ali took Madrid like a tornado made of teeth, fingernails, and booze

Ali and I at Retiro :)

Ohhhh man this life is going by faster than I can describe to you.  I thought I was doing okay keeping up with this but it turns out I was sadly mistaken!  Ali came into town like I've been waiting for and it was sooo fun!  She made me miss college, and lax, and our parties every weekend in Cori.  Man I miss that place, is that sad?!?  Yeah, a little, BUT I'm in Madrid having a wicked fun time so I guess things have a way of evening themselves out, right??  Well, Ali got here on a cold and rainy Friday night (literally the first bad weathered night since I've been in Madrid) and we cleaned her up and took her out dancing in Sol with some friends.  Needless to say we were on the verge of dying that night with the crazy good time we had and found ourselves stumbling into my door around 5AM, BUZZ going and all.  We slept in a bit the next day and took her and Kendall sight seeing around the city.  This is by far my favorite thing to do with guests because I get to see parts of the city I otherwise wouldn't see and it gives me the chance to fully appreciate all the beauty of this city :)  It's serisously amazing; I'm waiting for all you North Americaners to get out here!!!  That night we got dressed up and Ali and her friend went to a dinner with some of their friends and were going to meet us at my friends place later in the night.  When I say "dressed up" I mean it was halloween weekend and we wore our costumes out.  For all you people in the states, this doesn't seem odd at all.  To all the Madrilenyos out there, this is a very mind blowing thing for people over the age of 12.  We were the only people in the metro, streets, and apartments of Madrid dressed up and needless to say, the main event that evening.  We had a crazy good time at our friends house and before I knew it, it was 2 AM and there was no signs of Ali or her friend.  AWESOME.  My first official guests and I've lost them.  We came home and waited.  Nothing.  I must have fallen asleep and at 8AM the next morning our door bell was ringing.  Half expecting to see the policia to inform me of some horrific news about 2 crazy americans being obducted, I opened the door to find my two little girls (Ali and Kendall) dressed in their halloween costumes from the night before and ready for bed.  I guess they ended up getting a little more loco than anticipated and stayed at their friends' house.  That day was spent very lazily and we went out again that evening.  The next day was their last day here and we decided to do a picnic in Retiro (the picture above is from the picnic over looking the pond) with some of my Spanish friends.  After that we were feeling pretty good and recovered so we decided to meet some of my other friends out.  We found ourselves at a few bars, kept it low key and got home around 1AM.  Normally I'd say that was a pretty early night, except they had to leave my house by 6AM to catch their plane and I had to leave my house by 7AM to get to school on time for classes.  MAN I miss them soo much already!  I love my life here but it stinks to get a taste of what you're missing with your friends from home.  I'll survive but for the time being it still stings a little to not see them everyday!!  So the week flew by, like always, and we had some great fun in my classes learning the cha-cha slide (ooo yes, ladies and gents.  My spanish kids know the cha cha slide.  one of the more important aspects of American culture, in my opinion!) and writing short halloween stories.  It was also the last week of my first semester of grad school.  1/4 of my Masters is down, 3/4 to go, BABYYY!!!