My birthday

We have already somehow established a tradition in our class that whenever it is somebody’s birthday, we would each give 2 euros to the class “birthday president”, who will then go and buy some sodas, plates and cakes with the help of two or three volunteers and bring them to class on the day of the person’s in question birthday. Then we would all gather in the classroom during the break and sing happy birthday, preferably in Spanish or English, depends on where the person is from and then proceed to eat the cake.

And then, when Friday night comes, we would all go to this bar where we all always go whenever we have a special occasion to celebrate, to celebrate the person’s in question birthday. Or sometimes we would wait to celebrate a few people’s birthdays at once. The bar that I am talking about is called Cherokee and it is located between Bilbao and Tribunal stations and honestly, I have no idea why do we always go there. It’s not that I don’t like it all, but there a few things that I don’t particularly like about it. First, it is really, really small and there is no place to sit, so you just have to be standing up all the time. Second, at around midnight, it gets so crowded that there is no space to move and whenever you want to go to a different part of the room, or to the bathroom or outside to smoke and take some air, you have to push everybody to make your way. And I don’t like pushing people and I don’t like when they are pushing me. But here in Spain this is what I learned: if you want to make your way up, you have to push everything that stands in your way until you finally reach your destinations, without looking back at who you stumbled upon or stepped on. I guess it can also be applied to life itself. And third, the room is really dim, there are almost no lights. And I don’t like bars that are so dim. It feels different in a club, where you feel like dancing, but drinking in this dim atmosphere is not very convincing.

Anyway, there are also a few things that I do like about this bar. Like for example the fact that whenever we go there, the boys always buy this big shot that I don’t know what it is called, but it is a mixture of vodka, tequila and something else with some orange juice or something like that. And we will drink all from it. I like the fact that the shots cost one euro and that the beer you get is just huge. And I like the fact that there is music, but sometimes they play rock and then I don’t like it that much. I do like rock, but in this dim atmosphere it just makes me think about my existential problems and it is not good for the party mood.

Anyway, I wanted to go and celebrate my own birthday there also, but I couldn’t, because unfortunately my birthday is on the 21 of December and many of my classmates have already parted to their home countries to spend Christmas with their families. But instead, they made something special for me.

On Thursday, 19thof December, we all went to have a Christmas dinner together in a restaurant called Espazo Enxembre, which apparently is a Galician restaurant with a Galician name. The dinner cost each of us 23 euros and honestly, it was not worth it at all. Yes, we did get unlimited amount of beer and sangria, but we all went there to eat. The food they brought us were just some enormous tapas, one plate per 4 people and it was definitely not enough food for the 23 euros that we have paid. I expected to eat something good and big and have a proper dinner, but well, it turned out not to be the case.

Anyway, when they served us dinner, mine came with a big boom. They all started to sing happy birthday for me and the waiter brought me a small piece of cake with a candle on it. Somebody recorded a video of me blowing the candle.

It was really fun and I felt really appreciated, because they all knew they wouldn’t be able to celebrate my birthday with, but at least they made some effort to make it up to me.   

Christmas at school was fun too. We made this Secret Santa thing, where you get an e-mail with the name of the person that you have to buy a Christmas gift to, but it is supposed to be anonymous, so you don't know who will give you your present. I got a person that I almost don't talk to, but still it was not so difficult to buy the gift. I just went to a chinese shop around the corner and bought it for 10 euros, which was the minumum limit of cash that we were supposed to spend on the gift. It was good though and the guy was really happy when he got it. I got a 3D paper model of the Eiffel Tower, which I was supposed to build on my own. It was supposed to be a symbolic gift, as they all know that soon, I will abandon them all and go to Paris for my second semester then.

Generally, I have always been a bit skeptical about these games and this time, I also felt this way. I didn't want to participate, but I couldn't say so, so I just went with it. And surprisingly for me, I had so much fun! Maybe I should open to things sometimes.

After all, it was a memorable Christmas before Christmas.

Photo gallery