For the most part the weather has been in the high 70s to 80s so it is almost a perfect beach day every day. People always try to sell you things on the beach here, which makes me laugh. There are always women asking if you want a “masaje” (a massage) and other people selling cold drinks. They walk around, more or less singing “cola, fanta, agua, cerveza” (cola, fanta, water, beer) and somehow I find myself humming the tune even after I’ve left the beach. Maybe if I start to run out of money towards the end of the semester I’ll try to get in on the action to make some extra cash.
I have been quite a bit of a beach bum, but its hard not to be. Last week, Ryan and I skipped the beach and headed over to the Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia is a massive church, designed by architect Antoni Gaudí, that has been under construction since 1882. It is not scheduled to be completed until 2026, at the earliest. If you are not familiar with Gaudí’s work, it is very unique and whimsical. He designed lots of other famous buildings in Barcelona that I hope to check out in the near future. The church is breath taking, not only in size but also in the detail work on the various facades. I bought my first souvenir outside of the church (its for you mom). Afterwards we went to Carrefour—aka Spain’s version of Target. We picked up a few things we needed and some groceries so we can start cooking more. (If you know any good and EASY recipes, send them my way)
Two weekends ago Barcelona celebrated la Diada Nacional de Catalunya (National Day of Catalunya) on Friday. It is actually the day Catalunya lost their independence so the holiday is recognized with big demonstrations. One group actually passed right down my street so I had a really good (not to mention safe) view from my balcony. That same weekend, we also had a scavenger hunt through the city. We had 6 famous sites in Barcelona to find and take pictures of. It really helped me orient where everything is in the city more and allowed me to see some spots I hadn’t visited yet. We saw the Barcelona Cathedral, the Columbus Monument, La Rambla (a huge pedestrian street with street performers, and shops galore), Santa Maria del Mar church and La Plaça Sant Felip Neri. Since we were in a race, I decided to revisit the cathedral and the Santa Maria del Mar again to look around more and take pictures. Our running paid off though because my team won and we are going to have a celebratory pizza dinner sometime soon.
This past week we celebrated two birthdays. Julia (another student from Richmond) turned 21 on Tuesday and Sam (a student from Bentley) turns 20 today. It worked out really well because some students from UPF (our school in Barcelona) had organized a welcome dinner and party on Tuesday night. Since basically everyone we know decided to fork up the 30 euro to attend, the dinner and party at the club afterwards were so much fun. I am not sure who said it first, but doors to clubs here are honestly like portals to another world. Outside, the streets are relatively quiet, and everyone walking around is put together and classy, and then you go into the club, crossing through the portal into mayhem. No matter what night of the week it is, the clubs are always packed with people dancing, drinking and just having a good time. The next think you know, you look down and see its 5 in the morning and probably time to head home. Usually people stay out so late they can take the metro home, since it has already opened again for the people going to work in the morning.
To celebrate Sam’s birthday we went to a FC Barcelona soccer, err I mean football, game last night. 100,000 screaming fans in one place was a little overwhelming at first but once I got over the shock of so many people, the game was lots of fun. We (yes I can say we since I am living here now) won 5 to 2 so everyone was happy. Hopefully I can go to another game before I leave. After the game we went to celebrate both the victory and Sam’s birthday at a “chupitos” (shot) bar. There is a chain of “chupitos” bars throughout Barcelona and they have 500+ different types of shots, most of which end up being lit on fire at some point. Its always fun because every shot is so unique and you always get a great show. I plan on taking anyone who visits me there so prepare yourselves.
Next week brings my first day of one of my classes (the others start the following week) and another big festival in Barcelona. Both should be interesting to say the least. I fully intend on blogging more frequently so I don’t need to write a novel each time, but no promises. Thanks to anyone who actually read this entire ridiculously long post =]
Besos,
Jess
a few pictures from the past 2 weeks...
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