When Kelsey and I went to Costa Rica the summer after graduating high school we were nearly always the youngest people in the room. That coupled with our inexperience in the travel/hostel/bar scene and modicum of introversion led us to doing our own thing most of the time. We would mingle with travelers when we went on tours or were hanging out at the hostel, and if we lost our wallets (if I lost my wallet) we would buy the dude who found it a drink. But when it came to exploring the town’s nightlife we would go without accompaniment.
Although it has been one and a half years since going to Costa Rica, Kelsey and I have still nearly always been the youngest travels we’ve come across. In our TEFL class the next youngest after Kelsey was a twenty three year old graduate of Willamette University, and most of the other students were solidly in their mid or upper twenties.
It was very easy for me to be social with the other TEFL students despite the age difference because I was very familiar with the classroom environment, coming just off fourteen years of formal schooling. That familiar school dynamic got shaken up when our class went out to dinner and drinks in downtown Madrid to celebrate the completion of our TEFL certification course.
Dinner reservations at an Indian restaurant were at 10:30pm so we met up at a wine bar beforehand and ended up getting to the place a little bit past 11:00- right on time in Spain! Hanging out at the wine bar with the other newly minted TEFL certified teachers didn’t feel weird, because after spending five hours a day, five days a week learning how to teach the English language you develop a special bond.
Our teacher knew the owner of the restaurant, who ended up just bringing out various family style dishes for all of us to share. Our teacher bought us some more wine to share as well, and the owner of the restaurant just kept bringing out food until we were full. And then he brought out final few plates for good measure, ensuring that the more enthusiastic eaters in our group would leave the table over-full. It took us about an hour and a half to fill ourselves with Indian food and wine, making sure to take significant breaks between bites for conversation.
At 12:30 we left the restaurant ready to really get the night started. Maybe it was because I’d eaten a bit too much, but I was already feeling ready to go to sleep. In any case we made our way towards the bar and arrived at 12:50.
The bar wasn’t the nicest establishment I’d ever set foot in, but everyone was in good spirits because we had just finished our course and our eccentric Junior Olympic Fencer turned masters in linguistics classmate enthusiastically announced that he was buying everyone a round of whiskey shots (just kidding mom).
At 1:10 Kelsey and I started to discuss whether or not we wanted to leave and attempt to catch a subway home. The whole system closed at 1:30 and we were unsure of the other means of transportation. In addition, we needed to be back to my house at a reasonable time the next day to eat lunch with some friends of my host parents who were coming over. On the other hand it would be pretty lame leaving twenty minutes after we got to the first bar. As the minutes went by and crunch time approached we decided to stay and try and figure out the night bus system.
At 2:00 we left the first bar in pursuit of a more upbeat place where we could dance. Thirty minutes of walking back and forth while deliberating passed before we were able to find a place that was deemed suitable. We were a confused group! In that time the first members of our group left us because they had to road trip to another country the next morning. What a relief, Kelsey and I wouldn’t be the first people to leave!
The next bar we found had a five euro entrance fee, and Kelsey and I weren’t sure if we wanted to go in. Some of our classmates gladly paid the bouncer but a few of us hung back to discuss our options. After two minutes of talking, our friend who had been living in Madrid for seven years decided to see if he could talk our way into the bar for free. A few minutes of incomprehensible but positive sounding Spanish later and we were in!
The bar was a medium sized place that had two distinct regions: the place where you order drinks and the place where you dance. Our group went from place one to place two while getting a feel for the Spanglish Top-40 that was pumping out of the speakers. The movement around us more closely resembled the variety of dancing styles that we experienced in Costa Rica than the homogeneous grinding found in the lovely fraternity basements of Dickinson College and Bucknell University.
We danced three quarters heartedly, occasionally attempting discussion over the music and smiling and nodding when we couldn’t hear the other person over Rhianna.
After an hour of dancing a curious thing happened: the bar closed. Sleepy thoughts teased my mind, but apparently no one else’s because as soon as we were ushered out of the door the discussion about our next location immediately began. It was Deja Vu all over again as we spent another thirty minutes debating, walking, and backtracking our way to another bar. The screen on my pay as you go flip phone read 4:00 as we finally decided that the bar we were at was unlikely to be a gay bar, and even if it was we were going in and it was going to be fun.
The entrance fee at the door was eight euros for guys and free for the ladies, making a few of us hesitant. All but four of our crew ended up paying the bouncer and walking in, excited to continue their night. Kelsey and I stayed outside the bar with the former Junior Olympic Fencer turned masters in linguistics and the Madrileño. The four of us talked for twenty minutes before the Madrid resident turned in for the night. Ten minutes later Kelsey and I decided to begin our quest home via the mysterious night bus.
We spent a dozen minutes tracking down a bus stop with the numbers our friend advised us to find, and to our relief the people waiting at the bus stop confirmed that we were in the right place. Now it was only a matter of the bus coming. Luckily it was only a handful of minutes before a bus with oddly uncomfortable plastic seats came to our rescue. A bus ride and walk home got us in bed by the reasonable time of half past five.
I enjoyed the night, although my favorite part was the dinner. It isn’t that I don’t enjoy drinking and dancing, but I think the group’s lack of direction and lateness of the night dampened the experience a bit. The “grown up” nightlife scene still isn’t my comfort zone, but maybe with a few more positive experiences this grandpa at heart will turn into a clubbing monster.
It was very easy for me to be social with the other TEFL students despite the age difference because I was very familiar with the classroom environment, coming just off fourteen years of formal schooling. That familiar school dynamic got shaken up when our class went out to dinner and drinks in downtown Madrid to celebrate the completion of our TEFL certification course.
Dinner reservations at an Indian restaurant were at 10:30pm so we met up at a wine bar beforehand and ended up getting to the place a little bit past 11:00- right on time in Spain! Hanging out at the wine bar with the other newly minted TEFL certified teachers didn’t feel weird, because after spending five hours a day, five days a week learning how to teach the English language you develop a special bond.
Our teacher knew the owner of the restaurant, who ended up just bringing out various family style dishes for all of us to share. Our teacher bought us some more wine to share as well, and the owner of the restaurant just kept bringing out food until we were full. And then he brought out final few plates for good measure, ensuring that the more enthusiastic eaters in our group would leave the table over-full. It took us about an hour and a half to fill ourselves with Indian food and wine, making sure to take significant breaks between bites for conversation.
At 12:30 we left the restaurant ready to really get the night started. Maybe it was because I’d eaten a bit too much, but I was already feeling ready to go to sleep. In any case we made our way towards the bar and arrived at 12:50.
The bar wasn’t the nicest establishment I’d ever set foot in, but everyone was in good spirits because we had just finished our course and our eccentric Junior Olympic Fencer turned masters in linguistics classmate enthusiastically announced that he was buying everyone a round of whiskey shots (just kidding mom).
At 1:10 Kelsey and I started to discuss whether or not we wanted to leave and attempt to catch a subway home. The whole system closed at 1:30 and we were unsure of the other means of transportation. In addition, we needed to be back to my house at a reasonable time the next day to eat lunch with some friends of my host parents who were coming over. On the other hand it would be pretty lame leaving twenty minutes after we got to the first bar. As the minutes went by and crunch time approached we decided to stay and try and figure out the night bus system.
At 2:00 we left the first bar in pursuit of a more upbeat place where we could dance. Thirty minutes of walking back and forth while deliberating passed before we were able to find a place that was deemed suitable. We were a confused group! In that time the first members of our group left us because they had to road trip to another country the next morning. What a relief, Kelsey and I wouldn’t be the first people to leave!
The next bar we found had a five euro entrance fee, and Kelsey and I weren’t sure if we wanted to go in. Some of our classmates gladly paid the bouncer but a few of us hung back to discuss our options. After two minutes of talking, our friend who had been living in Madrid for seven years decided to see if he could talk our way into the bar for free. A few minutes of incomprehensible but positive sounding Spanish later and we were in!
The bar was a medium sized place that had two distinct regions: the place where you order drinks and the place where you dance. Our group went from place one to place two while getting a feel for the Spanglish Top-40 that was pumping out of the speakers. The movement around us more closely resembled the variety of dancing styles that we experienced in Costa Rica than the homogeneous grinding found in the lovely fraternity basements of Dickinson College and Bucknell University.
We danced three quarters heartedly, occasionally attempting discussion over the music and smiling and nodding when we couldn’t hear the other person over Rhianna.
After an hour of dancing a curious thing happened: the bar closed. Sleepy thoughts teased my mind, but apparently no one else’s because as soon as we were ushered out of the door the discussion about our next location immediately began. It was Deja Vu all over again as we spent another thirty minutes debating, walking, and backtracking our way to another bar. The screen on my pay as you go flip phone read 4:00 as we finally decided that the bar we were at was unlikely to be a gay bar, and even if it was we were going in and it was going to be fun.
The entrance fee at the door was eight euros for guys and free for the ladies, making a few of us hesitant. All but four of our crew ended up paying the bouncer and walking in, excited to continue their night. Kelsey and I stayed outside the bar with the former Junior Olympic Fencer turned masters in linguistics and the Madrileño. The four of us talked for twenty minutes before the Madrid resident turned in for the night. Ten minutes later Kelsey and I decided to begin our quest home via the mysterious night bus.
We spent a dozen minutes tracking down a bus stop with the numbers our friend advised us to find, and to our relief the people waiting at the bus stop confirmed that we were in the right place. Now it was only a matter of the bus coming. Luckily it was only a handful of minutes before a bus with oddly uncomfortable plastic seats came to our rescue. A bus ride and walk home got us in bed by the reasonable time of half past five.
I enjoyed the night, although my favorite part was the dinner. It isn’t that I don’t enjoy drinking and dancing, but I think the group’s lack of direction and lateness of the night dampened the experience a bit. The “grown up” nightlife scene still isn’t my comfort zone, but maybe with a few more positive experiences this grandpa at heart will turn into a clubbing monster.