Obamartes!

As I am sure everyone is extremely aware, this past Tuesday was a pretty important day for the US. However, you probably aren't as aware of the fact that the rest of the world was pretty freaking excited too! Practially every Spaniard I've talked to in the last few days has brought up the inauguration and asked how I feel about Obama and Bush and the current state of affairs in the US. It has been so interesting! On Tuesday our evening class was rescheduled so we could all go watch the inauguration live, and I have to say that it was a pretty surreal experience. There was an Irish pub that is really close to our school that was hosting a inauguration-watching celebration, and nearly every student in our program showed up, plus a ton of other American students, other Americans, some people from the UK and Ireland, and a few Spanish people. We were all just excited because we got to watch the event in English! =) The event was called Obamartes, which is pretty comical because it is a play on Obama's name and the Spanish word for Tuesday, which is martes. Obama + martes = Obamartes. Clever! The pub was absolutely PACKED with people... we got there just before Obama was going to take the oath, and we had to stand by the door because we couldn't get any further into the pub. Definitely standing room only! After the speech we all joined in singing the National Anthem with the Navy choir, and the atmosphere in the pub was so excited and hopeful, it was just contagious! Then the best part of it all happened... an old Irish man pulled out his guitar and started playing "This Land Is Your Land" and the ENTIRE crowd started singing along. It was so much fun!!! But as I said before, it was a completely surreal experience... I was in Spain, at an Irish pub, watching the US Presidential Inauguration, and singing "This Land Is Your Land" with an old Irish man and a bunch of expat Americans, Spaniards, and British people. CRAZY DAY! I certainly won't be forgetting that day any time soon!