"Do you know where I could find fried, chocolaty goodness?"

I’m starting to believe that this semester is not real life. Even for someone who has one of the easiest majors at UNM, the stuff I’m doing here is child’s play.  We aren’t doing anything in my classes and the homework I have is stuff that I would have done in middle school. I’m bored and when I’m bored I get lazy.

However, I’m not complaining about this assignment. For my Spanish oral and writing class we have to do a review of 4 or 5 different tapas bars and rate them based on food, drink, price, atmosphere, etc. Anything that allows me to eat for a grade sounds like the best assignment ever.

For everyone who doesn’t know, Granada is the only place in Spain that serves free tapas with drinks. So you get a bigger bang for your buck.

Of course we got to choose our groups, so who better than my friends Lizzie and Bryce. We met up last night in Plaza Trinidad on the quest for delicious tapas.

We started the night at a place called El Cielo. I ordered a glass of wine (Rioja, of course) Bryce ordered a beer, Lizzie ordered diet coke and our friend, Valerie, ordered a regular coke.

The place had a very trendy, clean, modern look with a lot of blue up lighting. The waiter brought us thinly sliced pork loin with bread drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was quite good. The pork was cooked just right and the bread and dressing was a nice compliment.

Even though the tapa was good and the place looked hip. There wasn’t a lot going on there. It seemed like a place where forty something’s go after work to watch the football game. We were bored so we went to another place.

The second place was a lot cooler than the other place. It was underground and the ambiance had a very old feel to it. There were a lot more people our age there and the food was better. Our first tapa was salchiches in tomato sauce with patatas fritas (French fries). It was really good and worth the 1 euro beer that came along with it. Since we liked the first one so much, Bryce and I decided to try our luck again, but it was met with mixed reviews: blood sausage and olives.

First of all I hate olives. When I was three or four, my mom put out a bowl of olives for Easter dinner. I, of course mistook them for grapes. When my mom went to answer the door, I snuck a whole bunch under the table and quickly shoved them all in my mouth. Needless to say, I was surprised and to this day, I won’t eat olives.

Second of all, I also refuse to eat sausage (that’s what she said) and when it’s mixed with congealed blood and other mysterious products I’m less impressed. However, in the name of becoming a more adaptable person, I tried it, and it was actually quite tasty. The trick is to not think about what it is and pretend its candy.

At this second place we ran into Bryce’s friend Andrea and some of her Spanish friends. After hanging out with them for a while Andrea asked us if we wanted to go to Chupiteria, a really cool shot bar where a lot of students hang out.  Lizzie and Valerie opted out, but Bryce was game. Of course I was on the fence about it, but like usual I was talked into going. Before Chupiteria, Andrea and her friends were going to another bar first and we were going to try one more tapas bar.

my first Buñuelos

The third place didn’t happen. It was really crowded in and out on the street, plus it was raining. By this time, Bryce and I had three drinks each and were feeling pretty good. I also decided that I wanted Buñuelos.

Unfortunately for us, the Buñuelos place was already closed. Lizzie and Valerie decided to go home, and Bryce and I decided to go on the prowl for any sort of fried, chocolaty goodness.

We walked up and down Reyes Catolicos and nothing was opened. Who knew that Spain closes after midnight? We decided to head down to the area where Chupiteria is and hopefully find something on the way.

Even with my umbrella, somehow the back of my head was completely soaked. Since I looked like a wet dog mess, it was the perfect time to run into the Dutchman.

Me: “HEY! What are you doing?”

Daan: “I’m on my way home, how are you doing, ya know?”

Me: I’m doing awesome! DO you know where I could find fried, chocolaty goodness around.

Daan: What?!

Even though he speaks almost perfect English, this was lost in translation. I shouldn’t be allowed to talk to people while tipsy.

After exchanging pleasantries with him, Bryce and I continued walking in the rain for 45 minutes. After asking a few Chinese people where Chupiteria is, we finally found some girls who spoke English who happened to be on their way to the same place! It was a Fat Tuesday miracle!

We walk in and are instantly greeted by one of our friends who sprinted towards us.

Drunk friend: HEEEEYYY!!! *give both of us giant hugs* what are you doing here?

Us: oh you know we’re just meeting a few people.

Drunk friend: “Are you here for Kyle’s birthday?

Me: Who’s Kyle

She then proceeded to take us to Kyle. Apparently this Kyle guy is in my 8:30 poli sci class. You could tell it was his birthday because he was the drunkest person in the bar.

Kyle: *Grabs Bryce by the shoulders*
DUUUDE you’re in my geography class! I turned in my homework this afternoon. IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!

All three of us: WHOOOO

By this time my buzz had worn off and I was enjoying all the drunken frivolity going on.

Anyway, this place has 120 different shot combinations categorized by strong, medium and soft for 1 euro each. I had 4 total last night. Two were medium, banana, coco and rum, a strong one with kiwi, gin and rum, (which was disgusting) and another medium one with berry, coco and rum.

The shots also came along with tickets. If you collect enough tickets you can get prizes. For example, 75 tickets get you a sweatshirt and 45 tickets get you a thong!

After the place died down, we got French fries at a Doner Kebab place and walked home. I went to bed at 3 a.m. and went to my 8:30 a.m. class like a boss! Kyle however, did not make it to class.

Palabra del día: chupito, meaning shot. Hench the name of the shot bar is chupiteria.