It's just the beginning!

09/06/05
2.21 am

I've just come back from having a drink around Cava Baja street with my classmates. I was there once when I got here in the first month (that would be in October). I hardly knew Madrid then and the world was damn cruel to me. Just imagine an oriental little boy with his green backpack and a useless city map walking, lost and confused, along the old narrow streets full of bars and cafes while raining! I can't remember how many (thai) bad words had slipped out of my mouth, cursing the place and Madrid, that day.

And there I was again. Same place, different time. Although I got lost (again!) in the small streets, I finally got to a bar where my friends had gathered. There they were! Mercedes, Inés, Monica, Alix and Steijn. They had been chatting for quite a while before I reached the place. After saying goodbye to Alix, we then decided to move to another cool bar named "ENE" recommended exclusively by our Madrid guru, Mercedes (compared to Inés, of course) :D

The bar had good vibes and the belga (fluid) chocolate cake was superb (especially in that Sopa de Naranja, as indicated in the menu!). I had to say that I really enjoyed the moment. I just can't believe that after almost 9 months in Madrid, everything would be so different for me.

The streets aren't the same as when I first arrived. I know more about them. I know that around the corner of Cava Baja there's a bar with cool decoration in which I can spend a good time with my friends. I know that some particular streets would be packed with the Spanish during the night even though it's weekday. I know how to get to the nearest metro without using the city map. And I know how my friends are so different from what I had imagined them to be before the beginning of the class.

Tomorrow Monica will be flying to Mallorca with her aunt and uncle before heading to USA in July. Inés would be busy with her practice in a translation company. Mercedes would be preparing herself for a trip to Canada. Steijn would be going back to "reality" in Holland the end of the month. Everybody seems to have their own plans and destiny for this approaching beautiful, yet scorching, summer. Yeah, our ways might come across again some days during the vacations, but I just can't help being sad about the fact that I won't be seeing some of them for whole 5 months. That's a long time!

While each has his/her own mission, I'd be in charge of mine, too. Planning summer trips and making a good use of the vacations I have as to experience what Europe has to offer!

Let the summer begin!