I don´t know what it is, but I´m a big pussy now. Maybe it´s old age, who knows...

It´s like 50 degrees here today and I am freezing cold. I even thought about getting the winter coat out of the back of the closet. I´m even less of a man than I used to be. On the bright side, at this point, I have nowhere to go but up. And on the even brighter side, it´s still probably warmer here than it is back home. HAHA!!

Last night, it was absolutely freezing walking to a bar. But, sometimes you just have to love Madrid. I was out with two girls I am friends with and this Spanish girl they work with, who knows zero English. After my two friends called it a night (early birds went home around 3am) we moved on to a few others bars and met a few of her friends. All of a sudden, I realize it´s 5:30am and I am walking into a bar with like 5 Spanish people that I barely know. Better than that though is the fact that it is packed and it wasn´t a club, "disco", or rave or anything. Just your average bar that is filled with people at anytime. Bunch of booze hounds here. Then, making my night, the Spanish girl even complimented at one point in the night on my Spanish. That lead me to one of three conclusions, listed in reverse order of likelihood:

1) she was just being polite
2) she is, um, how do you say, "mentally challenged"
3) I speak like a native Spanish person now

It was around 6:30am when we left the bar. I love nights like this. Saved me 8€´s on the cab ride. The metro here closes at 1:30am and then re-opens at 6:30am. It´s a real test to see if you can make it to 6:30am and save those crucial funds. Many a man have tried and failed. When that happens, you either shell out money for a cab (done that millions of times) or you end up taking a 45 minute drunken stumble across Madrid and get your shoes soaking wet and muddy by accidentally stepping into a little sidewalk garden (or so I have been told -- mom, you know I would never engage in such seemingly irresponsible behavior).

But on of the single best parts of Spanish culture is the living situation. Every window has these shades that you can pull down and it completely blocks out all the light. It can be dangerous. If I had one of those in college, I think I might have gone years without seeing the sun. I crawled into bed around 7:15am this morning and rolled out of bed at the wonderful hour of 3:30pm to watch some fútbol. Holla!!