Last night in Madrid. Go out with some friends for some tapas and a few drinks. Head home early so I can get a little sleep before going to the airport. So it's about 3:30am and my friends and I walk home, they head off to their houses and the dorm and I have about 6 blocks to walk by myself. I get about 100 meters from my house and these 3 guys come up to me, shove me against the wall and tell me to sit down. I immediately hand over all the money I had, which was about 6 euros in change. Apparently this was less than they were looking for. They start beating me and I yell for help. One of them puts a knife to my throat and tells me to stop screaming. I keep repeating that I have no money. I guess my word isn't good enough for them, as they keep beating me and then start choking me. They finally get my wallet out of my pocket and open it to find, guess what, no money. They give me my wallet back (without even taking my bank card or anything), tell me they're sorry (??), and run off. A taxi driver sees them run off (since this was a pretty busy street in a upper middle class neighborhood of Madrid) and tells me that there is a police car behind him at the intersection. I go over to the cops and tell them what happened, and they ask me if I want to get in the car with them. At this point I just want to go home, so I say no and then go home. Upon arrival at my apartment, I realize that there is no water at that time for whatever reason, so I am unable to wash the blood off my arms and head. I go to bed and get up in the morning and go to the airport.
I have to say that I am lucky. This kind of stuff happens in any big city. The people in my apartment were shocked that this happened around the corner, and didn't believe me at first when I told them. Madrid is relatively safe, and I am lucky to have gotten away with just a few scrapes, bruises and a knot on the head. Hell, I even managed to lose only a few euros because I had spent all the cash I had at the bars. If the same situation had happened to me in New York or Chicago, I doubt that I would be able to say the same thing.
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