Going out with a BANG!

Holy crap! My last weekend in Barcelona just passed.... wow. I think I might start crying.

So, since it was our last weekend we had to do it BIG! On Friday night, Jesse, Zoe and I wanted a girls night, just us. We went to this Mexican restaurant close to our apartment that we always passed and noticed that they had cheap drinks and food but we hadn't gone to it yet. It was delicious! Four euro margaritas and tequila sunrises, oh and did I mention they were super strong?! The food was so good and fresh. After dinner we came back to the apartment to drink a little bit more before we headed to a bar/club, called Broadbar, decently close to our apartment. We left around 1 and on our way to the bar I asked this group of Spanish people if the street we wanted was the the next one and then we started talking to them. They were in their upper 20's and heading to another bar. They convinced us to come with them instead and we said "why not?!" We went with them to a bar called Novo and it was so much fun because we were the only Americans there. I love places like that, I feel like I'm truly living in Barcelona when we go to places where we are the only Americans. The people we met were really sweet and bought us a drink but we still wanted to go to Broadbar so we only stayed for like 45 minutes. By this time though it was like 2:30 so when we got to Broadbar we only had like 15 minutes before it was closing. We still went in and danced for a little but when it closed we decided to just head home.

When we woke up on Saturday, it was gorgeous out! Jesse, Zoe and I decided to go spend the afternoon sitting in the big parc, Parc Ciutadella. When we got to the park we realized there was this festival thing going on. It was pretty hippy, but it was kind of like the Mdidlebury festival with all the store and food vendors, but way bigger. Since it was a hippy festival, they only had vegetarian/organic food but we found a pita with a veggie burger that was so good. We then went and sat in the park for like three hours. Jesse and Zoe actually have stuff to worry about this week with finals, so they studied while I listened to music and did some crosswords. It was a relaxing afternoon, which was needed because we had BIG plans for Saturday night.

There is a HUGE club called Razzmatazz. The club is in a huge warehouse, it was three floors, with like five different rooms. There is one huge, main room right on the first floor. On the second floor there is like a catwalk/ balcony that you can see down into the main room. The other four rooms are smaller but still pretty big. Then at the very top there is a terrace where you can go and see so much of the city, it is amazing. The club is very Spanish and few Americans go but we had heard it was ridiculous and so much fun. So of course we had to check it out! We said that if we went, that means we have to party Barcelona style and stay till it closed - at 6 am!

Zoe, Jesse, and I met up with Mike, Jake, Alex, Will and Corbin at one of their friends apartments to pre-game and then headed to the club. When I walked in I was seriously speechless. There were so many people there and the place was HUGE! So much bigger than I expected. I would guess there was probably about 3,000 people there. NUTS! We had to pay 15 euros for cover, but that included a drink so we all got our drinks and then got to dancing. It was so much fun! We stayed on the main floor for a while and then decided to check out the other rooms. I remember there being a pop room, a techno, and an oldies. It was amazing. And guess what! WE MADE IT! WE STAYED UNTIL IT CLOSED! We were so proud of ourselves!

At Razz

Jesse had left early because she had heels on and her feet hurt so Zoe and I started trying to get a cab to head home. Well, that wasn't happening when 3000 people were all trying to hail a cab at the same time so we decided to just take the metro. For some reason, I think because we wanted to get a cab and didn't want to have to walk, or maybe because we wanted to see Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas at 7 in the morning and get breakfast, we got off the metro when we got to that area and walked around for a little. Since it was a Sunday morning in Spain, nothing was open yet, not even the Starbucks... so different from the U.S. We still couldn't find a cab, everything was so desolate! So we ended up just getting back on the metro and heading home. I went to bed about 8 am. That's right, I am living my life for sure! Especially on the last weekend!

I woke up about 6 at night... haha wow... kind of a waste of a day but I had a looong night. We wanted some food so we went to this Asian place that makes stir fry stuff to order. It was the first time I had it and it was delicious. After dinner we just came back and I went to bed about 11. I was exhausted.

Well, now its Monday. I have very few days left and I've cried every day since Saturday. A lot of people have to actually worry, or at least care a little bit about their finals, but since my grades don't transfer and I'm only going to get to live in Barcelona once like this, I don't care - I'd rather live my life 110%. I mean, I am sitting her blogging on one of my last days in BCN, totally living 110% right now. I got Jesse, Zoe, Mike and Nick to take a study break today though and we went to Champagneria for lunch again. So good! I got a little tipsy again but it was so fun. It's such a hole in the wall, it doesn't even have a sign on the outside, so if you ever come to Barcelona ask me how to get there, because you have to go!

The guys who convinced us to go to Novo Bar with them

At the festival

Tossa de Mar

On Thursday evening Mike and I boarded the bus for Tossa de Mar, a small town about an hour and a half away in the Coasta Brava - the coast of Spain spanning from Barcelona to France. Its mountainous and so pretty, very old and Spanish looking.

We got there around 7:30 and checked into our hotel and then we decided we weren't really hungry for dinner yet so we wanted to walk around the town for a little and buy a bottle of Cava and watch the sun set from our balcony (How romantic, I know. Do you want to barf hearts yet?) So we left the hotel and started walking around the HUGE town. Sooo exaggerating! We literally felt like the only people who were alive in the whole town, well except for one lady on a bike who we got in her way twice. It was pretty humorous. All the stores were closed and we didn't think we'd be able to find a grocery store open to buy some Cava, but luckily we found one. We found the Cava and there was a bottle of Cava called Bertha! I didn't buy it because it was too expensive. We don't like to spend more than 3 euros on wine and Cava... cheap I know. We headed back to the hotel and sat on the balcony drinking the Cava, watching the sun set and enjoying each other's company and conversation. It was perfect. Just what we needed. Its been crazy here with papers and tests the past few weeks and we have had a hard time finding time for just us. And since we have not many days left it was wonderful.

So finally around 11 we decided we wanted to eat dinner. We asked the people at the front desk for a good restaurant and they sent us to this small Italian place called El Nino. We walked in but we thought they might be closed because no one was in there at all. They were open so we sat down and then more people came, I guess in Tossa de Mar they eat dinner really late! Oh and guess who owns the restaurant - the lady on the bike that we kept getting in the way of! We all had a laugh about that one. Oh small towns....

We both got pizzas that were soooo good! After I went to Rome I fell in love with really thin crust pizza and this was really thin! So yummy! We ordered Sangria and it was ridiculously strong! We only had a 1/2 liter but we were definitely feeling a little tipsy. Dinner was great though.

Since this town was so small, it wasn't tourist season nothing was open so we decided to just to back to the hotel. We felt like old people because we definitely went to sleep at 1. It was lame-o. But the sleep was definitely needed.

On Friday we woke up around 11 and got ready and checked out. It was poopy weather because it was rainy and only in the low 60s. We walked towards the beach and it was really cool because they had a boardwalk kind of thing with a bunch of restaurants. We decided to just go to the restaurant and sit outside so we could see the beach at least. We ordered meals and Sangria and just chilled out. I brought my book of crosswords, so I whipped it out and we did a few.... I felt like an old married couple but it was fun. We ended up sitting at the restaurant for two hours and after a liter of Sangria decided we had probably had enough. We headed back into town and it was still cool and rainy so we decided to just head back to Barcelona.

It was a really nice little get away and it was definitely nice to have some alone time with no other distractions. Good job Mike on planning it all!

The center of town

Me Encanta Mi Clase de Espanol!

So, want to know how to make a two and a half hour Spanish class go by really, really quickly? Have the whole class meet before for lunch and each drink an entire bottle of Cava (Spanish champagne) by yourself. It makes speaking Spanish easier and so much more fun!

My whole class decided that since it was the second to last day of class, and since we have our final tomorrow we would all get lunch together and get a little happy. So we met at this really Spanish place for lunch. It is such a whole in the wall - it doesn't even have a sign on the outside to tell you its a restaurant, but the food is so good. You have to order two sandwiches and then you can get a free bottle of Cava. Perfect! So I ordered a hamburger. It was delicious, although when I go back, because I will go back before I leave, I'm going to order the chicken. Anyways so we were there for like an hour and a half, eating and drinking and reminiscing about our time in Spanish class. We decided that we should get our teacher a sandwich, because we love him so, and conveniently we got another bottle of Cava to split! Or did we get him sandwiches because we wanted more Cava.....? I can't remember...

Class was a circus, but our teacher loved it. It was the fastest class ever went and pretty sure I was fluent in Spanish... at least I thought I was. haha It was a good day for sure. Although my head is aching a little...

Tomorrow is our last day of classes! Yay! But BOO because that means that its over....

Mike and I had been talking about taking a little one night trip together before we left. We hadn't talked much about it lately and the other day he surprised me and had booked a hotel and everything for one night! So tomorrow after class were leaving to go to Tossa de Mar. Its in the Coasta Brava, like an hour and a half away from Barcelona on the coast. I'm excited, especially since we haven't been able to spend as much time together lately because of all our school work. It should be fun.

Since this is our last weekend in Barcelona we are going all out. I'm sure I'll have some crazy stories for you when I blog next. Get excited!

Class at lunch

The whole class with our teacher, Ata

What a crazy character!
Did I ever mention on here that he used to live in Fort Wayne?! For like 12 years! Crazy! He knows Middlebury and everything! Muy ridiculoso!

Spanish dinner and birthday surprise

Now that I knocked out a paper, a journal and a presentation in Spanish, I finally have some time to blog more than a sentence.

This weekend was a Zoe and I weekend. Three of our roomies were gone and the apartment was so clean and quiet - it was perfect! On Friday night we wanted to try out this restaurant, Cerveseria Catalana, we had heard about that supposedly has great tapas. Well, we heard right. Best tapas I've had here. They were delicious. When we got to the restaurant around 9:30 it was packed! (That is one thing I won't miss when I have to return home, eating dinner so late!) They said it was probably about a forty minute wait so we ordered a glass of wine from the bar and just hung out around there. We were starting to get pretty hungry so we decided to just order tapas from the bar like a true native and a spot sitting at the bar had just opened up so we hoped on it. We ordered one tapa at a time and of course ordered more wine! We started with pan con tomate (bread with tomato, Spanish brochette), then had cured ham and cheese, then moved on to some shrimp skewers, next came some asparagus, and then we finished the tapas with a Spanish omelet. We ordered dessert, of course, but it was disgusting, so we didn't eat it. We ordered homemade cake because we figured it would be delicious, well we didn't know they would pour whiskey all over it! Way to ruin a perfectly good cake!

During the course of our meal, we heard this guy behind us say "lets play a game and guess where these girls are from." Some what annoyed because I was thinking either this is a sad sad pick up line, or he's calling us out on not being Spanish, I turned around to see who this guy was. He looked decent enough so I said, ok give it a try. In two guesses he guessed that I was from Indiana! Crazy! And then he asked where, and I gave my usual response and said "Its a really small town, you won't have heard of it." He said "Try me, my mom's from Indiana." So I told him and he goes, "Yea, there's good restaurant there called the Essenhaus and its close to Goshen that has La Hacienda, good mexican." He noticed that my mouth was about to hit the floor and he told me that his mom grew up in Walkarusa (Spelling?!) and he had actually just been in Middlebury/Goshen over Christmas for a wedding, had eaten at both the Essenhaus and Hacienda. Wow! What a crazy small world! So we ended up talking with him and the girl he was with. They are around 25ish and are friends from college. She works for the government and just decided to fly both of them to Barcelona, first class, for the WEEKEND! WHAT?! Crazy! Apparently, she does this sort of thing all the time. The weekend before she was in London and in like two weeks she was going to China for like 5 days, just because she wanted to. Wow. Ridiculous. But whatever, she was loaded so she bought Zoe and I a glass of wine and then the most expensive bottle of Cava (Spanish Champagne) for us to share. They were really cool and so fun to talk to. Zoe and I had a great night and felt really native after our dinner of tapas and wine sitting/standing around the bar.

After dinner we met up with Mike, Nick and Jake. It was raining pretty hard so while they were waiting for us they went into the Burger King. We ended up hanging out there until it closed at like 3. Ridiculous but so much fun! We like to refer to it as the BK Lounge if you will.

On Saturday, Kate, Amy and Christine, two of my sorority sisters and another girl from Butler respectively, were in town from Florence, so we hooked up with them and I took them to a club near our apartment called Mary's Place. The first time I was there was when Kiki was in town and I fell in love with the place. It's so much fun! I tried not to be too out of control though because on Sunday I had a surprise for someone special....

Mike's birthday is on May 13th. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to be with him on his birthday, but I still wanted to get him a birthday present before we left. I wanted the gift to be something that would remind him of his time in Barcelona and maybe even a little of me. So I decided to get him a FC Barcelona (the futbol team) jersey and a official mug. So I sneakily figured out who he would want on the back of the jersey and what size he would want. I'm so good at being sneaky and telling little white lies! I was deciding when to give this jersey to him and how to do and then I realized that this past Sunday was the 13th- a month before his birthday - perfect!

So I began to scheme. He likes the musician, Jack Johnson, as do I and he has a song called Banana pancakes and we've talked about how sometime when we visit each other I'll make him banana pancakes..... well the banana pancakes came a little early. I got up and made them on Sunday morning and then had everything set up and ready. I put his jersey and mug with a card on the table and made a 21 out of bananas on his pancake with a candle in it. I had him come in with his eyes closed and had the song "banana pancakes" playing. He opened his eyes and his reaction was priceless! Just what I wanted! I had successfully surprised him! I was elated! So we both enjoyed some wonderful banana pancakes and the whole time he just kept thanking me and saying how good a job I did with pulling it off. It was wonderful.

Definitely a good almost last weekend.

Zoe and I eating our shrimp!

Chillin' at the BK Lounge


Birthday surprise!

heartbroken.

Less than two weeks and I can't even describe how upset this makes me.

Stupid Americanos.

It really isn't cool that just when you begin to feel like you belong in a city and even feel a little like a native, people treat you like stupid Americanos. This happened twice yesterday!

So, Thursday morning I was getting on the bus to go to school (haha sounds like I'm back in elementary school) and I was with about 8 other kids in my program. We all put our tickets in and paid for the ride but as soon as we sat down the driver tried to accuse us of not paying. It was this huge ordeal and we had to basically scream at him and tell him that we all had paid! He was trying to rip us off and figured he could since we were American.

Then last night, Zoe and I went to a club that we've been to about ten times before. We get up to the bouncer and he asks how old we are. We told him and then he asked for ID's! I've never been asked for my ID before and I don't have one anyways since my wallet got stolen. We decided to wait around for our guy friends to show up to see what they could do. The bouncer was just clearly being a jerk because when our guys even showed him their ID's he wouldn't let them in, or the 30 other Americans trying to get in. But in the meantime he was letting every Spanish person through. It was so much crap. We were all so mad.

These things don't make me want to come home though. I still am so sad I have only two weeks left! I can't believe it!

My Maid of Honor was in town!

Kiki came to visit! Yes, she will be my maid of honor, hence the name of the blog. Her and Mallory came from Rome for a visit. They also came with some other people from their program but they stayed with me and the others were in a hostel.

They got here on Friday morning and we headed first to La Sagrada Familia. They didn't really care what I showed them and wanted it to be more of a relaxing weekend. So after we went to La Sagrada and walked around the outside we headed to the center of the city, around Plaza Catalunya. They wanted to shop for some cute and cheap clothes because they were sick of all the expensive stores in Rome. So that's what we did... just spent a few hours in that area walking around. Around four or five they were getting pretty tired because they had to get up so early, so we decided to head back and take a siesta before dinner and going out.

They wanted to go to the all-you-can-eat-sushi-buffet-on-a-conveyor-belt that I had told them so much about when I was in Rome. So that's where we went for dinner. An hour later we emerged, bursting at the seams because we ate so much! It was actually disgusting... haha we had to come back and lay down for a little before we got ready to go out. They had heard about Chupitos, the crazy shot bar, so I took them there first and we got some fun shots. We tried a new one, its a melon shot and at the bottom of the shot glass they put a watermelon gum ball. Its my new favorite. After that we went to a club that I had never been to before, even though its like 10 minutes from my house! Its called Mary's Place and its soooo much fun! I don't know why I haven't gone before. We got in for free and were pretty much the only Americans in the whole club, but that made it so much more fun. So we were dancing with these Spanish guys we met and I was using my wonderful Spanish skills. Sometime in the night I gave them my number and they called me the next day! I didn't answer because I didn't know the number but then a little later I got a text message from them. The coolest thing was that it was all in Spanish! I felt like a true native. And I understood the whole thing! So proud of myself! haha

On Saturday we woke up around 11 and decided to head towards the beach and have a really lazy day. I took them to the port/beach area and we first got lunch. It was a really clear day but it was windy which made it seem so much cooler than it was, which wasn't cool. So after lunch we went to the beach to "lay out" in all of our clothes with our hoods up around our heads because the wind was so cold. We stayed out there for a few hours and then decided it was ridiculous to still be there since we were so cold. So we came back to the apartment and took a nap. We were so productive!

For dinner, I took them to get some tapas, like true Spaniards. They really enjoyed the tapas and we had a good dinner. After dinner, Kiki and Mallory wanted to meet up with the other people they came with because they hadn't hung out with them while they were here. So Zoe (my roomie who's amazing) and I decided we didn't want to go out so we just came back to the apartment and watched Across the Universe while Kiki and Mal met up with their friends.

On Sunday, I got eggs and fruit to make a big breakfast for them before they left and also, Mike was gone all weekend so they didn't get a chance to meet him but he got back early on Sunday morning so I invited him over for breakfast too. It was fun but they had to leave by 11 so they didn't get to hang out much on Sunday. The rest of the day was absolutely beautiful. It was almost 70 degrees and completely clear. Zoe and I sat out on our balcony attempting to get work done, but we were pretty unsuccessful. I did get a little tan line though! It was amazing.

The rest of the week is going to suck. I have two papers, a presentation and a journal to finish. And to top it off, I'm not in a good mood because I know the end is coming way too fast. So yea, I'm not looking forward to this week. All I want to do is hang out with my friends and not have to worry about doing anything else, but that can't happen.... Anyways, on that note... I need to get going so I can work on a paper... woo hoo!

Zoe, Mal, Kiki and I
-We're all Kappas rockin' our new Aviators

Mal, Kiki and I on the beach