Finally Legal!

So one of the big milestones in an American's undergraduate college-aged life is turning 21 years old. As almost everyone knows, we are considered adults at age 18 and can do basically every legal thing except drink alcohol, which happens when we turn 21. It is normally a big going up and ordering your first drink the day you turn 21 and have your ID checked and prove that you can in fact purchase the drink. Well, that was going to have to wait until July when I get home. Nonetheless I was in Madrid on my birthday and was going to make the best of my second consecutive birthday abroad (last year I was in London).

I went to work that morning and didn't expect anything special to happen, I only knew of one person that knew it was my birthday (my boss that I went to Aranjuez with on Sunday. His nephew was asking me questions and one of them was when my birthday was. So that's how he found out). Most people don't know this but birthday's are not a big thing for me. Growing up birthdays were a time to spend with family, I had birthday parties and they were all great. But for me, my birthday was really celebrated when I went to see family in Ohio every summer and spend time with them. So for me, the celebration was going to happen when I went home.

Anyways, I went to work like any other day and no one mentioned anything about it and I was perfectly content with it. One of my bosses and I had a meeting while everyone else went to get coffee (I wasn't too happy at first because I really wanted to get coffee but my boss told me we would be joining them soon). We talked a little and he then wished me a happy birthday (just when I thought he had forgotten). I didn't think anything about us having a meeting while people went to get coffee until we were about to head into the cafe and my boss asked me "Are you ready?" I sat down even more confused with what he had said and then someone got cake but took it back (confusion kept growing). Then she brought the cake back with a candle on and they all started singing Happy Birthday (in Spanish). When I look back it was obvious something was going to happen. They got me a book about hiking trails around the mountains in Madrid (they didn't know about my asthma :/) but I really appreciated the gift and they all signed a card my other boss made.

After a fun celebration at work I went back to my place to talk to some family via my mom via Skype. Most of my family does not have Internet so I called my mom via Skype who called some of my family, mainly my grandma who is one of the most important people in my life and who I haven't been able to talk to much since I have been in Spain. It was great to spend a few hours talking to family and it made me more excited to be able to call them when I get home.

For dinner I met up with a few friends from home and we went out for dinner and some drinks afterwards. It was great to celebrate with some friends especially since I do not know many people in Madrid.

So was my birthday a typical "American 21st birthday?" No, but it was definitely a great day and I honestly would not have changed many things about it if I could. Second of many birthdays to come celebrated outside the US :)