Yay for La Mercè!!

This weekend was the best so far. I'm not joking. A huge festival, La Mercè, started Wednesday night, and the past 4 days have been incredible.

For the reasoning behind La Mercè, click here.

Wednesday I had the foresight to plan ahead because everything was going to be closed on Thursday, so I did go to the grocery store, this time equipped with my dictionary. I learned what some things are. I haven't cooked any Spanish food yet, the festival took up a lot of my time.

While I was making myself dinner, I was talking to Wilma, the girlfriend of the couple I live with. She's awesome. She was telling me she hadn't seen me in awhile. And I told her I had a sinus infection. Only when I used the word my dictionary told me mean sinuses (seno) she looked shocked and grabbed her breasts, indicating that I was saying I had a breast infection. Great. I had been telling who knows who that I had an infection of my boobs and not my sinuses. I spent the next 20 minutes laughing so hard I didn't catch the actual word for sinuses. I am learning so much living here, trust.

After dinner, I headed out to meet up with Adam and Tom and go to a rock concert near the Modern Art Museum. The music at the concert was awesome. There were a ton of young people, many of them Spanish and Catalan, and the music was great. I'm not quite sure what bands played, but I enjoyed them and Estrella Damm very thoroughly (Estrella Damm). It was a great start to the festival.

Side note. Drinking in the streets here, to my knowledge and experience, is not illegal. Beer is sold in vending machines. Also, if you want to pretend you're in Spain on a hot day, mix a glass of half beer, half lemonade and enjoy very cold. It's called clara and it is super refreshing.

Thursday was awesome! I woke up at noon because I had set an alarm for 10:30A, so that I could catch all the cool stuff that was happening. And I got myself together and headed to Plaça Sant Jaume for some real festival activities. Before I got there, the sardanas had danced, but I missed them. I did get to see castellers, which was totally worth the trip and fighting the crowds to see. Castellers are essentially towers of people that are formed solely by people climbing each other. It is frightening and exhilarating to watch, and I cannot speculate on participation since the people who are involved are practiced professionals. The way it works is the bottom is formed by a huge base of people, then they build from there. The groups come from different neighborhoods and have special uniforms and take lots of pride in themselves, and the groups are made up of men, women and children. The children come in to play at the top of the pyramid, where a small child (wearing a helmet) climbs to the very top and blows a pyramid signifying that the human structure is complete and then immediately begins descending. Sometimes, the structures collapse, but rarely are people hurt. Here's a video, and here's some history. AND NOW FOR THE PREMIER OF PICTURES I HAVE TAKEN. Here's some pictures I took of castellers!

I was seriously not breathing for most of the time they were climbing each other. It was so frightening but awesome. And it really brought the people, and the community together. Also, it's just one of those things we would never do in America.

After the castellers (I was there for quite a while, in the sun, a wee bit hungover), I came back and rested up for Thursday night. I met up with Adam for a dinner at a pretty typical bar. We both had two eggs, french fries, and he had croquetas while I had pollo. Even though it was very simple, it was super satisfying and just the right amount.

After that, we found a grocery store and purchased one bottle of gin (aside: I have yet to find liquor in plastic bottles. Everything is in glass. This is a good sign as I have a taste for cheap liquor. Well actually I have a taste for very expensive liquor but can only afford the cheap stuff) and two bottles of juice and headed over to the Parc Ciutadella, where there was an open air jazz concert. We parked not too far from the stage in the grass and started sipping on gin and juice while enjoying really awesome jazz bands. Eventually we were joined by Matt, and ran into some others from our group. We sat for quite a while, talking, drinking, and enjoying the weather. We even got to see some of the fireworks show that was going on at the beach. Then the concert ended, and we decided not to waste our buzzes. So we started walking towards La Rambla, liters of juice and beers in hand.

The walk wasn't really eventful, except we did find one of those self-cleaning public restrooms. I took a picture without realizing what it is (included in this picture: a Spanish stranger I surprised as she was coming out of the restroom):

We ended up on La Rambla, after Adam taught Matt how to properly roll his sleeves for 10 minutes in the middle of the street. Upon arrival at La Rambla, we were handed free coupons for shots (which we totally needed) which we naturally sought. There was a catch: we had to buy something, bummer. I had a pint of Heineken, Adam had a pint of Guinness, and Matt decided he was done (liar) and the bartender handed us two shitty, warm shots of vodka while some Irish guy at the end of the bar kept smiling at me. We found a table and drank quickly since some other people from the program wanted to meet up.

Now, as you may have been keeping track, some of us had quite a bit to drink at this point, this author included. And there may have been a photo shoot in Plaça Catalunya while waiting for friends. But those pictures will be kept under lock and key for the time being. Once the guys (Alvaro, Joseva, and Tony) arrived (sober), the night was kind of over. We started walking to a bar and ended up running into some people and stopped to talk forever (in drunk time, in real time maybe 20 minutes). However, while we were waiting I had to go to the bathroom so Matt, gentleman that he is, accompanied me to the bar we intended to end up at, and we went to the bathroom and took shots of Stoli. My buzz lasted well into Friday, and so did his. I took a cab home, and had a great conversation with the driver about the festival and America, it was lovely since I am a fountain of foreign language when I've been drinking. I immediately passed out and woke up at 1:30 on Friday with no desire to do anything that day besides lay in bed, drink water, and take Advil.

So that's what I did. I also made a spreadsheet of things that I need to get done for grad school applications, so I was a little productive. However, Saturday I woke up feeling much better and ready to go again. I went to the grocery store again (I ate all of Wednesday's procurements on Friday when I was recovering) and learned even more about what was there. Then I met up with Jenny, Tom, Adam, and Matt for CORREFOC. Correfoc is the coolest part of La Mercè. I cannot even being to tell you. First of all, you're supposed to wear clothes that cover you because it is a parade of fire. Please, watch a video. That was from last year, but it's pretty similar to what I experienced. When photographing, I was trying to take pictures while being showered with sparklers. It was a little frightening, but such an adrenaline rush and so much fun. Here are some that I took:

Now most people wonder why it is done. First of all, it's fucking awesome and something we would never ever do in the United States, and second of all, you can read the background history, and trust me when I say the small burns I acquired were definitely worth it.

You can't really top a fire parade, now can you? No. And Saturday after the correfoc wasn't exciting. We ate kebabs and sat on a park bench and enjoyed some ice cold vodka and Fanta Naranja, a personal favorite (shout out to my dear friend Kaleb for providing the flask to keep me properly liquored on the go). But you have to get the balance just right or it is absolutely terrible. I got tired and came home, with Tom in tow, and we played the Sims for awhile before he headed back to his place. I slept soundly and woke up Sunday ready to get some stuff done and then go to closing ceremonies. I studied a little for the GMAT, fooled around on the internet in a researching graduate schools fashion, and eventually left for Plaça Espanya and the closing ceremonies of La Mercè.

I did not know one place could hold so many people. Seriously. First of all, the train was fine until like Plaça Catalunya, when approximately 45 million people crammed onto the train. Holy shit, I don't usually have crowd anxiety (I'm not a huge fan but I can handle it), but I wanted to cling to the ceiling like Spider Man just so I could breath. Not only was the train crowded, but I finally got off at Plaça Espanya to discover that there were approximately 6.9 billion people (yes, that is approximately the population of the Earth) crowded into the Plaza. I was trying to meet up with Adam and Nick, but due to noise and just a general lack of ability to move, I just gave up and enjoyed the show. It was fireworks set to music themes. American music themes that is. But it was awesome. Although, due to the crowd and my height, I wasn't able to see very well, but it's fireworks so it's mostly in the sky, so it wasn't a loss. I didn't get home until 11:45P though because they weren't letting people on the Metro for safety reasons. When I got home, I made myself a pretty badass sandwich, and after some more patrolling of the internet, slept so soundly I completely slept through my alarm this morning and woke up at 11:25A, 5 minutes before my class was due to start.

Whoops. I was informed by classmates that we didn't do that much and not to worry, so I didn't freak out. I met up with Jenny at 1P for lunch, and we walked to a Mexican restaurant I discovered online. It was soooo good. I haven't really been that homesick, but man this hit the spot! After a feast of nachos, guac, fajitas, and cheesecake, I headed to linguistics. Also, for those readers in the far reaches of Texas, this is what Mexican food in Spain looks like:

After linguistics Jenny and I went walked around and shopped a little, and laughed a lot. It was a great afternoon. Tomorrow! I have a job interview! If the Spanish government is reading this, it's voluntary since I'm not allowed to work on a student visa in this country. I will be spreading my knowledge of foul English language to small children! I guess I'll teach them how to speak properly, too. I should go do my homework and pick out something to wear, but I'm thinking of looking as Mary Poppins as possible. They'll never know what hit them.