Everybody in this country is named Javi (which is short for Xavier). And if you’re not named Javi, you could be Paco, which is short for Francisco. Then we have Chema, which stems from José María,…naturally. So just to clarify, here... if I were to have, say, a baby Spanish boy, I could name him Enrique Jesús Eduardo and just call him Carlos for kicks, no? On a totally unrelated topic, I hacked off all my hair. Huge change, and I love it. My self-proclaimed Spanish mother Asún (I’m almost positive her full name must be María. They’re totally unrelated so [View Full Entry]

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Why can’t you be more European?—Bloc Party Apparently, I look more European than not (or, I’d rather just convince myself this is the truth since being recognized immediately as American is more offensive than being called a puta). Found an underground club in El Tribunal that plays the best Brit pop around. We’re talking Bloc Party, MGMT, Tegan and Sara, Camera Obscura… I was in my ELEMENT. The crowd was kind of a wannabe alternative rock crowd, complete with faded skinny jeans, fohawks galore, and lots of skiddish dance movements, but I couldn’t care [View Full Entry]

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“Te llamaré.” He’s not kidding, either. Spanish men do not kid. They do not joke, and you can just kiss your average Western dating games goodbye. These guys are in a whole different league. Forget the league, sometimes I’m not even sure we’re playing the same GAME. All my practice in America, all those years of stress and turmoil are void here. Apparently, all a female has to do is stand around looking relatively normal and wait to see who bites. Ouch. Forget the not so subtle allusions. Basically, Spanish boys may want dual citizenship more than I [View Full Entry]

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One feeling that I will never get over is the loneliness one feels in a city. Life, movement, and emotion surround you, but you're alone, by yourself. You feel mysteriously isolated while simultaneously being cradled by life at her finest. I love that. Call me an emotional masochist (I won’t disagree with you), but I have always been sickly fascinated by a city’s ability to totally isolate you. It is strangely liberating to be able to walk crowded streets, observing little dramas, watching people LIVE, and still anonymously blend into the background. For those of you tha [View Full Entry]

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Right now I’m sitting on my terrace on Calle Seco, still trying to get used to the fact that I am now a resident of Madrid. Officially. Opened a bank account and everything. I do not have Internet in my place as of YET, but once I do… I’ll be able to get back in touch with people so rumors won’t start about how I was wisked away by some smooth talking Madrileno in my first week here (we’re waiting for that to happen in month 2 of Liz’s Madrid stay). Mom just flew back to the states this AM. The [View Full Entry]

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13 August, 2009 I'm doing it. Starting a travel blog. I figure this is the easiest way to document my life's beginning in Madrid (because obviously my 22 previous years were all just leading up to the Big Kahuna... Madrid. So, I'm going to introduce myself but be forewarned: I am neither interesting nor original, so if I bore you to death, hopefully you're in a free country that allows you to move on to the next blog. I am a gypsy by nature. Born into a Navy family, I am used to picking everything up and moving every couple years [View Full Entry]

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