Vamos a echar de menos...

1. Taking notes on graph paper

2. Judias blancas

3. Escamplero (especially our amigos: no teeth, Irish wannabe, and Beth's gym buddy)

4. Humming homeless woman on the way to school

5. Metro dive

6. Being the only people talking on the metro

7. Croquetas

8. Corte Ingles

9. Sainz de Baranda

10. 79 cent vino rosado

11. Victor

12. MC's butterfly tendencies

13. No pasa nada, but really PASA

14. Pollo con manzanas

15. Tortilla de patata

16. Stealing fruit and lying about it

17. Our mini white fans (MC is going to miss them too)

18. MC's orange dress and brown winter skirt

19. MC's fake front tooth "CHICASH"

20. Fighting over who gets to take the straightener and blow dryer for the weekend

21. Being called "Bath", "Becan", and "Be..."

22. Glass jugs of water in the fridge

23. Pepe

24. Alicia and Nacho being so cute together

25. Ghali

26. Guzman el Bueno

27. Dia, Comprado, Open Cor

28. Cafe con leche

29. Our Pasteleria

30. Sweating Susie

31. Sleeping with our feet hanging off our mini beds

32. Everything mini

33. Carbs

34. Racing old women for Communion

35. Barajas

36. Medhi

37. Becca's blue Gap Kids pants and Limited Too dress

38. Starchy laundry

39. Angel, the doorman

40. "Proxima estacion..."

41. Shin splints, therefore not working out

42. Creepy old men

43. Limpieza

44. Mahou

45. Not knowing Megan... SIKE, love you novia

46. Ten cuidado con las puertas!

47. MC flickering the lights while we shower

48. Raul

49. Retiro Park

50. PDA

51. Metro de Madrid

52. Beggars on the metro

53. Musicians on the metro

54. Our school being the size of a Barbie play house

55. Ginny

56. Saying "z" and "c" like "th"

57. Rolling our R's

58. Helado

59. Staining the desk with our waterbottles... oops!

60. Burning the chair with our straightener... oops!

61. Living on top of each other

62. Running with our keys in our shoelaces

63. The Fortress after MC changed the locks

64. Skype

65. No privacy

66. Powerade and State Farm waterbottles... who are we kidding, those aren't going anywhere.

67. Huge box full of food on top of the wardrobe

68. Being turned down by locals because of our accent

69. Pinocchio pizza

70. Drinking in public/on the metro

71. Jamon

72. Almorose

73. Ponering la mesa

74. Shaving our legs once a week

75. Being Isabel y Rebecca

76. Ohmigosh Megon!

77. Spanglish

78. Sunny weather, never rain

79. Zara

80. Plaza de Doctor Laguna 12, 5F

81. Sol

82. Magdalenas

83. Using euros

84. Becca's rash

85. Darren Parker

86. Making whole loaves of PBJ for the weekend

87. Being SO stingy

88. Making friends/Becca's future employers/Jess' future husband while traveling

89. Sangria

90. 1.90 euro harras at Escamplero

91. Making dinner for less than a euro each

SHARKS!!!!!

As finals approach, we have been spending some time in the good ol' fashon American Starbucks where we can jam out to Christmas Carols while reved up on caffeine. On Thursday we did just that and afterwards, our Moroccan friend Ghali had us over for tea, shesha, and good company...don't fret for a second...shesha is an all natural dried fruit herb. The next morning we took our time getting ready for our ultimo weekend viaje.

Dashing Through the Snow? not quite....to ROMA we go. 25 estudiantes from Joe's are studying in Rome this semester! We stayed with Lexi, Jenna, and Kerri, who couldn't have been better hostesses. Upon arrival, we got ready for an evening out, Italian style, and hopped on the tram, which unfortunately wasn't full of Little Drummer Boys like our Madrid metro. We met up with the other pack of St. Joe's friends to Rock Around the Christmas Tree.

The next morning, we bundled up for a day in the Winter Wonderland of Rome. Oh Baby, It Was Cold Outside! We had an authentic tour of one of the oldest cities in the world with the help of friend and Rome expert, Santa Baby, aka Charles Tribe. He took us around the entire city while providing us with some interesting tidbits, which he learned from his art/history class. We saw the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, Pantheon, Victor Emmanuel, Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain (yes, we nearly got handcuffed by the popo after a polar bear swim...thanks a lot, Sara)... and many other sights that we stumbled upon. How we had time for it all in The Little Town of Bethlehem... I mean, Rome? One never knows. After the full day, we went back to Lexi's to get ready for an authentic Italian meal with our fabulous hostesses. The meal consisted of focaccia bread (FJ...yours still dominates), vino, and delicious pasta dishes...we needed a break from the "pizza-only" diet that we had had thus far. Enlightening the chicas on MC stories proved for some serious entertainment.

Being the shesha extraordinaires that we now are, we met some more at a favorite huka place, then headed out to one of their favorite bars. At Scholars, we ran into a fellow SLU estudiante...bizarre!...and some other St. Joe's pals. T'was a phenom time... surely not a Silent Night.

After only a three hour sleep, we woke up to see the Vatican. To our dismay, the Sistine Chapel is closed on Sundays...what Catholic FREAK thought that was okay? Instead of being sour, we counted our blessings (and said some prayers for you CI!). We went to Mass (Hark! The Angels Did Sing!) and toured around St. Peter's Basilica before hanging out with Pope Ben. At noon, he came out to give a blessing and included a loud "YO DER!" for his babygirls (us) in English! Now that's The Meaning of Christmas.

On Sunday night we crashed the Roman SJU good-bye family dinner at another quaint Italian restaurant. We didn't feel bad though, as Jenna assured us it was O Come All Ye Faithful. Cannolis and all, it's safe to say, we won't be the best looking ladies for Christmas. The evening ended up with the Rome students completing one of the last things on their "to-do" checklist... jumping in fountains... after our extravaganza in the Trevi, we did not take part.

Singing the Christmas Blues, the weekend was brought to a sad close when we left on Monday morning. Rome was the perfect final trip, especially thanks to our gracious hostesses.

Our noses were stuck in books for the first half of exam week. Last night, we took a break from studying to enjoy a Moroccan meal with some friends. If you ask what our favorite ethnic food is we will enlighten you, describing our Moroccan entrees. According to Ghali, that's not even possible. Immediately upon returning home, Beth found the nearest Moroccan restaurant to St. Joes. Hope you guys can't wait to accompany us. Today, we did some last minute Christmas shopping and plan on a full evening, ESTUDIARING! Sooner rather than later, We'll Be Home for Christmas. But fret no further, we will be back on Tuesday for our FINAL BLOG ENTRY: SPECIAL EDITION. Already in the works...

Linner = Lunch + Dinner

Only three more blogs left? Could it be true?! and WORSE! OUR SECOND TO LAST WEEKEND IN MADRID!!! Terrible yet verdad. On Wednesday after class, our amigo let Becca drive his hot pink (aka maroon) station wagon home...buen idea? probs not. On Thursday we met Ben's work associate who resides in our home town. He took us out for some tortitas con nata at Vips...why had we not known about these delic, cheap, better-than-pancakes treats before? Afterward, we got the hook up at Kapital again through Beth's Lebanese amigo. We danced the night away with some of Beth's classmates who accompanied her to Brussels and other friends.

On Saturday, we took a day trip with Suzy aka our gurlcrush to Toledo. Oops...forgot to bring MC back some Mazapan (tradic Toledan dessert). She was not a happy camper. Sorry we're not sorry. Exploring the ador, baby, quaint, historic, Jewish, hilly, windy, religious, Moorish, artistic, sunny, architecturally pleasing, Catholic town made the day of Satur a great one. That night, we went out with some girlyboos to the gay city section, Chueca. Beth is singing Jessica Simpson Christmas carols in my bed right now, loud enough for MC to come hit her across the face. Anything to shut her up. NO REGLAS! \m/ (to be viewed as the symbol emo freaks use at rock concerts...grassy ass Crimp.)

Finally buckling down for exams, we spent 6 hours fueled up on caffeine in Starbucks on Sunday. Raul, you are the bane of our existence. This weekend, we are Rome bound. If its true what Sara says, "if Rome had a river of chocolate flowing through it, it could be confused with heaven," we will surely be fat when we return. Until then, we have officially stepped into Christmas (admission's free, thanks Elton). MC loves our blaring seasonal tunes, but unfortunately hasn't put up a tree or decorations :( We are considering doing the decorating ourselves with construction paper snowflakes. Happy Advent! Luegooooo.....