Game Day!

This past Wednesday a few of my friends and I had tickets to see the Barcelona soccer game in the infamous Camp Nou and it turned out that we didn't have school that day, so we decided to make a day out of it!

We started our day off pretty early, for a day of not having school. I got up and showered at around 10. The timing actually worked out perfectly because by the time I was dressed and ready I had time to say good-bye to Emma who left for the Canary Islands on a school exchange that day. So then I was off to the train station and met up with Victoria from Chicago, and Johanna from Finland in Barcelona. 

We had spoken earlier and had decided to make the half hour hike to La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia is a GINORMOUS cathedral that was built by the very famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. Sometime this year, I am not exactly sure when, is the 100th "birthday" of the building so it was under a whole lot of construction to get it looking its best for the event. However, all the commotion couldn't take your attention away from this building. There is just so much to look at, including baskets of fruits and baguettes sculpted on top of the towers!

Left to right: Johanna (Finland), Victoria (Chicago), me. 

After walking around it for a little while we decided to sit on a bench to talk and just take in the Spanish life around us. We were asked by a bunch of people to take pictures, and it is such a cool feeling to switch from Spanish (which we were speaking with each other) to English, because a lot of the tourists weren't from Spain and English is a common ground. As strange as it may sound, however Johanna agreed with me, it is so much easier to speak Spanish with other exchange students because we are just about all the same pace and are willing to take the time to listen and help the other understand or think of a word we can't, so Mom, for all the times I say I can't speak Spanish may faith is restored when I talk to these guys! It just all depends on your audience.

Next we decided to head back toward where we came from and look for somewhere to eat. We were all craving hamburgers, had to settle for a place that had hamburger meat, without the bun served with eggs (sunny side up, suppppppppper common here), and french fries (or the closest thing they have to them here). After paying and walking out the door we discovered that if we had just walk about half a block more we would have found a real hamburger joint with real french fries, the works. We were pretty bummed.

We kept walking and headed into a few shops. We were in the area of Barcelona called, Plaza de Catalunya. It's a pretty commercial area, but its very nicely laid out with a lot of stone work and walking space. Then it gradually turns into smaller winding side streets which are equally as cool! After a bit of wandering in and out of shops we headed to our favorite candy store Happy Pills. I am not sure if I have explained the store before, but it is so darn cool! You walk in and grab a plastic glove and a paper cone (kind of like what they serve Icees in). Then in front of you is just a wall full of different candies and you can pick and choose as you walk back and forth, back and forth, which candies you want. Filling up these cones is an art let me tell you, because if you do it right, small things on the bottom, big things on top like a cover if you will, you can get a heck of a lot of candy for the one euro you pay for these cones!

CLEARLY all of that sugar wasn't enough so right after those Johanna got frozen yogurt while Victoria and I sprung for amazing Gelato. If you ever find yourself in Barcelona, you MUST go to Plaza de Catalunya, walk along La Rambla, which is basically a fat sidewalk full of different kiosks. Look for an ice cream kiosk, it truly doesn't matter which one because all of the ice cream is to die for, and eat up. It is a bit expensive, two scoops for 3.20 euros but trust me its worth it! I also recommend getting two different flavors just because you're in Spain and you can!

After finishing up our ice cream Victoria had to head home to meet up with her family because she was going to the game with them. Meanwhile, Johanna and I walked around a few more stores because we had some time to kill waiting for her host sister to meet up with us before the game. After a bit, we met up with her sister Lucia and took the metro to CAMP NOU!

The trains were PACKED, literally shoulder to shoulder, butt to butt, awkwardly bumping into strangers ever time the metro decided to rear to a stop. At the same time, it just added to the excitement! You could tell the majority of the people were headed to the game by their Barca scarfs, hats, flags, and jerseys, Johanna, Lucia and I included. 

From the station it was about a ten minute walk, but you could see the lights from the field from afar. The very second we got through security it began to rain lightly. We had been watching the skies all day, they were looking pretty grey but didn't decide to let loose until the very second we got through the gates. But at this point we were so damn excited to be there, there wasn't really anything that could get us down.

We went to the bathrooms quickly before the game, to find them to be painted loud and proud in the Barcelona colors of blue and red, then we entered the actual stadium for the very first time. It was incredible. It was one of those feelings that you can't really explain, but the second you made it through those doors you knew you had walked into something special.

Camp Nou is the largest soccer stadium in all of Europe. Safe to say it was huge. We found our seats with only a little bit of difficulty and there was no waiting because it was game on. It wasn't exactly the most nerve wracking, edge of your seat game because Barca scored after about seven minutes and from then on it was fairly obvious who was going to win, but still to actually be there was pretty darn cool! 

It kept raining on and off throughout the game which actually turned out to be rather entertaining. Our seats were just under the awning of the level above us so the rain barely touched us. However and one point when the rain really began to pick up, everyyyyone in the stadium moved like a stampede to fill in the empty seats under the awnings. As I am sure you can imagine, there were a lot of people so it was a pretty interesting sight to see the waves of people flown to their new seats in herds.

Messi!

After the game, which Barcelona won 3-0, we were back off to the metro station, after taking about a million pictures of course. The station was twice as packed as before. Barcelona soccer games are obviously a worldwide attraction and so as we were waiting for the train I eavesdropped as as many conversations as possible and probably heard an array of languages greater than what I can count on one hand. Germany was a pretty popular one. 

Back we went to Plaza de Catalunya packed like sardines in the metro. Once there we found Johanna's host parents and we all drove to their house about an hour north of Barcelona. For the rest of the night we just ate some food and talked about movies and other little things of the like. It was actually quite cute and the perfect end to the perfect night. 

I didn't have school the following day either so I slept in until noon. I woke up to look out the window and see quite possibly one of the coolest Spanish towns I have seen so far! It was just like in the movies with a few windy roads and the Mediterranean Sea in the distance. I have really learned to appreciate the little things like pretty little towns and beaches throughout my time aboard, so this town was right up my alley.

Johanna and I ate some breakfast and took a walk to the beach with their dog. It's still too cold for any swimming activity, but it was still nice to take off my shoes, roll up my jeans and dip my feet in. We just talked the day away! It's amazing how two strangers, from complete opposite sides of the world can come together as exchange students and that common ground alone can provide hours upon hours of material to talk about!

We returned back home, had a bite to eat then walked back to the train station which was located right next to the beach. The train ride back home was about an hour and a half during which I just plugged in my music and stared out the window at the sea. The train tracks here are literally built six feet from a drop off to the rocky edge of the sea so whenever I am in the train I just plug in my music and stare out the window soaking it all in.

The rest of my day consisted of a mix of dance class, family time and birthday cake, since March 27th is Romans birthday. All in all it was a fantastic two days that I wouldn't have wanted to spend any differently!

(I am sorry this took so long to upload. I was waiting for the pictures Johanna took because they are much better quality, but I will just put up a full blog post of pictures ones we get through our technical difficulties!)