The four alliterative words in the title basically sum up my October - my first full month back in Spain! Although there is not really any strong sense of "fall" here, we still brought out the fall spirit through food and fun activities!
 |
| My roommate and I carved pumpkins for our apartment |
 |
| Having fall treats - pumpkin bread and chai lattes! |
 |
| Apparently Starbucks in Spain have finally realized the wonders of pumpkin and brought the pumpkin spice latte to Madrid! |
 |
| One beautiful fall tree I found in my neighborhood |
During October, our friend Rachel from Ireland also came to visit, and we had a great time seeing her and showing her around Madrid. Like my Australian friend Jenny, she also studied abroad at UNC, which is how I know her. We had a picnic in the park, ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, and cooked together in Jenny's apartment.
 |
| Taking Rachel to the Retiro Park |
 |
| The delicious meal Jenny made for us |
We also did a free walking tour where we made some cool new British friends. Even though I've done the tour four times now, I still learned something new this time! Afterwards, I took Jenny, Rachel and our new friends to one of my favorite places in Madrid - the monastery that sells sweets made by the nuns. You have to order them through a turntable because the nuns aren't allowed to be seen by the world; the cookies are delicious, and I enjoy the experience just as much every time!
 |
| Getting nun treats from the turntable! |
 |
| [Top] Getting chocolate shots with our new friends from the walking tour; [Bottom] our tour group |
 |
| [Left] The cathedral towering above the last remains of the original city wall; [Right] The oldest building in Madrid |
At school, we went on a field trip to a community event called the Cross. All of the elementary schools in the neighborhood come together in a giant sports complex and have a big race. No one from our school won, but it was still fun.
 |
| The Cross |
October was also marked by the weekly meeting of our "Lunch Bunch" group - inappropriately named as we always meet for dinner instead of lunch, but "Dinner Bunch" doesn't rhyme! The group is made up of five or six of us who exchanged numbers at the end of the hike we did early in October. During the hike we had all been talking and decided to meet up once a week and try out different restaurants throughout the city. Each week, a different person has to choose the location. The first week we went to an amazing Chinese restaurant in a subterranean parking deck that is famous for having authentic food, and most recently I took everyone to my favorite vegetarian restaurant. The coolest part is that, as we all have different tastes, we're getting to try really different things. Plus, we always have a great time together and laugh a ton!
 |
| Some of the pictures from our dinners! |
And, of course, no October would be complete without some good old-fashioned Halloween celebrations! In school, we did the same as last year - decorated a classroom and planned Halloween games for the kids. I also did some Halloween-themed games with the kids in my private classes - dress up and drawing monsters! In both activities they had to practice English by describing their costume or by describing their monster. They loved it!
 |
| Taking a picture with Year 5 in the Halloween room! |
 |
| Doing fun Halloween activities in my private classes |
But school was not the only place where we celebrated Halloween - one of my Spanish friends invited me and my friends to a party at his apartment. They had prepared lots of yummy snacks and had decorated the living room, and everyone was actually wearing a costume (most Spanish people just wear normal clothes and then paint their faces like skeletons or zombies). It was also cool going to an actual Spanish house party - it's the first time I've ever been invited to one! Needless to say, we had a blast, and it made a wonderful end to a fantastic, fun-filled month!
 |
| Me and my friends at the Halloween party |
