This is New

OK so Eddie and I got home last night....well not last night, this morning at 5 am. Then rolled out of bed at noon.  As per the title, this is new for me. As in, I can't count the number times I've been out that late on any combination of hands or feet because it has never, ever happened. Some group that does travel here in Spain for international students sponsored a night out for us and several other international groups. Starting with an hour of free Sangria at a local bar in what would be equivalent to downtown Seville, they put on one heck of time. After about two hours our smaller group of ICS (International College of Seville) students, some twenty or so people, found some momentum and spilled out of the bar into the street where the collective agreement was 'it's time to find a discotec.' Enter the seemingly gracious and friendly Spaniard who yes, knows a fairly close disco, and yes will love to take us there. Everybody into 4 separate cabs and we're off. I rode with an awesome girl from Montana who was really having a good night, loud and bouncy and just plain fun, and with Mr. helpful but also pushy Spaniard. He comments on the way over that he knows the guy who owns the place and can get us all in free. Right. After he said it I took a harder look at him: slightly drunk, paunchy, maybe late 20's, sweat and (hopefully) beer stains on his ill-fitting black v-neck. This guy isn't getting us in anywhere. So inevitably we stand outside for twenty minutes while he bickers with the bouncers, and finally we decide to walk off and just ask some Spaniards to point us towards another place we could get into. Now here's a funny little tidbit: Spaniards, while they're friendly enough if you approach them and are proficient enough in your Spanish, do not like a bunch of drunk, loud Americans. Can't figure out why. Anyway, we walked about two miles following contradicting directions from three or four separate sources. After maybe an hour of walking we come upon our third club and lo and behold the travel group has moved here, across the river from the bar and we can get in for free, and two for one drinks! What luck. We spent another two hours or so there and it was awesome.

I really wanted to work on being open to things here, trying new stuff etc. Cousin Tad said, "If I have any advice it would just be try everything." He was certainly right. I've never had so much fun, and this group of American students seems like a great bunch of people. My housemom Reme asked me this morning if i had a heavy conscience about it and I said no, it was so much fun." Good, good" she said. "It's kind of like the peanut butter." I asked her the other day if there was anywhere I could purchase peanut butter. She got really serious and said, "Silas, you didn't come to Spain to eat American food did you? In three months, when you go home, the American food, the peanut butter, the gym, they'll all still be there waiting for you." Mom's always know.