Well yesterday I didn't get the chance to update as planned so I'm going to attempt this today instead!  The weekend was really good...our Forocio event on Friday was a success, but we didn't get back til about 6 am!  Katie stayed the night over here as well since she lives a ways away.  I had a very lazy day until Alberto called me up to tell to come join in them in the plaza by my apartment to watch the parade.  I must say this parade was farrrr from being like anything I've ever seen.  I don't know if you could really even consider it a parade, it was really more of a disorganized jumble of huge, decked out buses, driving down Gran Vía with people standing on top of them...haha.  They also wore extremely strange clothes...I wish I had taken more pictures, because words cannot even begin to describe just how strange this event was!  The parade went on for a good three hours, and consisted of double decker buses (rather than floats, apparently) that were owned by the gay club that was being represented, and it was literally just one bus after another going through with music blasting and about 30 people from the club havivng a dance party on the bus....then there would randomly be huge gaps in the parade, when people would start running out into the streets (there was quite the lack of space), and then everyone would get shoved back again for the parade to continue.  The streets were soooo completely trashed at the end of the parade, I have no idea how they managed to get it cleaned up and running again for the morning!

Also, one of our Spanish friends ate some bad food and threw up in a tree right along the street and no one even thought anything of it....just goes to show how strangely laid back these people are...lol

Afterwards we went to a concert down the road at the Plaza de España, where they was even more masses of people!  We literally had to squish through people to get anwwhere, and the crrowds weren't just in the plaza, they were in all the surrounding streets, including the side roads that are very narrow and hidden.  Getting back to my apartment was probably the most interesting part of the night, because I live right in the center of all the madness that has been taking place this weekend. It was impossible to see what was ahead, even when I turned off Gran Via onto my side street, the place was still packed with people.  I squished my way through, and when I got to the apartment door, i had to push through to get up to the building, because there was so many people surrouding it. 

Not only were there two different festivals going on for the gay pride weekend that surrounded the apartment, but the people of madrid were also busy celebrating their victory in the World Cup match that day.  Needless to say, literally the entire apartment was shaking, but by some miracle I slept through it anyways...lol

Currently there is some sort of concert or act of some sort going on in the festival behind the apartment, but at least the windows aren't rattling...lol. 

Today, Katie came to Madrid and we hung out for the day...we wandered around town a bit and got her hooked up with a Movistar cellphone so she doesn't have to pay the ridiculous UK to Spain rates anymore!  She went back around 6 though due to the tiredness that is instilled in all of us from the immense heat...lol.  But we're surviving!

We also got a bunch of new roommates...5 I believe?  So far I've only spoken with the Italian and also with a girl from Finland, who seems very nice...ahhh its so weird having roommate changes!