One Day Out?

El barrio is disbanding.  I literally just helped Diego, our first roommate to leave, carry his suitcase out to a taxi.  By this time tomorrow, the first floor of Calle de Cartagena 49 will be empty and barren.  It's a lot to take in all at once -- it feels like we just arrived.  I've become so comfortable here so fast, it's really a weird feeling to know I'll be going tomorrow.  The whole week, the whole trip has been leading up to this.  Nothing lasts forever, I suppose, and this is just another one of those things.

But did we waste our time crying about it?  Yeah, right.  This whole week has been nonstop, a climactic end to an amazing stay in Spain.  The week began with a majority of the IIA Madrid group returning from a weekend stay at Barcelona, arguably the most aesthetic beach city at which I've ever stayed.  To be honest, when I was there, I was out of tourist mode -- all I wanted to do was relax and find the beach.  I did this and, yes, it was everything I hoped it would be and more.  The beach there is huge and filled with both locals and tourists from all over the world, so you'll always have the opportunity to meet someone new.  After the beach, we headed over to meet the IIA Barcelona crew and go out for a night of festivities.  If you ever make it to Barcelona, I recommend checking out the Dow Jones Bar, a tiny bar that takes a very interesting concept and runs with it.  The prices of all the available drinks are listed on televisions overtop the bar, reminiscient of the screens traders use on the floor of stock exchanges in order to monitor prices and place their orders.  During the night, the prices will either rise or fall -- representing bullish or bearish markets -- until finally, it crashes.  This is a highly coveted time during the night and the bar is the stormed my eager young people trying to cash in on the allegorically downturned economy.  It was very cool. 

After a day of rest on Sunday and Monday, Tuesday came and, with it, Herman's birthday.  Turning twenty-two in Madrid is an epic event that can only be dreamed of and, since it was during the last week, it made it that much more spectacular.  We began with a barbecue between all of the Madrid group and our local friends,  which turned out to be incredibly delicious.  I've found that chorizo (sausage) here is a little bit spicier than in the United States and is amazing on sandwiches.  After drowning myself in steaks and chorizos, the group saddled out for the night in order to celebrate Herman's birthday.  It was an awesome night and we returned around 5 o' clock in the morning.  Despite this, we all made it to work on time, albeit exhausted.  

Wednesday night became another day of rest.  Then along came Thursday.  And it was epic.  Oh, so epic.  As it was the last night for a couple of the interns in Madrid, we once again went out to celebrate as a group.  We began with a dinner at delicious restaraunt called "The Beef Place", which served, yup, beef.  But very high quality, exquisite beef.  After enjoying ourselves and toasting to a remarkable summer, we made our way out to the streets and began with a botellon, building steam until the group decided it was time to visit our favorite local clubs.  At this point, we knew it was time to step up, so we pulled together our finances and got a seat at the VIP section at the bar called Palace.  While open to anyone willing to stab their wallet in the heart, it was definitely worth it and made the night memorable.  

Tonight?  Well, I think the plan is to continue the celebration and take it back to the United States. . . .