A Standing Ovation?

Yes. It's true. When I finished singing "Grenade" by Bruno Mars, I had an entire room on its feet. Granted, most of the people in the room were pretty drunk, but I think that makes it even more impressive. Drunks are a tough crowd to please.

Oh, you want an explanation? I guess that makes sense. This past Saturday, I was out on the town at a club called Kapital--seven floors of music, dancing, and (apparently) karaoke. I've sung a few Disney songs around my friends, just joking around, so they wanted me to hit up the karaoke. And I did. Twice. It probably helped that I'd had a couple drinks before I got up there, but I don't think it mattered too much. There were multiple times that everyone cheered me on, so I was quite happy with my performance. So happy, in fact, that I gave an encore about thirty minutes later of "Chasing Pavements." That's right, I took on Adele. And in the minds of the people on the second floor of Kapital, I wasn't too shabby. I'm putting it in the "Win" category of Study Abroad experiences.

Here's a couple more random things to keep you interested!

A while back, I met up with some friends to go to the Museo de Prado, an incredible art museum, with works from all over Europe, painted by some of the most famous classic painters--Velazquez, Rafael, Goya, El Greco to name a few. After 2 hours, I had only covered one floor! So we left, and when we walked outside, we found THRONGS (please note the R. It's there.) of people! We discovered that all these people--literally thousands--were protesting the austerity measures of the new Spanish government, after a recent change in power. Basically, public workers' wages are frozen, meaning no raises for now, and the government wants to take away paid sick and vacation days for public school teachers. I can understand why people are upset. 

Hungry, we made our way through the crowd to get some 100 Montaditos (check out the "Chowing Down" tab for more info) before meeting up with one of the girl's Spanish roommate. We went to this really small bar, with some very fruity sangria--the fruit was still in it, and was delicious--and a great vibe. I wound up getting to use my Spanish a lot, having a conversation about the World Cup, which got a little heated, meaning they spoke RIDICULOUSLY fast. But I still understood it! It was exciting.

Now, another "sexy food story," as my friend back home calls it. TAPAS! The Spanish way. There's a neighborhood known for its tapas--La Latina--and it has a street known for the best of the best--Calle Cava Baja. Basically, you just walk down it until you find a tapas bar you'd like to give a go. The name of the one pictured here escapes me, but it was really good. I had a cangrejo (a crab salad) and something similar to taquitos or mini enchiladas, each served on a piece of bread. That's really where tapas came from in the first place--pieces of bread to cover (aka tapear) your drink. And it just evolved from there. There's all kinds of choices, with tons of variety. I've got to find me a few more good tapas bars soon!

As a final note, to those of you that enjoy reading my posts (and I guess even if you don't...), feel free to comment and ask questions! Also, I'm most certainly open to suggestions of things to write, so don't hesitate to let me know what you'd like me to write about!