Chapter Five: Año Nuevo

**Please note: due to events from the evening, there is no photographic evidence**

By the time we had left Morocco, our bodies had been run ragged. Two ferry rides, three buses, too many taxies to count, and the car rides to and from Tarifa really took their toll on us. We were burnt out.

It also didn't help that we left Fez on a midnight bus and arrived back in Tangier at 6am just in time to catch the 8 o'clock ferry back to Spain. Not only that, but we still hand to drag ourselves over to Ruby, climb in, and make it back to Seville. Ouf.

When we finally pulled back into the city, all I wanted to do was get home to the piso and flop down on the bed. Even though we had parked only a few blocks away - they seemed to stretch on forever. Yes, my mind was full of memories of how amazing Morocco was and my heart was yearning to go back, but there was no way they were going to outweigh the need for my muscles to relax. Once I was through the door of the piso, I navigated the hallway, turned right at the second door and just fell over. Yes, I had forgotten how tiny the bed was - so my head banged off the wall slightly, but it didn't matter. The salvation of the cushions below my body dulled any throbbing that was about to begin.

I'll be honest - it wasn't an exciting day. We slept most of it. Lounged around. Watched a movie. I'm pretty sure at one point I fell asleep on Paige and drooled on her. I was that tired. Straight up, dead, mouth wide open, passed out. I can't remember the last time I had slept so deeply. But in reality, it just shows how hard we went after Morocco and how successful we had been.

We both eventually arose in the late afternoon, around four or five and decided we needed to get in gear if we wanted to accomplish anything. So out we went - to get some liquid refreshments to bring to a friend's piso and some ingredients for dinner. When we got back, we started getting ready; showering, ironing, primping - looking the best we could for the new year. I threw together some more peanut butter and banana sandwiches for the walk (like I said - life savers) and we were off to meet up with Cynthia, Kenny, and Caitlin (who we had spent Christmas with). When we arrived, we were greeted by everyone, including another one of Paige's close friends, Dana - who was a complete ball. Full of energy, a bright smile, and an infectious laugh (a great addition to any group). Caitlin ended up treating us to amazing homemade pizza while Dana provided desert with no-bake lemon cake. What an absolutely divine meal and the perfect base for what was about to transpire.

Once we were done eating, we started our trek down to Plaza Nueva, in the heart of the city. Let me tell you - it was quite the site. Thousands of people standing around, watching a giant clock count down to midnight. Everyone was laughing, cheering, hootin' and hollerin'. The atmosphere was absolutely electric. When the clock struck twelve everyone began eating.

What you might ask?

In Spain the tradition is to eat grapes at midnight. One for every hour or strike of the clock. Each grape you successfully eat in rhythm with the clock represents one month of good luck. So by the end of it, you're  literally choking down these grapes. It wasn't a pretty site - people were spitting them out, juice flowing out of the corners of their mouths. It actually was pretty hysterical. But I'll be proud and boast - I'm looking forward to twelve luck-filled months. Once all the grapes were down - then the fireworks began. Not in the air. No. On the ground. Not the bright colorful ones. No. The loud ones that just explode like canons.

I thought I was being bombed.

Every couple of seconds a huge explosion would shake the plaza and the worst part was you'd see them explode, but you couldn't really make out the firework as it was laying on the ground, waiting to go off. Clearly safety came first.

From the plaza, we began our journey outward, into the nightlife world. The first club we arrived at, Munich, was pretty dead. I didn't understand. It was new years, how could it be so empty? Quickly it was explained to me that the bars stay open until two or three then the clubs began getting packed.

Man. Was I in for a long night.

Regardless of the lack of crowd, our group ended up making a dance party of our own. The DJ was already spinning, the beers were flowing. Why not? We danced amongst ourselves for a while until other people started trickling in. It didn't take long before it started to feel good. Lively.

Let me be the first to say something - dancing in Europe is awesome. No one cares what they look like, the style they dance, who they boogey with. Everyone is just out on the floor, flailing around, having fun. You'd never see that in America. There is just too much judging going on. Moral of all of this? Throw a couple beers in me, put me in that kind of environment and I start groovin' - although, I was told I got a little too carried away and ended up clapping to the songs a bit too often. Whoops.

From there we went to another club, Kafka, the one below Paige's apartment and the night really took off. This place was absolutely nuts. When you picture a European club in your head - this is it. Lasers, smoke, strobe lights. Hell, even portions of the wall glowed and shifted colors. We kept sluggin' drinks and the dancing really kicked in. It didn't take long to notice bouncers were moving throughout the crowds, looking for drugs. A couple times while I was in the bathroom occupying a stall, the door would fly open and one of them would be on the other side, making sure I wasn't snorting a line or dropping anything. Literally hanging out in front of them, I had nothing more to offer except a mousy, "hola."

A bit intimidating? I'd say so.

But it didn't matter. By this time, the night had turned into a whirl wind. The music was thumping, our feet were movin', colors flashed before my eyes, and the crowd around me just bobbed up and down in unison to the beat. It was something magical, if not at this point a little hazey and hard to remember. I remember looking around and just seeing everyone having a blast, smiling from ear to ear. Leaning in to talk to one another over the blaring bass. Paige was across from me, seeming to have the time of her life. I was too. It really couldn't get any better.

When we took a break to grab new drinks, I checked my phone and saw that it was 7am. Where the hell had the time gone? Clearly I had lost it somewhere back on the dance floor amongst all the empty beer bottles. We took a quick poll, found no one was ready to call it quits, and went back out into the crowd for more.

Eventually Paige and I pried ourselves away from the dance floor and went to bed. It was a huge bonus that the club was directly below her apartment. All we had to do was walk out the entrance, turn the corner and walk up a flight of stares.

If I had to walk any further at 9:30am - I don't think I could have made it.