Fiesta

(Modern meets traditional in Madrid, Spain)

I am exhausted. Last night was craziness. 

First, transportation.  I left my room at about one (after being very indecisive about getting dressed) and hurried to the Cuzco metro stop, which is the closest stop to Julia's apartment.  I ended up having to wait almost 20 minutes for a train, so I was already going to be late to meeting Lizzie and Elisha at the Nuevos Ministerios metro stop.  By the time I got to the stop, the trains had stopped running and my friends weren't there.  A security guard told me something in Spanish, which from his tone I took to mean, "You should leave now," so I did and tried to call Lizzie.  Of course, there wasn't any reception in the metro station, so that plan flopped.  I was nervous because I was halfway between Julia's apartment and where I was trying to go, it was 1:20, and the metros stop running at 1:30.  So I booked it on over to the metro line I needed to get downtown and was relieved to find that I could still make it.  I got to the Sol metro stop, (downtown Madrid) at about 2 and again tried to call Lizzie.  Now she had no service, and neither did Elisha, (but I did not know this at the time, because the pre-recorded "no-service" message is in Spanish), so I called Amanda and asked her to call either of my friends and tell them I was waiting under the main clock in the square.  I didn't hear anything back for about half an hour.  In the meantime, I am standing under the clock, in the cold, by myself.  I don't recommend standing there for very long, because people start to talk to you and take your picture (yeah - it was sketchy).  Finally I see Lizzie and Elisha, who didn't realize they had had no service in the bar that they were in, and we head off, me, relieved to finally put an end to my 2.5 hour trip.

So then, Lizze, Elisha, and I are wandering around the Sol area.  In Madrid, girls get a free drink for going into a club (also sketchy) so a lot of people just go bar-hopping, getting drinks for free.  I am annoyed that their Spanish is better than mine, even after they've been drinking (it's so not fair. . .) but after hanging out a couple mediocre clubs, we hear word that the discotheque Joy is really good - and it is.  There is a huge dance floor and private boxes and it's pretty classy.  They played American music and it was packed.  We danced for a long time - we only stopped once to get our free drinks - I ordered a Sprite and the bartender gave me a look that I did not appreciate.  The Spanish boys were awfully friendly, but most could be dismissed without problems.  Only one of the boys that tried to dance with me was guapo and we danced for a while.  But he started getting awfully friendly and needed to be dismissed, too.  The only problem with this club was that people danced with their drinks in hand and all the bottles ended up on the floor.  Most of them broke from being stepped on, so the floor was covered in broken glass (that's a recipe for disaster, isn't it?).  I had so much glass stuck in the bottoms of my shoes that those things could have been used as weapons!  Luckily (or somewhat unluckily, I guess) I only cut my foot once, right towards the end of the night.  We ended up leaving Joy at 6 am - when the metros started up again.  I've been told that this is the general night schedule in Madrid - get to where you're going by 1:30 when the metros stop and leave at 6 when they start up again.  Ah, Madrid.

So after this night of fiesta-ing, I slept until 2 pm, waking up just in time for lunch.  I didn't do much else all day because I'm still trying to write my globalpost.com article.  Also, it is really hot, and I've practically melted into my bed.  But Julia took me to mass today - the church is in the park right next to the apartment building.  The mass was only 20 minutes, and after church, Julia showed me where the pharmacy, the bank, and the grocery-type store were.  We came back in time for dinner, and I've just received news that my friends are going out again tonight!  This time, to some Spanish student's house party and then to El Capital - a seven-story discotheque downtown.  I've not yet decided whether I am going to go do this or sleep, but more later!