Saying my farewells to the city I have called home for three years has been a lot harder than expected. Some days I am so ready to leave, but my love for Madrid goes a lot deeper than the city. The friends I have made here are unique, every single one of them, a little jewel to add to my already stunning collection of friends. They are what makes this city so great. We have had some perfect last weekends filled with retiro pic-nics of hummus (yummus) and salads, days filled with nothing but tinto-de-veranos and conversations that last until close. Seeing all the people in the neighborhood, the fruiteria men who call me guapa and carino, the "hummus sin acete" men at the fallafel, the Argentinian woman who sells me giant sunflowers, the bartender who gives us free top ups at the Mexican tamarind margarita place, the pinxios at our Sunday afternoon bar with chalk wall bathroom, the ladies who dance, the ones who have heart to hearts and the ones that i can't bear to say goodbye to. People living a similar life with similar values are hard to come by, and what luck I have found many. The one that I make up musicals with, the one that despises musicals, but loves to dance until the wee hours, the one who stays up until the wee hours. I am so lucky for the people who have made Madrid my home. 
