Second night in Spain continued...

So, to continue my last entry, here is the completion of my second day in Spain.

Continued at 3:20 in the morning, what is now January 14.

Trouble might be the name of the game tonight...lol in actuality today was a blast. The friends I mentioned earlier were other students I met this morning on the group tour of the Prado Museum, which was amazing. When you walk in, all you smell is the oil of the paintings. I loved it, and our guide was great. Although we went through very quickly, passing all but the most important pieces, I will say that had I gone without a guide, I would not have even found the best pieces in there. The Prado is huge and very confusing. The vast majority of the art is religiously themed but these are coming from masters like Velazquez, El Greco, and so on. As an art buff, I loved it and would recommend it to anyone visiting Madrid.

Anyway, I met some great students in the group there and then while taking the tour in the Palacio Real—the Royal Palace. The palace was great. It was cold, obviously being made of locally procured marble, and everything in each of those rooms was decorated to the extreme. In one room alone, the dining room, there were fifteen distinct chandeliers. We weren’t aloud to take pictures, but we got the whole tour. The palace is still in use today, for greeting lords and ladies from around the world, apparently. There is even a section of the palace that has been modernized for when the King and Queen have to stay there instead of their newer palace somewhere else. Of course we couldn’t see that part!

After the palace, we were free to do as we pleased. My new group, consisting of Kate, Erica, Jordan, Amee, Michael, and Ruth all decided to meet up later at seven to go and start our evening that I mentioned earlier. Kate, Erica and I went exploring the whole city and shopping before that, though. To describe this area of Madrid, just imagine a mall with wall to wall shops, but its set outdoors and it seems never ending. It was really cool but exhausting. The streets are narrow and you always have to watch out for cars that might not want to stop for the lingering the pedestrian.

The real fun happened this evening, though. The group (7 of us, five girls and two guys) met up at seven and went out. First we had paella for the first time at a great little restaurant called Restaurante Hegar, which was situated right at the corner in the Plaza Mayor. Our waiter was this old man who seriously reminded me of the evil butler in the Disney movie, The Haunted Mansion, but he was actually incredibly nice and took pictures for us. Five euros got me a whole plate of the paella. Sweet deal. Paella is basically like Spanish rice, but it can be mixed with any kind of meat (we found chicken and some weird unidentifiable sea food in there). It was delicious and I didn’t question the ingredients.
After dinner, everyone was debating our next stop. I really wanted to go to the Chocolateria, San Gines, and to my utter surprise and pleasure, so did Kate. That girl is quickly becoming a good companion for these travels. She spoke up and we did, we went and found my heart's desire: The Chocolateria de San Gines. Delicious chocolate with churros! You see this all over Madrid, with everyone placing signs in there windows declaring that they sell the hot chocolate. It did seem like we were the only two really interested in this place, but I didn’t care. I got what I wanted—the chocolateria was sort of like my “must have” before leaving Madrid, so I am grateful Kate was there to enjoy it with me.

After that, we wanted a tappas bar so that we could watch the big Madrid match that happened today. We had the hardest time finding a good bar with televisions, and we ended up in another restaurant called La Tia Cebolla (The Onion Aunt), where we ended up buying 6, yes 6, pitchers of sangria while we watched the game on their large plasma screen that was mounted I the corner. Sangria is delicious and has possibly become my favorite drink in Spain. It’s a red wine that is prepared with chunks of fruit in the pitcher, including apples and oranges, so when you drink it is very fruity and tasty. Each pitcher was 10 bucks but there was 7 of us.

We had so much fun just hanging out in this tiny, filled to the brim restaurant! Every time a goal was made, the owner would ring a bell that he had hanging behind the counter. The walls behind the counter were covered in shelves lined with different types of liquors and stuff; what made it unique was that each shelf was trimmed in a fluttering layer of international money. He had different bills from all over the world giving a colorful backdrop to his restaurant. The whole place was such a local’s joint that I think we ended up in the best place for that evening. Many students had chosen to actually go to the game (which I didn’t think was the most interesting game ever).

Towards the end of the game, the owner surprised us all with a round of shots of some really sweet alcohol. Free. So we keep talking having fun, then he brought another round of something else. We were, by that point, speaking Spanish like it was nothing with him, laughing, taking pictures with him, and eating the free tapas snacks he also kept bringing. Then he brought another round, then another…He gave us FIVE free shots each in total! He just kept bringing new stuff. Some were good, others not so much. So yeah, a little trouble there, but so much fun for my second night in Madrid!

And the night didn’t even end there!

After La Tia Cebolla, we went dancing at a discotech. From what I can tell from my first two nights on the streets of Madrid, there are tons of these types of bars/dance places that are hard to find. They hire people to go find people looking to have a good time and pass out cards for the discotech and then to lead them there and usually, they offer a free shot or drink to get you in the door. That’s how it seems they all compete—so if you are ever in Madrid, don’t freak out when some guy suddenly wants to lead you down a dark street with the promise of free shots. Be careful, but generally this seems pretty legit, and there are so many people out that you can have fun the smart way. I’ve also already noticed that some joints make you pay to get in, while others are free. I’m sure that we had just as much fun at the free ones than if we had gone to one with a cover charge. The best part about the free place we went to, you don’t even have to buy drinks to go dance. Its dark enough and big enough in there, at least at the one we went to tonight, that it doesn’t matter. I needed to burn off dinner’s sangria anyway.

So we all headed to the dance area. This place was nicer than where I went with that crowd last night. There was a small raised platform for dancing in the center of the floor that had several Spaniards dancing there. What I’m noticing about the Spanish is that they appear shy about dancing, unlike us Americans who just get out there and shake it to a good beat. All the music is American, just like you find in a dance club in the states, but the guys hang around the edges, and the girls do minimal movement. I’m sure that can’t always be the case, but that’s what it seemed like tonight. We were dancing! And I thnk our group of seven enthusiastic Americans intimidated the Spanish on the platform, because it suddenly began to empty.

After a while, Erica, Jordan and Michael all decided they wanted to go somewhere else, so they left, assuring us they’d all get back to the hotel safely. So it was just four girls. We pulled to awkwardly shy Spanish guys to dance with us, with all the confidence that would NOT have been there had they been American guys. And these guys could dance! When they no longer feel awkward they really get into it. One guy kept dancing and whistling a series of three sharp whip! whip! whips!

Then Ruth and Amee wanted to go back and sleep, so they left too. Me and Kate, again thinking very alike, wanted to keep dancing. We hadn’t been there maybe thirty minutes yet. So it was just me and Kate, me with my own guy (who thought our dancing was funny and chose to give me a lesson) and her with the other two guys! What fun! I’ve never been so confident in myself and especially while dancing and spinning with a guy. I honestly think that being a foreign situation makes you less afraid because you know you’ll survive. And there is no pressure dancing with a Spaniard (who, by the way, always kept his hands in appropriate areas and never tried anything suggestive) because you know that you’ll never see him again anyway. I think being in Spain is going to truly improve my self confidence around guys—around whom I am usually incredibly shy.

 Now is the time for me to try new things and find myself. That’s what travelling is about, I think, new experiences and different things so that you can really see who you are. and I am already getting started. What a blast, but now I am so exhausted and I have to be up early…