Thursday, September 22 to Sunday, September 25: La Mercè
La Mercè is currently the best weekend I have ever had in Barcelona. In all fairness, I hardly slept and it is pretty much meant to be one of the biggest weekends in the Barcelona calendar. La Mercè is the festa major (main/major festival) of Barcelona. On September 24th, the day is dedicated to la Mare de Déu de la Mercè (Our Lady of Mercy). But really, Barcelona goes big.
Thursday began with concerts in the old city, where the streets become a labyrinth and the night takes on a thrilling and chilling aspect that makes you wonder how anyone could ever know how it really feels to be alive without feeling what it is like to be young on a Barcelona night. (And do you want to know the amazing thing? That feeling never stops and never gets old.)
Friday night was spent in Vila Olímpica, where the clubs are free, the moon hangs over the Mediterranean Sea, and it is still warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt and a skirt. It was one of those nights where I wasso glad that the metro is open 24 hours on festivos and one of those mornings where I slipped into my piso as the sun began its ascent.
Saturday the 24th. Two words: free museums. Okay, call me a geek, but I love museums and Barcelona has pretty much a thousand of them. And yes, I walked in the door five or six in the morning, but who was I to say no to free museums? Exactly. So, I dragged my butt out of bed to hit up the Contemporary Culture Center of Barcelona, indulge in a much needed cup of café con leche, and then meandered around the city trying to find another museum and finding even cooler things in the process. Example: els gegants. Imagine a parade of giant cardboard statues parading down the old city. Actually, don’t imagine… I’ve got a video below.
Next we went into the Generalitat, the political seat of Catalunya. It is a lovely building that I think puts the White House to shame. In one room, there is a Sistine Capel-esque ceiling covered in important scenes from the history of Catalunya.
That evening, we saw fireworks on the beach, dodged the rain, watched Messi score a hat trick at a bar, and danced at a concert in Plaça Espanya, where all the young, drunk, and restless were. That night, the metro was insanely packed as we tried to follow the crowds across the city from concert to concert.
By Sunday, I was spent. I stayed in bed until noon and napped for two hours later that afternoon before going to the grand finale of La Mercè: el correfoc. Correfoc, literally translated, means “fire run.” What it really means is “Holy shit, there are people dressed up in demon costumes running through the streets with giant sparklers that shoot massive sparks that can leave burn marks and, Dear God, now there is a giant dragon with sparklers attached to it and, ahhhh, is that my heart pounding or the dozen drumlines parading through the street and, great, now I can’t hear anything because of the explosive noise of the crackling sparklers and, please, I would really really like to still have hair when this is over.” And even that doesn’t begin to cover it. It was pretty much the most terrifying experience ever; needless to say, I loved every minute of it. To get a taste of the terror, see video below.
Monday, September 26th: Positively exhausted from an amazing weekend, but got a job to tutor two eleven-year-old Catalán girls in English. They are so sassy that it cracks me up.
Thursday, September 27: Found a new roommate for November! His name is Jacobo, he’s 23, from Galicia (the north west corner of Spain), is getting his Masters, and is a nurse. Flash forward two months later and the boy has become my brother. This includes flicking my ear, poking me where I’m ticklish, and also bringing me cookies and tea when I’m holed up in my room. He’s a dear.
Friday, September 28: Went to Montjuïc Castle. We enjoyed the Archeological Museum and then hiked our way up the little mountain, enjoying the gardens and the view of the city.
Thursday, October 6th: Because Jacobo is also new to Barcelona, we decided to go to the Montjuïc Cemetary together. I know, it sounds a little creepy, but it’s actually quite cool… in a creepy sort of way. Regardless, it was not exactly a pick-me-upper, so we walked around the structures from the 1992 Summer Olympic Games before heading home.
Friday, October 7th: Exhausted by the antics of Spanish speaking boys, I declared that I hated boys and was going to be a nun. Jacobo was hardly fazed by my few found religious zeal and instead said, “Courtney, you only hate some boys—not your roommates, right?” Ah, touché. That night, I went out with a friend to a club and danced my worries away.
Saturday, October 8th: Had to rally and face the Barcelona nights once again (I know, my life is so difficult) to celebrate my former roommate's birthday. It’s great to know people (aka roomie Abel) who know every bouncer in the city so that I never, ever have to pay to get into a club.
Tuesday, October 11th: Went to walk along Barceloneta beach with Jacobo. It was the middle of October and 30 degrees Celsius. A positively beautiful day.
Wednesday, October 19th: Booked trip with my friend Ariana to go to Porto, Portugal. Cue the excitement.
Thursday, October 20th: Discovered I can make bolognaise sauce nearly from scratch. I ate a lot of food and attempted to explain to Spanish people why Shakespeare is the shit. Note: It is very difficult to explain the concept of iambic pentameter to non-lit students in Spanish. That evening, I made a trip to the police station when one of my friend’s purses was stolen as we were getting coffee. On the bright side, the police officers were really nice and helpful and with the assistance of all five of us girls, we got everything sorted. Also that night, ETA (a País Vasco terrorist separatist group) declared a permanent ceasefire. This is a monumental event in the history of Spain and I'm so fortunate I got to witness it.
Friday, October 21st: Traveled with my exchange program outside of the city to go to Montserrat, a super cool mountainous rock formation with a lovely chapel and trails to climb. Nature, how I missed thee. After, we went to the Cavas Freixenent, a cava (catalán champagne) company that gave us a tour of their facilities and a free tasting. There was a gift store as well. J
Saturday, October 22nd: Scored an interview to tutor two adorable Catalán sisters, ages 4 and 6. They are positively precious and the family was so kind. They even offered me to au pair for them in the summer. They have a house on the beach. Well, I am returning to California July 10th, so I had to decline, but this could very well work out to my advantage when (not if) I return to Barcelona one day…
Tuesday, October 25th: Lost/had stolen my three-month metro pass that I only had used for one month and my California driver’s license. Cue the bitterness.
Thursday, October 27th to Sunday, October 30th: A blissful weekend in Porto. Lots of walking up and down hills, which made it feel rather like boot camp, but with good wine. I was so in love with that city I felt like I was cheating on Barcelona with it. I’ll have a separate post about that grand adventure. Yeah, I may have filled 12 pages in my Moleskin journal to chronicle the weekend.
Monday, October 31st: Went out with the roomies for a night of Halloween fun. I have become such a bro, playing wingman with these boys: “She’s hot. You should go talk to her. Do it. Doooo itttt.”
Thursday, November 3rd: Waited six hours in an emergency room (welcome to Spanish health care!) to discover that I’m borderline anemic. Oops.
Friday, November 4th: Cooked American brunch for dinner for my Barcelona church youth group. One word: bacon.
Saturday, November 5th: Went to a Spanish friend’s birthday party at this restaurant that turns into a club after midnight. It was American night. When this was announced, just about every head in our group swiveled to face me. Not awkward at all. When we left the club, it was raining and I was the only person with an umbrella in my purse. Then again, at that point I was the only girl. Either way, we all got to the metro station rather damp, including my metro card, which was eaten by the machine at 5 in the morning. Talk about bad luck.
Monday, November 7th: Introduced my Catalán pre-teens to the world of Taylor Swift and had a study party with grilled cheese sandwiches and arroz con leche with Ariana, my Porto buddy.
Wednesday, November 9th: First real Spanish midterm. I think I got the equivalent of a B on it. Not bad, I guess, but I was hoping for a slightly higher score.
Friday, November 11th: Explored part of the old city with my class about Barcelona. Super cool. That night, I had dinner with Jacobo’s friend from Galicia. They spared me and spoke to each other in castellano instead of gallego.
Wednesday, November 16: Did laundry. Note: dryers here pretty much don’t exist. Everything is line dried. With all the rain we’ve been having, I finally got to take my clothes down today (Nov. 23).
Thursday, November 17th: Student strike at UB. I decided to stay away from campus and instead found a bagel shop with a friend and then went to a public library to do homework with friends. We passed notes in the library like the mature 20-year-olds we are. That night, I went out to a bar with friends to have a drink and listen to a cool band. It started raining right as we were walking home around 1 am and I decided to run because it felt good. I walked in the door completely soaked and attempted to get a tarp over my drying clothes, but it was a little late for that. Roomie Jacobo loaned me a towel because mine was outside.
Friday, November 18th: For my Barcelona class, we had to take a walk through part of the city and report our observations, so I enjoyed a leisurely walk down one of Barcelona’s grand streets. I ate lunch in the Parc de la Ciutadela and then spent the afternoon at the library. That night, I went out clubbing with some friends after youth group and got churros con chocolate at 5 in the morning. When I arrived home, positively stuffed and with that glowing feeling knowing that I could check off “eat churros con chocolate for breakfast” on my bucket list, I came to a lovely realization: I have great friends in Barcelona. I couldn’t be happier with these people.
Sunday, November 20th: Election Day in Spain. The conservative party won by a huge landslide, completely shifting the government and Parliament over from the left wing to the right wing. Cataluña was a little displeased, considering they have always been on the left side of politics. The huge shift can be attributed to the economic crisis: the people wanted change and if the left couldn’t fix it, maybe the right wing will. It should be interesting to see how things change.
Today- Wednesday, November 23rd: I had a midterm today, which prompted coffee at 9 pm last night and also 10 am this morning as I did some last minute cramming. I’ve been lounging all afternoon, waiting for my body to crash. And I have the Thanksgiving Blues, but I’m feeling much better now. Nothing like a little writing therapy. Oh, I’ve started my novel. I have a good feeling about this one.
So yeah… my life in a nutshell. I hope to put up a post on Porto adventures soon. This weekend I’m going to go visit my friend Audra in the beautiful city of Granada. I can’t wait! Also, during the first week of December, Audra and I are going to Santander in Cantabria and Bilbao and Vitoria in País Vasco (Basque Country). It’s gonna be great! (Also, four weeks until I’m home for Christmas!!!)
Much love to everyone at home!
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