getting by

On the train to Barcelona now. I am officially homeless. I’ve moved out all my things from my apartment, dropped them off with a friend, and taken to the road with my backpack. As thrilling as it is to start the next part of my trip here, it was really sad to leave my keys on the table and leave Madrid today.* The last 2 weeks have been so hectic- it’s made it hard to be nostalgic. When the world is spinning so quickly around you,** you can’t even see endings and beginnings and actually take note that you won’t be seeing the people around you again.

A few moments I did catch:

The Final Dinner
(not to be confused with the Last Supper which I’ll be seeing in Italy soon)

Everyone ran around- all dressed up for our dinner at an expensive Basque restaurant. It reminded me of prom with all the sappy group pictures being taken. All that was missing were the yearbooks to sign with cheesy goodbye messages. No one could sit still at their table. Well, that it, no one but the people at my table. We were the only table of people not eager to spread the cheese, if you will. And as the majority of us go to Berkeley, there were no “I’m going to miss you so much” moments because we’ll all be back together by August. Somehow everyone followed us to Malasaña where we drank beer in the Plaza de Dos de Mayo and played on the swing set in the dark.

Finals week
(and the weekend before it)

Apparently Carlos III doesn’t believe in dead week so we all had to spend our 2nd to last weekend in Madrid studying and writing papers. I quickly became a regular at a café in Malasaña near my apartment, as I was incapable of doing any work at home. I didn’t leave my apartment all day on Saturday, except for the 3 hours I spent at the café writing my paper until my computer battery died, so I treated myself to a night out with Anh. Bored with Supersonic, we tried out Club Nasty, a club in Sala Nasty in Malasaña that I’d been told about by Shawn*** and Beltran the second****. We were both feeling pretty down due to studying and sensing the end near. The only cure for our mood was lots of kitschy 80s and 90s music at one of the hippest clubs in Madrid. That’s right- I danced my worries away to “I’m so excited” and “She Bop” and “Black or White” and anything else the guest dj’s***** decided to play. Good times were had by all.

Finals:

I only remember them because they were so bad. My colloquial exam was the worst. How was I supposed to know the colloquial term for heavy schoolbook?!

Copa de Despedida:

Free drinks as provided by the university. Kate arrived the day before and so I dragged her out to Getafe to see a bit of my life here. We continued the goodbye drinks at the Biblioteca, a local bar right off campus. Then it was back to Madrid to enjoy a delectable bacadillo for Franky’s birthday. That party moved onto Dubliner’s, an Irish pub in Sol, where people got belligerent and all the going away stress turned into tears and harsh words which were all taken back the next day.

Barbarela Pop Club:

Steph, Kate and I donned our hippest attire*x6 and hit up Sala Nasty again. On Friday nights its Barbarela Pop club and is haunted by kids dressed in mod clothing who stand around drinking their Budweiser beer for bottles and sing along to British invasion songs and do their funny little hipster dances. Not quite Kate’s scene*x7 but I made her stay put as I was having fun attempting to dance like the rest of the kids. Zarlashta and Emma showed up later to join in the fun, followed later by Marco who proceeded to introduce me to just about everyone in the club. The djs, the bouncer, the bartender, his friend Nacho who’s the lead singer of an indie band in Madrid, and a bunch of people whose names I’ve forgotten. Then my other Argentinean friend put red lipstick on Marco and myself (as she had at supersonic the night before) and introduced me to more people Marco had missed. I was asked if I was Spanish and complimented on my language skills- one of the highlights of the night. We danced like crazy and then at 5:50, 2 kisses were exchanged with everyone, hugs for the ones I might not see again, and then Kate finally dragged me out of the club and home.

Which brings me to today. We spent a few hours waiting in the train station. Steph brough us lunch and dragged out our goodbye even longer- making it 3 times we’ve officially said “hasta pronto.”

Sitting on a train now with clothing enough for a week, my computer, and my Primavera Sound Festival abono. I’m going to be a tourist and maybe meet up with Marco and Jason before my Berkeley crew gets here*x8. I can’t feel too sad about leaving Madird because I’ll be back soon.







*Granted, I will be coming back whenever I can over the course of the summer
**As it was yesterday at Movie Land- a brand new Warner Brothers theme park in Madrid. What fun we had pretending like we were in southern California and posing with statues of daffy duck and tweedy bird (not tweedy pie as the brits insisted)
***the guitar tech in the bottom left hand corner of the picture.
****Not to be confused with the first who I ran into again who professed his love to me again.
*****The Donnas. Don’t like them as a band but as dj’s they’re ace!
*x6 That is to say, the hippest clothing I hadn’t packed up yet. And not so hip for Kate. She’s a top 40’s kinda gal.
*x7 She’s a top 40’s kinda gal
*x8 Although there is quite a larger Cal crew on the train ahead of me. 8 guys who just graduated and are off to find themselves in Europe through the help of a eurorail pass.