I followed the same theme as last year- simplicity. Like I explained, summer months are usually tight on the wallet especially later in the month. So I invited everyone to my apartment (my 2 wonderful roommates made absolutely gracious hosts), I cooked a variety of American dishes and bought liters and liters of beer for everyone. My apartment is substantially bigger than the apartment I was staying in for my last birthday so I got to decorate and invite a lot more people.
I got a much better turn out than last year... especially considering I've made a lot more friends over the course of this year. However, something still wasn't the same. Dani, my Spanish best friend, didn't come and some other close friends that I was expecting had other personal reasons that kept them away. But those who did, had a very good time if I dear say.
I spent hours preparing all the goodies. One of my best friends here, Michelle came over a little early to help my prepare. She also brought me some goodies including my adorable birthday cake. My amazing roomie, Nikki helped my cook and clean all day too. When everyone started to arrive, they were met with an incredible assortment of snacks like pigs in a blanket, spicy chicken dip, deviled eggs, pasta salad, all the essentials. To top it off, for dessert we had Michelle's cake and tirumisu and mini- French Toast bites. A breakfast food in our culture.... but a complete culture shock for all the foreigners! Everything was a big hit!
I spent majority of my party in the kitchen but it was well worth it to see everyone having a good time. The beer and liquor flowed steady for the next 3 hours or so. When all the food had been administered, one of my favorite students asked me about a promise I had made to teach the Spaniards some American drinking games. haha! it was hilarious watching them trying to master flip cup and understand the rules to beer pong. We were all laughing so hard that it actually brought my next door neighbor over to complain about the noise level. Oops! I mean c'mon.... it's Saturday night, my birthday and the first time we've had anyone over at all. But I told my nosey neighbor that we'd be leaving soon and we'd try to keep it down until then.
I kept my promise as 20 minutes later we ran out of alcohol. So obviously it was time to move on. I didn't have a specific after-place in mind. I figured we'd take suggestions and see how many people actually wanted to head out after. Majority we still wanting to party and my good friend Martin knew a place not far from my house that played decent music and was a fun but chill place. Everyone supported his choice and we headed there. It was a really fun bar that played a mix of american rock and pop with some spanish singles. We stayed there till I'd say around 530-6 when the place closed down. I still had some energy left but everyone else was pooped so we called it a night and went home.
Overall, it was one FANTASTIC birthday. The actual day was nothing special. I had work all day and called my family at night. A lot of my friends and family sent me cards which is always a nice suprise :) The party beat all my expectations... so than you to everyone who was apart of my special day! MUCHOS BESOS Y MIL GRACIAS A VOSOTROS!
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