Alicante!

Starting from last weekend. Most of my group of USAC students were headed to Barcelona. My room mate Kenny went and then moved onto prague to visit his girlfriend. Mike started his adventure to Amsterdam and I was left alone in the apartment, waiting for my Tuesday flight to Alicante. Being in Madrid without my room mates or fellow Americans is a weird feeling. I can enjoy myself being alone, but the constant rain has kind of gotten to me lately. After my roommates left, I spent most of my time cleaning and doing laundry. I needed a vacation. Sorry, I wanted a vacation. I felt like I had deserved one after not traveling with my friends to Cadiz or Barcelona to save money. I woke up Tuesday morning and packed one shirt, board shorts, jeans, and a jacket to head to the Southern Coast of Spain to meet Marisa. The flight was an easy up and down, barely an hour long. I had dozed off and was wakened by (sorry I feel like my English is getting worse..I never write in English anymore) the sound of the cheesy music of Ryan Air telling us we were arriving. I looked out my window and saw picturesque Alicante, with the Mediterannean sparkling and the big Castle looking over the ocean. I’ll never forget that image in my head. We touched down at the aeropuerta and I took the C6 bus to the city. Looking out at the ocean, I was reminded of Newport and la playas that I miss so much.
Pau Gasol and the Ocean from the bus

The bus reached the outskirts of town, and It wasn’t long before I got off at La Rambla. Marisa was still in class for another hour, so I walked around a little and took a look at the ocean. We were supposed to meet at this little bar on her street. I ordered a cana (pequena cerveza) and was talking to the waitress. She was from Bolivia and said she enjoyed Bolivia to Alicante. I was about to ask Porque? But I saw Marisa walk through the door. She had come straight from school and joined me for a glass of vino at the bar. (vino is very cheap and very good here). We talked and caught up, and I told her I’d like to meet her host family. We walked up the street, which is very quiet compared to Madrid and a nice change. I was sweating in my Madrileno clothes, two jackets and jeans. I was way overdressed. I waited outside of Marisa’s apartamiento. Spaniards usually never invite people over to each others casas. The custom is to meet at a bar or plaza to socialize. So I thought it would be polite to wait outside. Marisa came back down and told me that their little nieta (grand daughter) was taking a siesta, so come back later. The hostel I was staying at was literally next door. I checked in, and for 20 Euro a night, got my own room with a small balcony. It was very clean and I wasn’t used to my own room in a hostel. Era muy bonita. Marisa, being the best host ever, asked me what I wanted to do. I told her immediately…La playa!
Alicante, with the Castle in the background

We took a short walk to the beach (less than 3 minutes) and saw a couple of Marisa’s amigos laying on the white sandy beach. Es muy diferente que Madrid. En Madrid, esta raro que ver amigos en la calle. I met a couple of her friends, and mindsurfed the tiny ripples of the Mediterannean. We went to a little bar, ordered a bottle of wine with bread and cheese. I forgot what the cheese was called, but it was the kind my mom recommended.
Want some cheese with that whine?

We sat and drank and talked about how lucky we were to be together, in Spain, eating cheese and drinking wine. I live a tough life. After the wine, she gave me a tour of her city. She showed me the port, the plazas and some buildings here. We decided not to siesta that day because I was only going to be there for 2 days. We went to the port and I bought a 40 oz. of Mahao and split it with Ris. She told me that Tuesday nights were “Guac night” at this local bar where a bunch of her American friends go.
The Port

I was craving some guacamole so we bought some more beer and met up with Tina in my hostel to drink some cervezas before heading out. They drank wine and I stuck with the liquid bread. We headed out to the bar and were greeted with a fresh and surprisingly spicy plate of guacamole. I met a bunch of her amigos, had a great noche and woke up with guacomole all over my jacket. I woke up in the hostel with the feeling typical of overindulgence the night before. We woke up at around 9:30 a.m. and headed to the Mercado. I’ve never seen so much fish in my life. Alicanteans pride themselves on their fish. I saw a huge bloody tuna with his head cut off and the vendeder cutting fresh fillets off of it. I saw a pig skin. A complete body of a pig with no innards. Something Oliver should never see.
Mercado

We went to this Plaza and ordered some coffee to wake us up. I was surprised by the amount of trees in Alicante. I forgot about them since living in Madrid. I was also stoked to see how many good skate spots there were all over Alicante, I’m definitely bringing my board next trip. At the coffeeshop, Marisa decided not to attend her class that day, and I was lucky to have a guide of the city.
The young man and the sea

We had a very mellow day, walked the city and met her host family. Marisa’s madre de Espana is a short mujer who is so bursting with energy and loved showing me her casa. El Padre was watching a cancion with his nieta, Sara. She is 10 months old and cute as hell. The padre proudly showed off his Nacional Guard outfit, and pictures of him with a gun when he served for the military. He was a very funny and interesting man. After the tour, we siesta and went to the same bar we first met so Marisa could write a paper and I read my book “The Ghosts of Spain”. We stayed there the better part of the night.
Shoulda brought my skateboard

After, we decided to watch the Intermilan-Chelsea game, and I introduced Marisa to futbol. We had a beer in this outdoor plaza and enjoyed the game. The next day, we woke up early and I rode the bus to drop Marisa off at school. It was on the very outskirts of town. We went to the school cafeteria and had some coffee and then I was off to explore Alicante on my own for the rest of the day. I went to the Basilica, saw some amazing graffiti, visited the Toro stadium, and then walked to the beach to soak up some rays.
Some Spanish Art



I mindsurfed the ripples for an hour, read my book and fell asleep on the beach and got sunburned. It felt amazing. I met with her friends. As I basked in the sun with girls surrounding me, I felt like I was in heaven. Ris met me at the beach despues de sus clases and then we set off to hike up to the castle.
Set of the Day!

We got lost on the small streets of Alicante but ultimately started our ascent to the castle.
Eating a Valencian Orange in Valencia

The views from the top were amazing. We descended and got some dinner.
Vista from the top of the castle




I said goodbye and headed to the airport. My flight was delayed an hour and a half thanks to a strike in Paris. My flight changed gates at least siete tiempos. It was comical, the last flight out of Alicante and we were constantly running from puerta a puerta. I did the math as I got on the plane, and noticed I would miss the Metro which closes at 130 a.m. I was going to be stranded at the Madrid Airport, which is actually in the city of Barajas, about 10 miles outside Madrid. A taxi would cost around 40 euro, money I did not want to spend. After we landed, a small group of us ran to the metro to try to catch the last ride out. We did not make it. I asked a chica Que hacemos ahora? What do we do now? She said bus or taxi. I followed the group and they asked if I wanted to split a taxi. I thought it wouldn’t be worth it, and decided to spend the night in the airport until the metro opened in the morning. After the group left, there was one person left from the group and he said his friend was coming to pick him up, and asked me if I wanted a ride. I agreed and we waited for about 30 minutes for a ride. We talked about musica and we had very similar taste. His name was Peter and he was from Alicante, and was visiting his novia in Madrid. We talked in Spanish and his friend gave me a ride to my casa.
The Castle

Updates coming today!

Doing a lot of writing today...but heres one of the funniest videos I've ever seen to hold my 9 followers over.


Jolokia Pepper Test
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Oh, Gavin...what did you think was going to happen? Best part of the video is when he compares the pain to childbirth. Or when he chugs the milk.

Do a Dance...

Thanks to MJ for showing me this vid.

Joder! A story to tell the grandkids una dia...

Words won't do justice to what I just saw. So I have a midterm tomorrow in my Spanish class and I was feeling a little tired, so I decided to take my work to my local watering hole and enjoy a café con leche and study. Keep in mind I live 5 minutes walk from Estadium de Vincent Calderon where Atletico Madrid plays. It’s a game night, so my street was barricaded and the policia were directing traffic. As I walk towards the bar I hear drums and chants coming towards Sol area…thinking it was a pre-game rally for Atletico, I followed the noise like a moth to light. The sound grew louder as I approached the group and the first thing I see was a massive flare go off and unfamiliar chants. I see a mob of yellow and red approach and see that its definitely not the familiar red and white stripes of atletico. I ducked into a windowsill to watch the crowd go by. The drums and chants made them seem like an army. I saw a couple Madrinelonos give them some unkind words, but it was relatively peaceful. They marched down the road, and a policia was trying to let the cars go by, which were at a standstill. About ten feet away from me, a un policia got into a shoving match with a very drunken Turkish guy. All of a sudden, hell broke loose. A group of around 20 came to the aid of the drunken Turk, and a riot ensued. I was so close to the action that the beer bottles that were being tossed at the cops were spraying me. The shop window I was leaning against shattered. The Turks swarmed the 5 policeman armed with batons. The Turks that weren’t beating on the cops were smashing windows of cars and taxis that were in the streets. A man picked up a yellow blockade and threw it at the policemen. The bars and shops immediately drew their metal shutters and locked their doors. I ran towards a plaza to get a little distance between me and the riot as it grew bigger and more violent. All of a sudden, I became deaf in my right ear. Gunshots. It was so loud I literally checked myself for bullet holes. I looked and a policia with a shotgun was firing warning shots in the air and the Turks surrounding him backed off with each shot. I was so close to the gunfire, I picked up two shotgun shells as souvenirs.
They smell like the fourth of july.

I was shaking at this point, and as more back up came, the Turks fled towards the stadium and a couple were handcuffed and bloodied. I felt very defensive of the Policia Madrid and angry at the turks for trashing my city, and as I left,
I went up to a handcuffed Turk and said Atletico, Motherfucker.

The cop said Fuera! (leave!). I ran home to get my camera and my room mate Kenny.
I was able to get a couple of pics, but by the time I got back, their were around 100 policia in riot gear with about 30 armored trucks surrounding the mob, they had it under control.

We followed the Turks to the stadium, where they were escorted into the stadium by the riot squad. I walked back to the house to grab mis libros and headed back to the bar. I asked the bartender if it that chaos was normal, he laughed and said yes, their will be more luchar “fights” after the game. I asked if gunfire was normalmente and he said yes and laughed again. I studied in the bar while drinking coffee and watching the game. We scored a goal in the 22nd minute off a penalty kick, and the camera cut to a shot of the Turkish fans leaping over security to fight the crowd. They are insane! Unfortunamente, the Turks scored in the 70th minute and the game ended 1-1. I have a final tomorrow. Saw gunshots tonight. Got a great souvenir. Adios Amigos.

Me encanta Madrid

I’ve really gotten into the groove of the Spanish Lifestyle. My computer is literally falling apart, but vida es Buena. I wake up every day at around 730 and take the metro to school. If I get there early enough, I like to read the newspaper and drink a café con leche con pura (churro grande) I read at least 3 newspapers a day. 20 minutos and A D N which are free right outside the metro and at school they give away El pais, which is super right wing but I still read it. I’m getting a lot better at Spanish, I definitely have my on and off days. Like in class, somedays I just can’t seem to speak, but other times I impress myself. I think it has to do with how tired I am and how attentive I am being in class. We finished our first curso this week. We did a full semester worth of work in 4 weeks. I got a 91 on the final…stoked. Outside of the class, I am getting by ordering in bars and talking to some locals. Friday night, I was on the job hunt. I had two interviews over the phone but my Spanish wasn’t good enough. Both of them was for club promoting jobs. I woke up Saturday morning feeling very refreshed and skateboarded around basically the whole city of Madrid. On Saturday night, I learned Spanish flows mucho major con una cerveza o tres. I was talking to a group of girls for a while Saturday night (actually Sunday morning at around 6 am) and I asked them to rate my Spanish. They gave me a 6.5. That’s passing right? That excited me. Carnival was this weekend and most of my friends went south to Cadiz where it rages. I’m glad I didn’t go, because there was huge parties here and I saved mucho dinero. People were dressed up in the streets and it was so much fun. I really don’t like the idea of traveling with big groups of American’s anyway. I’d much rather go solo or with Marisa. We are headed to San Sebastian on March 5th which I’m super stoked about, finally get some olas hopefully. In other news, Atletico Madrid beat the undefeated FC Barcelona (boooo) last night right down the street. This puts Real Madrid within dos puntos of being in first. The score was 2-1 and every time Atletico scored my apartment building shook and everyone was screaming inside and outside the apartments. Today, it started snowing, and my teacher noticed my amazement asked why. I told her I’ve seen it snow less that ten times in my life she let us out early so I could go make munecas de nieve (snow men). After class I hopped on the metro and headed home. I was enjoying my game of snake on my movil (high score is 4200) and approaching my high score. I looked up and saw the most hideous man with nubs for arms and a horribly burnt face. My stomache dropped like it used to when I saw midgets at Wahoos when I was younger. My room mate had told me about this guy. I felt so bad but at the same time I was terrified. He started moaning sin hermano it sounded like, but basically holding out his nubs for money. Pretty scary. After, I got off at La Latina and walked to my grocery store. I waved at the local bar that I frequent which is owned by a Chinese family. The younger son loves NBA and we talk all the time. I’m starting to get recognized by some people around my neighborhood, which is a great feeling. The owners of the Alimentacion down the street waved at me this weekend. I felt home. Anyways, I got off the Metro and headed to El Dia, the super Mercado. I bought 24 eggs, milk, instant coffee (trying to save money), bread, butter and muffins for 8.24 euro. Lately, I’ve been making these massive scrambles with potatoes, onions, zucchini and eggs. (Wheres the Cholula?). Anyways, as I was walking out the cutest little girl at the fruit stand who’s head barely came over the crates of fruit, asked Que Quieres? I said nada and walked by. This little girl was so cute, I had to get something. I bought 2 avocados for way too much money. I got suckered in by the muneca. Whatever, avocados are filling and good for you and remind me of California. Time is flying here. Oh another thing about El Dia. They have this beer there called Especial made by El Dia and it costs 26 euro cents. Heinekin is around 50 cents and a beer at a bar is anywhere from 2.50 to 6 euro. Ive been drinking Especial lately to save money. It doesn’t seem like Spanish people are big beer people, it seems they like wine and rum. Excited to go back to the states and drink some beer con mis amigos. So, now I’m gonna go make a scramble, siesta, then go out and take some pics of the snow. Adios Amigos.

Found a new spot!

I shredded this bank like parmesan today.

Things I miss about Los Estados Unidos

1. The food. I'm never going to take eating a burrito with jalapenos for granted again. We are so lucky in the states. We have food from every single place in the world within our reach and we have cholula.

2. The dollar. The Euro is deceiving and horible. Think your spending 20 dollars for groceries? Thats actually around 30.

3. Surfing. I've been searching the city looking for concrete olas. I've been watching waaay too many youtube surf videos and I can't wait to get over to San Sebastian.

4. American Sports on TV. I haven't seen the Lakers play in a month...or any basketball for that matter. When I did see the Superbowl, It was at 4 in the morning and the commercials were all from the United Kingdom. Not the same experience at all.

5. Mi familia y mis amigos. Love you all but I am not homesick at all. I'm having the time of my life.

Awesome Weekend con Amigos

I met her at the airport and we took the metro back to my apartment.

It was pretty late, and we both weren’t feeling so hot, so we headed out around 2 to get something to eat. We walked around everywhere, and couldn’t find anything but bars and nightclubs open. We were both starving and getting irritated. Marisa was being a trooper about my horrible sense of direction. We finally found an awesome pizza place around Gran Via. We got 3 pieces each and squatted in a stoop and grinded until we could barely walk. We went home satisfied and passed out.

We woke up around 12 the next morning and headed off to see the Catedral and Palacio Royal. We went into the Catedral, and we were both impressed but getting hungry. We stopped inside this place called Café de Oriente on the Royal Jardin. It was amazing. It looked like central Europe. We ordered a glass of vino blanco and got plate after plate of tapas. We decided to order another glass of wine because we were enjoying ourselves so much and we were talking about how unreal it is we are in Spain. As we sipped the segunda glass, I got a call from Matt Helfrich, who is visiting with his program from Barcelona.
We met up at Sol and I saw Breck, Jimmy, Scott, and a couple of their buddies.

We went to an irish pub called Moore’s by Plaza Mayor for a drink and it was awesome to have them around. We drank a beer and planned to meet up at their hotel around midnight and we would go out from there. After we parted, Marisa and I stopped by this place called Istanbul and got some Doner Kebab. We took a siesta and then headed out to the Hotel Gaudi on Gran Via, where all the Barca kids were staying. We met up with them around 12 and then headed to El tigre, but it was too crowded. We headed to Sol, but didn’t want to pay the huge cover charge to Joy so we headed back to around Gran Via and went into a gay bar. As we walked in we saw they were singing Love Shack by the B52’s on the Karoake Machine. The place was awesome. Marisa walked straight up to the short hair girl who was singing Love Shack and shared the Mike. I thought they might share a kiss too. Un chiste. After Scott and Marisa sang a beautiful rendition of Bailamos by Enrique Inglesias, we headed to the club next door. There was a long line and a very short VIP line. We were feeling very important at that point so we hopped in the short line. We met some Spaniards we said as long as we don’t speak ingles in this line, we should be able to get in. This super nice Spaniard who looked exactly like Pau Gasol talked to the securidad for us and told us we were good people. The bouncer turns to us and said No Drogas Y no Bebida outside the club. We agreed and walked into this hip bar. We immediately started dancing on the stage to music from the Beach Boys, Elvis and Jet. It was a hopping place. Pau Gasol gave us a very nice regalo on the way out and around 5 a.m. we went back to Breck’s hotel to enjoy it.

Despues, Marisa y yo decided to walk back to my house. It was very cold and a very far distance. We started running, and after about 5 minutes at a full sprint, I noticed we were in Chueca, which is exactly the opposite direction from mi casa. I told you I have a bad sense of direction. I thought Marisa would never talk to me again. She just laughed and said she was going to be in charge of directions from now on. I agreed. We walked to Atoche and saw mi amigas Alex, Michaela y Jessica who were just coming out of the club Kapital. They asked what we were doing and said we were walking home and they said we should just go into a bar and wait for the metro that opens at 6 a.m. We walked into this bar and ordered Café con leche and pan tostado con tomatoes. Soo good. At 6 am we hopped on the metro and went to mi casa to sleep the morning away.

At around 11 we woke up and were not feeling 100%. I got up, made some potatoes, zucchini and eggs and toast. We went back to bed after that.
After we woke up, we took a walk in Retiro Park, which is so awesome.

We tried to get scammed by a churro vendor but I wouldn’t take it. After, we headed to the Museo de Sofia Reina and saw some amazing Picasso and Dali.

We wanted to go to the Prado after, but we were hungry so we stopped at the Dia super market and picked up some groceries and headed back. We got back had some cheese and wine and Marisa made me some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. We went out to watch the Real Madrid game at a local bar. Marisa had café and I had a cana. Even after the Cana, Marisa was feeling tired and we went back and went to sleep. I didn’t hear from the Barca boys but I think they saw Felix da Housecat at Club Low.

We planned to wake up at 7 am and head to El Rastro flea market, but my alarm didn’t go off so we woke up at 845. We had to hustle to catch Marisa’s flight, so we got some coffee and descended into the metro. As we switched lines, we heard this guy with an acoustic guitar singing forever young. It was beautiful, at that point I was like Fuck Yes. I am in Spain. I am living la vida. I kissed Marisa goodbye and made plans to see each other soon. On the way back, the guitarist was singing No Woman No Cry and I stopped and listened. I have a huge Spanish test on Miercoles so I’m studying today and all week. Great Weekend. Adios amigos

Head Cold Skate Sesh

It started Wednesday. After school, I got a cerveza and took my skateboard to atocha to skate this one spot I saw when I was visiting the Prado. When I got there, I was very disappointed.
They were erecting a new elephant statue and had my spot all roped off.

The elephant is awesome, but I was in the mood to skate. I skated up the street to Huertas, and saw all the party goers hitting the streets. I started to feel like I was getting a cold, so I went home and went to bed early. So I woke up the next morning with a huge headache and a bad sore throat. I took a 600 mg Ibuprofen I had bought at the farmacia for 2 euro. The medical system here is way better in my opinion. Anyways, I went to school and didn’t talk much in Spanish class because of my sore throat. We were learning the preterite tense and I knew a catchy song that my high school teacher Miss Branch taught me. I sang it to the class, and had the teacher laughing so hard. Not going to sing anymore in Spanish class. After Spanish class, I was feeling even worse and had a 3 hour break before my drawing class started so I went to the biblioteca and read a book on the historia de television and fell asleep for about 2 hours. I still wasn’t feeling good as I went to drawing class. We were doing a still life of oranges and a plate. My frustration of shading combined with my head cold was a bad combo. My drawing turned out terrible. I rode the metro home and figured out that I had left my keys in my room. All I wanted to do was siesta and take an ibuprofen. Luckily, my roommate Mike was there and buzzed me in. I took a siesta to rest up for Marisa who was coming at midnight.

Local Tagertons

Click for a bigger view




To be continued...

A backroom Spanish meeting

Today, I booked a flight to Italy for spring break. This is turning out to be way more expensive than I thought. I was feeling super productive today, so I skated over to an Irish pub where I always see promotors out on the streets giving away free drink tickets. I heard they get paid for everyone that people redeem, so I wanted the job. I went to the pub and the guy told me to come back with a resume at siete. He told me this in Spanish, and this is all I picked up. So I went home, got on the internet and learned how to write a resume. I listed my references as Frog and Ris…so if either of you get a call say I’m an excellent Spanish speaker. After I made my resume, I went to the local papeleria to print it out, then bought an Abono card (unlimited metro rides for 46 euro) and headed to Sol. I showed up at 6:45 and sat at the bar until the Jefe showed up. I waited for around an hour, and the manager said the boss should be getting there any minute. I was enjoying myself, watching futbol and having a corona. But when 2 hours passed and no Jefe, I started to get hungry and irritated. The manager comes up to me and says, come with me. We walk to another restaurante and he says wait at the bar, Jose Luis will be with me shortly. Out comes this huge Spanish man, who looked rich as hell. He owned almost all the establishments at Sol. There were 3 other people waiting at the bar to have a meeting with the Jefe. The first guy went in for about twenty minutes. After they were done, he shakes my hand and I attempt to speak Spanish to him and all he says is come. I follow him and his fancy suit to the backroom of the restaurant. Long story short, he doesn’t need more help. 5 hours wasted. Adios amigos.

You Ain't Artsier Than Me

The next day, I woke up feeling like I had stayed out until 7 a.m. Mi amigo Bronco called me and asked if I wanted to go to the Prado. I hopped on the 5 metro to the 2nd and got off at Banco de Espana. The most awesome buildings are around that area.

I met up with Bronco and my friend Alison from my Spanish class. We walked in at 6. The best thing about the Prado (besides the world class art) is that its free 2 hours before closing.

We cruised in and immediately saw sculptures by Rafael, paintings by Goya and Valasquez. I don’t know much about Spanish art so I’m going to go wikipedia on that ish and go back there this weekend. The craziest section was Goya’s “Negro Pinturas” Goya was a painter who was commissioned by The royalty of Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries. His paintings were bright and flattering to his subjects. But as he got older, he suffered mental and physical breakdowns. He became deaf and moved to Madrid. In his house, he drew dark and disturbing paintings all over the walls. After he died, they were transferred to canvas and put in one room in the Prado. Here is one titled Saturn Devouring His Son. Great one for the living room huh.

I was trying to find Rembrandt the whole time, but couldn’t find them. After exploring the Prado, which is far too big to explore in one day, we ducked into a bar to get a coca-cola. For some reason, Spanish people have a very hard time understanding me. Someone said I have a SoCal accent. Yeah bra. My friend said un Coca Cola por favor, the bartender turns to me and I saw coca cola tambien. He says que? Like 3 times. Bummer. I nexted ordered Vino Tinto, which was great. We then ate dinner at this Italiano place and I was super tired from the night before. We walked around Atoche and Huertas and then I retired to mi cama.

Todos Gente Working for the Weekend

Hola amigos. Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been super busy with tests, fiestas y siestas. So I had a parcial exam (midterm) on Friday morning so I stayed up late studying and woke up early to get a little study time in. I went into it feeling confident and got an 89%. After the tests, I took another one of those six hour siestas mi and mis amigos are famous for. When I woke up, I had the house to my self. Kenny had gone to Paris with his chica and Mike went to Salamanca for the weekend. When I woke up, I called Adam and his roomates John and Jack. They said they had tall boys and wanted to go out. I invited them over and met them at the Puerto de Toledo metro stop. They were kind of lagging, so I bought a couple Mahou beers and a snickers bar.

I skated around the metro and drank my beers. Its totally legal in public, everyone is just partying in the streets. So when Adam, Jack, and John ascended from the tunnel, we went back to my place to enjoy a couple more cervezas. We listened to music and enjoyed the cool breeze of the night. I accidently left the window opened and when I got home that night all the beer cans and chips were everywhere. No bueno. Anyways, we headed out. Before we headed out, all I asked was that we go to a different barrio and explore a new part of the city. Everyone was down. We took the metro to Gran Via and ended up meeting up with the same kids at the same bar, El Tigre. I like that bar a lot, they serve huge tapas and stiff drinks, but I was in the mood for something different. We ended up having a few drinks there but I was mostly digging the tapas.

We walked to Sol (again) and ended up at this club where we danced all night. It was way fun, but next weekend I’m definitely exploring another barrio. Adam and I caught the 7 a.m. metro home and called it a noche.