Spain Made History - and I was Living in It!

This last weekend - literally, my last weekend in Madrid could not have been more perfect. First, it was a day trip to Segovia to see the castle and cathedral (we rode the train!) then back into Madrid for what ended up being the best 48 hours here - with about 4 hours sleep somewhere in there :)

Saturday night we danced until 5 a.m. at Kapital - one of the largest clubs in Madrid with 7 floors of music! Mairi and I got to crash at Katie´s flat since her host family was gone and so after "sleeping" for 2 hours, Mairi and I left to get our shop on because July is SUMMER SALES IN MADRID!!! The best deals...and let´s just say I have NO clue how I´m really getting my new leather jacket home - I will wear that thing in the heat if I have to! We also bought España shirts and flags since it was THE WORLD CUP FINAL day. Spain has never made it to the final in World Cup history and let´s just say the country was going insane!

I honestly have a hard time putting into words what it was like. We were amongst millions (I am serious) of fans near the jumbo screens in the center of the city. Not only am I thankful to be here at this time, but to be in the Capital city was probably the icing on the cake. I have watched every single game Spain has played in the world Cup and thanks to 7 year old Mario, I have more fútbol knowledge than I ever imagined possible! The passion surrounding the sport literally brings tears to my eyes. It is amazing to me that an ENTIRE country focuses on one thing, comes together and has one HELLUVA celebration. I loved pretending to be Spanish, but in the end I felt like I wasn´t pretending, because the victory felt like mine too. The beer, water and flares were flying when the final goal was scored. My ears were ringing until last night and I have the FIFA theme song stuck in my head..."Give me Freedom, Give me Fire" - along with all the Spanish celebratory songs.

After the game we managed to get out to Carlos´neighborhood to meet up with the rest of the gang and continue celebrating until the sun came up Monday morning. On this weekend, I probably sweated out more than I did when I ran my 1/2 marathon exactly one year ago the same day. My energy has never lasted so long, and I don´t think that any sporting event in the USA will EVER compare. Actually, I know it will not.

Spain showed me her passion at its best. I made the best decision to come here and all I can say is that I´m leaving a piece of my heart with this beautiful country. To my dear new amazing friends - Laurel, Katie, Mairi and Fiona (and somtimes others) - like I said earlier to you all, we are the best possible combination of 5 strangers to ever become fast friends. There will probably not be a day that goes by that I will not think of this place and how it has changed my life. I have experienced something new everyday, learned how to deal with VERY uncomfortable situations and live next to a monestary that is twice as old as the US.

I leave this beautiful town in 4 hours - I will see London, Paris, French Riviera, Florence, Rome, Venice, Münich, Rhine Valley and Amsterdam before returning home. I am sure I will have more stories!