Madrid: Al Final
I got back into Madrid late on Thursday night, and wandered down to Populart, my favorite jazz club on Huertas to check out some live music. When I got there, a few people stood outside smoking cigarettes which I found strange because no one ever goes outside to smoke in Madrid. Then I remembered, a smoking ban had just gone into effect as of January 1st. The doorman recognized my bewilderment and confirmed my suspicion. I only lived in Madrid for 4 months, but even in those months I saw a significant institutional change. That’s Madrid though, always changing. An outsider might be shocked to find Madrid just finally passed a smoking ban in bars and restaurants, but Madrileños like ambiance, and cigarettes and jazz go well together.
Madrid is alive and vibrant like no other city on earth. The old women walk around in their shapeless fur coats with dignified looks in the winter weather, along their fluffy little dogs. Old men sit in neighborhood cafeterias talking the days away over tapas and beer. The weary rest in Retiro on Sundays after an evening that likely lasted well into the morning. And at night, after siesta, the whole city erupts into a celebration of life.
The saying goes, if you’re in Madrid, you’re from Madrid. It’s the capital, and a very diverse country’s melting pot. King Alfonso XII said Madrid, “..fulfills the functions of a heart in a body.”, and I can’t help but to agree.
When I left California at the end of August, the airplane circled around San Francisco shortly after taking off. Growing up in northern California, San Francisco was what I associated with the idea of a big city. Out the window of my plane I gazed, unsure of what might lie ahead. Now making my return, after living in a metropolis the size of Madrid I know the true nature of city life. When I returned for a final day to catch my flight I was still finding new streets and plazas I had never seen before. Madrid is so big and complex, I think it might be impossible to ever know all of it, which is what makes it perfect. There is always something new, it can never be common or mundane, average or mediocre. It always has surprises , sometimes in the most unlikely of places. I met some new folks when I returned to catch my flight, most of which were either students or teachers from abroad, about to begin their own ‘salad days’ in Madrid; I couldn’t help but to be a little bit envious.
My vacation has extended beyond that of my peers, who have been home for a few weeks now. A new crop of students is already starting to arrive for fall semester. Studying abroad, like college, like high school, work, and life in general, is an experience where one can get whatever they’d like from it. For me it was a time to learn, travel, and discover. My Spanish isn’t where I’d like it to be, but it’s twice as good as when I arrived. Señora at La Playa Taco Shop in Mission Beach will definitely be impressed with how far I have come.
Now it’s back to the belly of the beast, the United States and California once again unsure of what lies ahead. I’ll land back in San Francisco, turn my iPhone on, and with the press of a button I’ll be back, ready to start again. Back to fast food, slow traffic, and the red, white, and blue. It will be strange to adjust to driving cars, eating copious amounts of red meat, having everyone speak English, no siestas, and early bedtimes.
This is the final entry of this blog, because this marks the end of my “Salad Days In Madrid”. Luckily more ‘salad days’ lie ahead (though not in Spain), because I’m only 21. I don’t know when I’ll make it back to Europe, and it is sad that my time in Madrid has come to an end. A wise man once said that whenever you live somewhere, you leave a piece of your heart there, and take a piece of the city with you on your road. I will certainly have Madrid with me for the rest of my life. So now it’s outward and onward, ready for something new and the unknown frontiers that lie ahead!




























