I’M OFFICIALLY 21!!
“Your 20s are your ‘selfish’ years. It’s a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time, and all the aspects of you. Tinker with shit, travel, explore, love a lot, love a little, and never touch the ground.” -Kyoto Escamilla
It’s so weird turning 21 in Spain, because nothing is really changing like it would in the States. I have been legal since I first got here, so last night was technically no different from any other night out. But you only turn 21 once, so it was still super special 😉
To start the day yesterday I had three classes: communication, grammar and civilization. In grammar my professor had the class sing happy birthday to me, because Connor told her that it was my birthday. She proceeded to ask me all these questions about my birthday in Spanish that I straight up did not understand, so that was really fun. After my classes I went to my favorite coffee shop, one that I go to a few times a week. The same old man is always the one working there and he knows me, so when I walked in he asked me “café con leche y nepoliana de chocolate?” (I get the same thing every time lol, predictable). I told him yes to the coffee but no to the chocolate croissant because I didn’t think I had enough money, and he proceeded to tell me that money wasn’t important here and that I could pay him back whenever, and that I don’t ever need to worry about it. I almost cried, it was so sweet. I realized I actually did have enough in the end so it didn’t matter, but it just really struck me, because you know nothing like that would ever happen in the States.
When I went home for lunch, Pilar told me she had a surprise for me, so I was really excited. She made me potatoes and pizza for lunch, two of my favorites, and when we finished eating she ran excitedly back to the kitchen and brought out a cake/tart with candles for me. Pilar and Ricardo sang me happy birthday and I blew out the candles, and then she gave me a little box with a beautiful necklace in it. It was so incredibly sweet. She kept saying if I don’t like the necklace she could exchange it for me, but I told her over and over again that I absolutely love it. It is so beautiful, it is short and has a bunch of little silver roses on it. It was such a special gesture, and the whole thing honestly made my day.
After our siesta, the chicas in our group and I tried to find a place to get our nails done, but we couldn’t find anywhere that accepted walk ins. We are going today instead, because we all desperately want acrylics. After dinner I went to salsa class with Tiffany, Johnny and Freddy, and then met up with everyone at the Plaza. We went bar hopping and club hopping and had a grand ol time. I think it will really hit me that I’m 21 when I get back to the States, because right now it just feels like any other birthday. I’m so incredibly glad that I got to spend such an amazing birthday here in Spain, it was definitely one that I’ll never forget!!
Idly Wild 