Day 14, except each day feels like two.

First: La Noche en Blanco
We looked at the website and found an event that looked really cool in Legazpí. Of course, we didn’t look up exactly where I was, but luckily (or skillfully) we walked right by it! The building itself was interesting; we thought part of it might be an old church based on our superior knowledge of architecture from one of our classes. By “we” I mean five other people from the program and myself. The exhibit we were looking for was about Super Mario Bros., its creator, and Nintendo. There were stations with Wiis set up to play games ranging from classic Donkey Kong to the brand new. There were also a lot of really entertaining hanging graphic designs featuring Mario, Luigi, and other characters. There was more going on in that particular building “complex” than I can properly describe, but one other event we found was a screening of a film called “Forward Motion” and now our current life goal is to see the whole movie because it was just that astoundingly creepy and odd. Later, we headed back to the city center area and followed music until we found a ton of people grouped together. Important info: many streets were closed off for the event, and there were a lot of people out everywhere. We walked up Gran Via and found a giant tire swing (think eight people) hanging from a crane, slides, and huge seesaws. Unfortunately, the lines were too long for us, but we did end up going to McDonalds (of which there are many locations in the Madrid area, along with Starbucks, Burger King, and one TGIFridays which surprised me a lot!), haha. I don’t regret it at all because I got a McFlurry and it was amazing. By some miracle we walked right up to the bus we wanted. It was late, and people were still going strong; I think that is a true representation of the energy of the city (or how everyone is crazy here).

Today:
So. many. mullets.
A lot stores in Madrid have their wares behind counters and not out for you to look through yourself, which, as many of you know, completely goes against my shopping style. I have to pick things up, look at/through them for much longer than is actually necessary. Today I went to a papelería; aside from being a paper store (literal translation) they have notebooks, agendas, folders, and other various supplies that make it seem like a micro Office Depot. I told the man at the counter I wanted an agenda but I didn’t know which kind. He then proceeded to take down ten varieties and I had to choose right them and there, talk about stressful! Haha.
I took my time walking back from the appointment with the husband and wife dueños (landlady/landlord/this is easier in Spanish) of the apartment I’m living in, and I love the area even more. It is worth the ten-minute walk to the metro station. In said meeting, I signed the contract, paid the fianza (deposit) and the rent for September, and I got my keys! It is so surreal that I am going to be legitimately living here.