international magazine - International and Area Studies

at 11pm and did not return until 8am. My nightbegan with a concert in Plaza España and thesultry tones of Depedro, a Spanish band that I willnow proceed to be obsessed with. To get to theconcert, we proceeded down a grass covered hill.Though almost all the other women doing thiswere wearing ridiculous heels I was the only oneto fall halfway down the hill. Plus side? I got tothe concert first! Were we in the front row swayingand singing (like we knew the words) with therest of Depedro’s most loyal fans? YES. There wasone song of his about the wind where the entirecrowd threw up their arms and acted as if a hugewind was whooshing amongst us.Photo by Colleen Yard/Galicia, SpainOur next stop was Gran Vía, a historic andnow very touristy street close to the city center ofMadrid. On this night, Gran Via is closed to carsso HORDES of people come to Gran Vía to walkin the middle of the street and take obnoxiousphotos of themselves under traffic lights. You cansee mine proudly displayed on facebook. Midway through our wanderings on Gran Vía whistlesbegan to blare and sirens went off. In a completerelapse into the American mindset, I immediatelyattempted to vacate the street (the typical Spanishresponse is to walk slower). However, myfear proved unjustified as moments later 200+skateboards flew down the street and whizzedamongst the enchanted crowd. I was particularlygratified to see someone besides myself falldown! This moment was a cross-cultural collisionfor me (thankfully not in the literal sense). I foundmyself immersed, surrounded by Spanish cultureand not feeling in the slightest bit isolated. Itstruck me as odd that I didn’t feel like a foreigner.I felt like a participant. It wasn’t that I was a Spaniard,it was more like I was part of a delightedcommunity all joined by the joy of the night’sactivities and the thrill of being part of somethingbigger than ourselves.After a brief vasito (not alcohol but rathercheesecake and brownies) at VIPS (think Ihop) wereturned to my friend’s home for a brief recoveryperiod. At 6am we were off again! This time itwas for churros at San Gines and the sunrise atPalacio real. This was the ideal end to a beautifulnight/day.Hasta pronto mis amigos,SaraSara studied in Madrid, Spain in the Fall of 2010.LiveSpring 2011 | VOLUME Viii 9