Never a Dull Moment

HALA MADRID: Too bad I forgot my cleats or
 I could have shown Ronaldo a few things.

Friday night, ESN rented out a club for the seven hundred Erasmus exchange students studying at various universities throughout Madrid. It was a happy-go-lucky atmosphere, and I was boppin’ away to Rihanna, as per usual. But then a problem arose: I’m simply not built for all-nighters. Naturally, I used my free drink coupon for a bottle of water, but even this was not enough to keep me going through the wee hours of the night. Around 3AM, I went outside in hopes that the fresh air would revitalize me, but the cloud of cigarette smoke was suffocating and I coughed my way back into the debaucherous club. I resigned myself to being a spoilsport and caught the bus home before the party had even gotten up to speed. In the US, they say that nothing good happens after midnight, but here in Spain, it should read, “Nothing happens at all until after midnight.”

     Saturday afternoon, I toured el estadio Santiago Bernabéu, the stadium where Real Madrid plays. It was cool seeing trophies from decades ago and sitting on the comfy leather chairs that make up the players’ bench.

     That night I was utterly exhausted, but some girls from the dorm managed to drag me to a Pub Crawl by appealing to my ego and saying that they needed my protection to get home. Forget drugs, I need to learn how to “Just Say No” to women! As often happens, the night ended up being really fun and, best of all, I got home at a reasonable hour.

NEVER A DULL MOMENT: I’m so depleted by Saturday night, there’s only one thing that keeps me going.

     Sunday afternoon, all the international students went to the Prado, one of the most visited museums in the world. We broke into teams and had to find and identify various famous paintings. I was on a team with Tere (my really cute friend from Chile) and her friend from Italy. It was funny how we alternated communicating in our three respective native languages, and I learned just how interesting art can be when it’s accompanied by charming females.

     Afterwards, Tere invited me to go to evening mass with her. The Cathedral was amazing and it was a marvelous service. Now I need to learn the Catholic prayers in Spanish, because all I knew how to say in response to the pastor’s prompts was “Amén.” Despite the language barrier, it was an emotionally stirring hour for me and I left feeling very thankful for the experiences and friendships of the last two weeks. Amén to that!