Life Abroad: Week Seven
How Locals Do It
(These next two posts are going to be sectioned by trip, not week.)
Week Seven was ridiculously fun, enjoyed best with plenty of late nights so us locals could show our friends around town ;) We welcomed so many visitors to Madrid this week and it was gratifying- like the way you feel when telling other people insider secrets about your favorite things. Really, the whole time I was secretly pleading for people to fall in love with Madrid in the way I have.
Thursday night, Aryan introduced us to his friends Amithav and Rohin from home. Casey, Karah, and I met them at El Tigre for drinks and free greasy tapas. Really, any amount we drank wouldn’t have been enough because the three boys were hammered at 10pm when we showed up (this is quite early for going out in Spain). We picked at our food and gulped down strawberry margaritas all while enjoying each others company. It was a funny conglomeration of college friends and home friends, but with alcohol really any combination of people can chat. Casey and I took the metro home while the boys walked Karah to her metro stop. Their night ended with one boy getting a fine for public urination, one wandering the streets with 1% phone battery looking for the hostel, and one getting home just fine and going to bed peacefully without knowing where the others were. Guess which one was Aryan.
Friday I had class where our professor decided to give us an in-class essay: write a page on what an “Innovation Ecosystem” is. Needless to say, the class was feeling full of camaraderie (we have learned nothing in class and our professor thinks he is Einstein himself) so I abandoned my usual comfort of racing out of class to reach the metro station before others and instead walked with Kasha and Ying. Kasha is from Poland, lived in the US for a bit, and she’s now doing her Bachelor’s in Madrid. I peppered her with questions about our classmates and the different friend groups. She explained to us: “There’s the German kids, the small group of Spanish boys, and the big group of other boys. And the girls, but we’re not really a group because there’s only 3 of us and we’re not close anymore.” The weird thing is that not many of these groups hang out outside of college, despite them being in school together for 3 years now. We discussed how shameless the boys are when flirting with the UMich sorority girls in our class. The boys will never have a chance with these girls in the first place, but boy do they try.
Friday night, we went to Oven Mozzerrella Bar with Aryan, Amithav, and Rohin. This place’s burrata had been hyped up so we had high expectations, but I learned I’m not much of a burrata person. After dinner we finally were introduced to Tish and Aryan’s roommates. Their living situation is seriously out of a book: 15 people from all over the world, different ages, perfect recipe for a drama. There has been plenty but most of it too R-rated to write here. Casey and I split two bottles of wine while the boys drank cervezas and tried to keep up with Thor and Ben, roommates from Iceland and Leeds. Ben played British rap for a little bit too long until we complained so he shit on us for being American. We waited in line for seemingly forever to get into El Chapandaz, a local cave bar. In line, I FaceTimed my parents and they talked to Aryan and Casey; noticeably I was not sober and it was 3am in Madrid, so my mother sent me many a text reminding me to be cautious but “have fun”. She is my biggest cheerleader. It was also Carinvale weekend so it was extra packed with people in costumes and not a single American in sight. We met these girls in the bathroom (drunk girls becoming besties in a bathroom is a universal thing) who followed us on Instagram and asked if they could practice their English with us sometime. Casey and I left the bar around 3am, later than we had expected, but in good spirits because of what was to follow the next day.
Saturday morning Casey and I woke up with excitement and alarm: excitement because Sree and Brendan were arriving, and alarm because it was late and Casey had a series of unfortunate events that led to her missing her nail appointment. I woke up and didn’t even feel anticipation because of how surreal it all was. I merely showered, cleaned my room (and my roommate’s living room mess), and walked over to the address I was supposed to meet the Uber at. The car pulled up, and Jajoo and Sree got out of the car and it felt so strange to see them in person. I received my presents from America (Flaming Hot Cheetos, Buldak Spicy Chicken Ramen, a pair of sweatpants) with a surprise present: Laduree macarons from the Paris airport. Sree and I took a long nap and met Jajoo for dinner at Sahuara, a Mexican place in La Latina recommended by Karah’s professor. I got a burrito which I thought was delicious, but Sree informed me my palate standards have decreased and it was actually very mid. The boys were fiending for cigarettes so we walked around to try and find them but learned they’re only sold in bars and restaurants- you’d think that’s something I would’ve known by now. We finally found them and walked around Sol and got gelato. Jajoo and I bonded and became pals which really was my main mission of this trip :)
Saturday night was something Casey and I had been looking forward to: Kapital with all our friends from Michigan visiting us in Madrid. We hosted a pregame remiscent of an Ann Arbor Friday night, but with Spanish flair: Reggateon playing on the speaker, the counter stained with cup rings of Tinto de Verano (coke & wine, a common pregame drink here). Again, this was a random assortment of Aryan, Tish, Casey, and I’s visitors but as expected, there was much overlap just due to the circles we run in. It was sharply nostalgic to finally feel the familiarity of hosting: running around the apartment, getting cups from the cabinet, directing people to the bathroom, showing people the room Casey and I share. The club was fun- not much different than any other club really, but still fun in the way nightclubs are. Karah, Jajoo, Sree, and I ended our night by getting McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
Sunday morning Josie arrived in Madrid so Jajoo was no longer third wheeling and I was no longer surrounded with only male energy. I spent the day showing them around and catching up but we were all so tired from flights and clubs that the day slipped by between aimless walks and restaurant lines. Monday we vowed to seize our last day in Madrid- we went to Retiro and soaked in the sunshine. As Midwesterners, sunshine in the winter feels lucky and serendipitious no matter where you are in the world. We ate churros, shopped at Zara, and went thrifting in Malasana. Sree, Casey, Brendan, and I had dinner with Mairen and our roommates on Monday night which was wholesome. She tried so hard to pronounce Sree’s name and practiced her English on the boys, while our roommates as rude as ever made feeble attempts to converse. We went to Fuckin Mondays which was a first for all of us and I tried hookah which was smoother than I expected. Also, ran into Balazs (from my PC) there which was bewildering because, why didn’t I know he was in Madrid. I guess no one really ever knows where he is.
Tuesday was a travel day because… we went to Greece! Which is where I am writing this currently (and Week 8 post will be about this). Today is Friday and Sree is feeling sick so I stayed in the Airbnb with him today, which is a blessing in disguise because I get time to write this post and rest. Traveling is so exhausting but my immune system has fortified as a result, so there’s the sunny side up. This week moved so fast that I barely had time to blink and process it all, but this is something I need to get better at. The past weeks have been easier for me to digest and create takeaways because I have so much time to think when on my own. Traveling with friends you haven’t seen in so long means using your time and energy to savor those moments together, to live in the moment rather than in your head. Which is enjoyable, but I do find myself missing the time I usually take to reflect. I also got rejected after a final round for an internship I really wanted, so that caused my mojo to be down more than usual. But alas, the Europeans are best at eliminating stress from life and focusing on what matters, so I’m being forced to apply their outlook. No point in stressing over things I can’t control anymore now, especially when I’m halfway across the world and already blessed with so much. I have a job already, I’m in Europe, I have a happy family and great friends. There could always be something better, but the yearning and hoping for it all is usually better than what it actually is. What actually is is just fine with me, for now. :)
As always, thanks for reading and happy living.
With love,
Rachel
