The beginnings...

June 8/9:
The Siesta went about as well as could be expected. It was great at the time, but waking up was harsh especially because it was the sound of hard-falling rain that woke us. We're probably still feeling a little bit of jetlag. No need to worry however as "la copa de bienvenida" solved our problems. We met at our learning center and took a short walk around the corner to a local bar that served excellent sangria. There we met people from the other BC program, Virginia Tech, University of New Hampshire, and other foreign countries. A good time was had by all.

After a few rounds at the welcoming program, about 15 BC students and ourselves decided to grab some dinner at a tapas restaurant. We hopped on the Metro and got off in hopes that we would quickly find the type of establishment we were looking for. Although tapas are said to be "everywhere" here, the group really struggled to find a venue large enough to accommodate us. Eventually we found a restaurant that John thinks highly of and Albert does not like at all although he admits the food was good. Highlights of the restaurant included an ever agitated waiter, some good bread, some delicious croquettes, and some mashed-potato paste that was not a hit.

After sangria and some drinks at dinner, we all decided it would be a good idea to go out on the town for a little longer. Some members of the group had attended a local bar called "Nike Bar," and John had heard of it also so the whole group decided this would be an appropriate spot to start the night off from. Little did we know at the time that Nike Bar was located in a part of Madrid with a prominent gay population. Many happy couples and bar-hoppers looked oddly at our group of loud Americans in the area, but no problems arose however, and everybody had a great time. Everybody ordered more sangria, but John and Albert broke the trend by ordering "calimocho," a drink suggested by John that consists of cheap red wine and coca-cola which instantly became a hit although John's father never believed that anybody in the world would drink such a concoction.

We did run into a slight problem: on our way to the next bar/ dance club, which we left shortly after arriving, a Spaniard threw an empty alcohol bottle in the direction of our group as we were posing for a picture. Our best theory is that he wanted us to know he was annoyed with all of us, but we're sure he did not intend any harm, although Albert thinks differently. Some girls in the group said they had a similar experience the previous night. However, while no drinking took place at our second stop, it instead hosted a multicultural dance session consisting of spanish pop, Britney Spears' Toxic, I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry (which possibly rang true for many club goers in the area) and Shakira. We left the bar and avoided more confrontation with the men outside the bar.

Although it seems like this blog is centered entirely upon our drinking experiences, we'd like to let our readers know that we were assigned a small amount of homework today in class, and we worked diligently today on completing it. While we are having an incredible time with new friends in the exciting city of Madrid, we still realize we are here for a class, and that is our first priority always. We simply think that we will effectively be able to balance our work with the infamous Madrid nightlife.