Kike the club promoter

It's high time I share the tale of Kike with all of you (pronounced key-kay). Most of my information on him is based on what I've read and heard, so it's not the best information, however I think it is good enough to get the point across.

He used to be an RA for IES students in Barcelona. He then got into the club promoting business and last year he quit being an RA and started doing it full time. Here's how it works. He has a Facebook profile and uses Facebook to organize and share events (Facebook is similar to MySpace. A networking type website). If one befriends Kike, he'll send you invites to clubs and bars. You reply that you'll be attending and he'll put you on his list. When you get to the club, you tell the bouncers you're on Kike's list and they let you in for no cover charge.

He makes about 2€ a head. The club likes it because he gets a bunch of Americans into the club, together, where they will probably on average buy 2 drinks a night. At over 10€ a drink, one can see where the club comes out ahead. I like it because I get into clubs for free, and then, pssh, forget purchasing drinks.

One night, at a club, I told a few friends that I thought it'd be cool to one day open up my own club. Some bumpin' place in New York or something. I then thought about it, and 20 minutes later I came to the conclusion that this business is not for me. It's way to sketchy, shady, and dirty. I've come to see club promoters, owners, and bouncers to be like drug dealers or the mafia. They're your best friend when times are good, but when you run out of money, they're gone.

Here are some pictures of Kike I got off of Facebook. As you can see, he's kinda a sketchy looking guy (I've heard a few stories about ladies not liking him particularly...)
Except these ladies, I guess.Oh yeah, he's ssooo cool.

Kike was the original, but now there's a couple other club promoters on Facebook (there's even an IES student who's attempting to get into the business). All competing for us Americans. It's pretty sweet because, as I said, there's an option almost every night for us. It's going to be sad when I go visit other places and have to actually pay to get into clubs. Oh well.

Classes are going well. They're very, very interesting. I am really enjoying my art class and my economics class. At the moment we're learning about post-WWII Europe, and it's cool to learn how the EU came about.

My señor just came into the living room where my 2 housemates and I are at. He was trying to ask something about a program that cleans disks. We thought he meant CDs at first, and I said Windows will do it. However, I guess he was talking about his HDD, and I think he gave up trying to get help from us. I would try to help more, but goodness, I don't want to bother with the language barrier.

And today marks the start of my 5th week here in Spain. It's been a lot of fun and I've learned/experienced quite a bit. I'm really glad I decided to do this. That said, here's a short list of some things that I miss:

1. My nuclear family. Those webcam conversations are great!
   
2. Michelle, mi novia
   
3. The rest of my family. It's been so long since I've seen you guys! Thanks so much for the comments! Perhaps next summer I can go back or something.
   
4. American air. While I'm getting used to the air here, this city still kinda smells
5. Cheeseburgers, steaks, potatoes, good milk, free water, fried chicken, and much more. I'm abstaining from eating at American restaurants. It will be all that much better when I get home.
   
6. College football
7. NFL
8. Good quality Internet
9. English
10. House M.D. on FOX

I think that's about it. Have a great week, everyone.

And here's the random shirt of the day. The text on it was all upside down:

Reminder: Buy More Beer

I really don't think the Spaniards need to be reminded to do this...