Friday night, my roommate Tatiana invited me to go out with her and her friends to THE CLUB, Kapital. I had been to this club once before, when I visited Madrid from Sevilla. It was very poshe, exclusive, huge, and a sure fire good time. It is always generally very expensive, so I was skeptical. She told me that she could get our names on a list to get in for free, so I agreed to go. Although, I thought to myself that it was very likely that this "list" would not likely hold ground at the famous "Kapital." We began to get dressed around 10:30, we were supposed to be there before 1:30 (which is early Spanish time), and we had plans to meet up with a bunch of other girls for a typical spanish botellon (explain later). Her two friends, Maria and Carolina, came over to get ready with us. All four of us stood in the mirror together, trying to decide what shades of eye shadow we were wearing. We finally left the house around 12am, went to the metro stop where the club was located, and waited for the other girls.
Our waiting spot was McDonalds and the girls were hungry so they indulged. Time flew by and I began to worry if we would really make it to the club in time. The other girls, about 6 more espanolas, joined us. We all introsuced ourselves and began to chat when I realized I was the oldest person there. Spanish girls tend to look older than they are, but it always slips my mind that my roomie is only 19; but sweet as pie. So naturally her friends were the same age; I felt old. They were amazed at the fact that I was here in Madrid teaching, and not studying. They were in awe that I had ALREADY finished my undergrad. I explained to them that my status was not at all strange, in fact normal to be done with school at 22. They still looked puzzled. Anyway, they were all really nice girls, so it made for an even more fun night out. We headed over to the plaza where we were supposed to conduct this grand botellon. A botellon is basically like a "pre-game" party in the streets. It is very normal to see young spaniards walking through the streets, or riding the metro, with large plastic bags filled with liquor, cups, ice, and mixers which they will take with them to the outdoor botellon. Technically, yes, it is illegal to drink in the streets; however, it has become such a prevalent activity that the police just "keep a watchful eye."
We proceed to botellon, and my roommate reminds us all that is is essential to "be sponges," because we only have 45 miniutes to get into the club. We took pictures, shared drinks, talked craziness, until we realized it was 1:15!! We scurried to the door of the club, where we found 3 different long lines. Crap! We acrually made it to the door before 1:30, but as I suspected, the doorman had heard of no list with our names on it. We reasoned with him and he handed us all these small cards, which the girls believed to be free passes. I knew they were not. We switched lines, got to the front, only for them to tell us that our cards were 15 euro entry with 2 drinks included. None of us wanted to pay. To make matters worse, another security guard had held back my friend Maria, because he said she was too drunk to get in. I tried to tell him that she was fine, and to let her go. I even had us both walked a straight line for him. Hilarious! Unfortunately, he was not amuzed. We gathered our troops and headed across the street to think of a Plan B. The girl who had supposedly put us on this list was nearby and had told us to meet her. We walked to another nearby plaza where Alicia, a rep for Kapital, and her friends were engaging in another botellon; so we joined in! After about an hour and a half of foolery, Alicia says, "ok, now I can get you all into the club." So we followed her lead and low and behold, she got us right in. Finally, at 3:30am!
Kapital, as I said, is huge. 7 floors, each with different kinds of music, very large stage and dance floors, acrobats fyling through the air on one floor, and clouds of water vapor bursting through the air, and strobe light everywhere. Very intense to say the least. We explored all the levels, but spent most of our time between two, where we they played salsa, reggae, and a mxiture of similar music. I twirled around the dance floor like a nut, and when one of my flamenco JAMS came on, I demonstrated my knowledge of "the flamenco clap." Before I knew it, people were exiting the club. I have never actually made it through the closing of a spanish club, because they tend to be too late for me. It was 6:30am, and we still had to find all the girls we had lost in the mix of things. Some of us waited outside while the others went to search the crowd. Some of the girls wanted to go eat, and initially I did too. However, at that point all I wanted to do was get in my bed. So Maria and I trekked it home on the metro, half sleep.
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