Viva Madrid

Hello Primas mias and other blog readers,
I am in Madrid. The flight went great. I took 2 NyQuill, had a glass of wine and was out. I only woke up twice to scarf not one but two airplane meals- which i thought had entirely been replaced by the option to buy expensive crackers in cardboard boxes, but oh no, Iberia went all out- Chicken, cobler and biscuit for dinner and waffles and syrup for breakfast.

I arrived in Madrid, got my luggage , got the right bus , got to the metro,and got to my housemates ex-girlfriend Maria´s house. Then I continued to be productive, bought a cell phone and looked at 2 apartments before the day was over. I thought I had beat jet lag completly by staying up untill midnight spain time, that is untill I woke up at 3 in the afternoon on Tuesday. I looked at another apartment Tuesday night, and decided that is where I am going to live. So I´ve been living at Maria´s aparment this week, she´s in Morrocco so I am staying with other random people she has said could stay in the apartmet while she was gone.

All and all things have been a raging success, but i almost feel like I was to productive, I expected the chaos to occupy me for longer, but I woke up wednesday- knowing I had a phone, arranged housing, and wondering what the hell I was going to do today.... similar phenomena thursday and friday. So, I´ve been exploring on public transit, taking photos of graffiti, saw Guernica, went to a free movie in the university botanic gardens last night. I´m excited to move into my new apartment tommorrow, I think my new roommates will be my friends:) Much love, laura

keratocorus in Andersonville

I am trying to get my teeth clean, my moles removed, and my contact lens supplies stocked before I join the ranks of the uninsured. On Tuesday I decided to treat myself and incur credit card debt by going to a yuppie eye care center. I had three setbacks:
1. I did not know what to write in the "occupation" line when filing out my paperwork at the office
2. At the end of my eye exam my new fancy eye doctor asked me "Has anyone ever talked with you about keratocorus?" He then used an eye diagram to show me how my eye was becoming more misshapen.
3. At the end of the visit my eyes were dilated. I was too disoriented to pick out my new hip glasses. I walked in front of a car on my way home. I wanted to have a productive afternoon in order to add to my post-employment sense of self worth but all I could do is fall asleep with sunglasses on and the shades closed.

The evening was much better. Mike and I went out for dinner and saw Al Gore give a power point presentation (An Inconvenient Truth) .

And so it begins...

Hot July Nights...2nd Annual Cousins' Reunion
July 21-23, 2006

The weekend quickly improved after we all got stuck in the rain and forged through Fairway for dinner ingredients. We had a celebratory meal of gazpacho, guacamole, cheese and crackers and three and a half bottles of wine. With the Prosecco we made several toasts to this year of transition:

1. Ellen's engagement to Noble;
2. Laura's impending Watson Fellowship adventures (starting in Madrid);
3. Erica's elected unemployment;
4. Fran's elected unemployment;
5. Ellen's elected unemployment;
6. Laura's delay of employment;
7. Ellen's 27th birthday;
8. Erica's soon-to-be new address in California;
9. Fran's graduate school plans;
10. Ellen's graduate school plans;
11. Ellen and Noble's upcoming cohabitation;
12. Laura's college graduation;
13. our friendship lasting beyond childhood.

Here's to our mutual blog! Cousins of the night live on.