Studying, Mexican Food, and "La Última Fiesta Del Año!"

December 13th

I love the weekend when I can stay out late and still sleep 8 or more hours.  

Productive in the morning; I kept up my study session for Análisis de Políticas Públicas, logging in a few more hours.  

By the time I had finished reading what I needed to, everyone else in the apartment was back home or had finished waking up and I decided to start cooking.  I had all of my ingredients in the kitchen so I started by making guacamole.  I then started cooking the chicken in the frying pan with a little olive oil, adding green peppers, onions, and the fajita seasoning mix.  Heiko and Antonio asked what they could do to help and I had Heiko cut up the tomatoes while Antonio set the table.  I made the rice and and heated up the beans and taco shells.  Although "make your own tacos" is one of my favorite staples back home, it was a completely new gastronomic experience for my roommates who I showed how to "make a taco" by piling on all of the different components.  The food was good and I guess everyone liked it as there was nothing left!  Nathalie volunteered to wash the dishes, while Antonio, Heiko, and I "bomb-proofed" (aka "party-proofed") our house for our "Última Fiesta Del Año," or our "Last Party of the Year" (In the sense that we have winter break and final exams coming up and will not have another opportunity for a few months).

I went back to studying for the rest of the afternoon, stopping after a few hours to skype my Mom, Dad and Brother.

At 9:00 I went to the end of the course dinner for my Salsa class.  It was pouring rain as I walked over to the restaurant on Gran Vía.  It was nice to talk to a lot of the other students in my class, as although we are always dancing with one another we rarely engage in conversation.  Rather than go out with them to dance, I came back to my apartment to get ready for our party.

We joked that no one was coming as Heiko, Antonio, Nathalie and I sat on the couch watching the end of the biggest Spanish fútbol (soccer) game of the year.  Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona (on par with the Superbowl with level of attention, but with an unmatched level of rivalry between these two soccer teams and cities).  Over dinner, I had had some conversations about how this game signified more than just a soccer game, but a political clash of ideologies.  If FC Barcelona won, it went to show that the Independence Movement had more importance.  A win for Real Madrid would conserve Spanish Identity Hegemony.  FC Barcelona won and we joked that we should catch a flight right now to join in the celebration in Barcelona.  People had been watching the game, as everyone started coming over between 11:30 and 12:00am.  Our last party of the year was a lot of fun and we there were dozens of people from all over the world.  I had a  lot of fun hosting and went to bed around 5:00am.