay!), and went to the International Student Bible Study again. This time, it was at Jo’s (our leader’s) house about a 15-minute walk away. Here, we celebrated Crepe Day, and honestly, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Fat Tuesday. We each brought toppings for the crepes and, naturally, I chose to bring nutella. I’m really trying to get better at moving out of my comfort zone and these meetings definitely force me to do so. I met people from Austria, Korea, Germany, Zamora (Spain), and Argentina. What brings us together each week is our love for Spanish/Spain and for the Lord. The states, of course, are filled with an eclectic mixture of people from all over the world. But now, in this group of students in Spain, we are truly all foreign. The girl from Korea is no more foreign than I am. I’m still adjusting to this feeling, as I’ve never viewed myself as such before.
Wednesday, after Short Stories, I came back home, tried to nap, and went for a run in my beloved Parque de Los Jesuitas. When I hopped in the shower, however, I felt like I was going to collapse from fatigue. I laid down for a bit before siesta and for the first time I wasn’t even hungry for my favorite rotisserie chicken and baked apples. Madre was definitely surprised. I went back to bed after lunch and slept until my 5pm class. That 20-minute walk to the University was the shakiest, weakest, most difficult walk I can remember. When I started getting chills in the open-windowed classroom I knew something was definitely wrong. I was freezing in my wool sweater and jacket, where others sat comfortably in t-shirts right by the windows. I came directly home after class, popped in two Aleves, and fell into bed…still freezing. When I woke up two hours later, I was sweating (sorry, gross) and figured my fever had broken, at least for now. Allison and I had sandwiches, salad, green beans (yikes, I still really hate these), and Quesada (good, but still don’t know what this was) for dinner. I have a good amount of reading and such to do, but really haven’t been able to will my mind or body to do anything recently. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow at 6:30, but I’ve heard the health center is kind of a joke. I refuse to be feeling badly in Barcelona this weekend!! Even Spain isn’t so “de puta madre” when you’re sick.