Welcome spring!

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, we are going to be exploring the realm of scent-triggered memory, or at least the one that I just experienced. When I got back to my apartment after being gone literally all day, I resigned to my room for some chill time. Upon exiting with the purpose of making dinner, I encountered a smell that in a split second was familiar to me. For the back story, we're going to take a trip to the BLC, specifically Cool House 08-09. Two girls that shall remain nameless, mostly because I couldn't for the life of me come up with their names, often had a disagreeable odor emanating from their doorway. I also do not know words with which to describe the smell. Most likely food related, but the best descriptor I can manage is "nausea inducing". Now, I have know idea what anyone else thinks about this subject, but I feel I may be especially affected because I am a very scent oriented person. By that I mean a strong sense of smell, fear of the way other people think I smell, etc. There you go, traumatic scent recall.
Hmm, this doesn't have a whole lot to do with Madrid...I suppose I ought to tell you about my weekend!
This past Thursday, as you know, was St. Patrick's Day. El día de San Patircio. Madrid gets pretty into it, but I'm not all that surprised. There are quite a few Irish pubs aroud, the city as an entity knows that there are many Irish students studying here, and merchants know that people love en excuse to party. I didn't see this myself, but the Puerta de Alcala was illuminated green in celebration. I went with a group of friends to a pub called The Irish Rover near the football (soccer) staduim Santiago Bernabeu. We had to wait in quite a long line to get in, but it was worth the wait. There was band from Dublin there that playes traditional Irish songs and later on used U2 to transition in to some classic songs that we were all singing along to. All that and a pint of Guinness and I was set. Friday and Saturday I did a lot of walking around/exploring but this time with company. Areas included were Atocha, La plaza mayor, Ópera, El templo de Debod and El parque del buen retiro.
Midterms for my program classes are next week, so thinking about that, my final papers for those classes, and a 900 page book had me preiodically really stressed. I need a hug, and a closet that isn't worthless, and to be thankful for what I DO have, goodness!