La Diada y miercoles

Tuesday was a holiday here...meaning no classes! The holiday was la diada and it marks when Catalonia lost their independence, so in a sense it is a somber holiday, but at the same time they have a very strong "national" identity/feel very proud to be Catalan, so it's like a celebration of their awesomeness in their own eyes. Since we had no class, we again decided to go to the beach. We went to a different beach thinking it would be less touristy, but they plan failed because everybody was off work, so it was crazy. It was still fun and super relaxing. We were talking though saying it still feels like we are on vacation because again we missed studio, so we havent started the hard work yet for class. At the beach me and anthony decided to go on a walk. We passed McDonalds, and of course he wanted to go in. It was so awkward because i was just in a bathing suit with no shoes, and he was just wearing some shorts. We sat outside while he ate his big mac, and while we were sitting there this family got up and left their trash on the table and as soon as they turned around, this homeless guy sat down and started eating their scraps and drinking their leftover drink...and the family could still see him. It was really nasty. Then when he finished all he could on their trays, he got up and moved tables. He did this almost the whole time anthony was eating. seriously it was so gross, but i had to feel bad for him. i wanted to buy him a meal of his own but of course i had no money on me. Anyway, after mcdonalds, we continued down the beach, and stumbled upon a nude beach. pretty sure im scarred for life. im not going to go into any details about that experience for ya'lls sake, but just know there were all ages in attendance. We chilled in the room for a while and then that night we went to this restaurant/club/bar. It was actually set up really cool. It was all white inside and it was kinda like a long corridor, only about 12 feet wide. on one half was little "booths" and then you could dance kinda in the walkway if you wanted.
Wednesday we slept in and just piddled around until class at three. Our wednesday we have class with a group of students from monterrey and they are interesting. they seem extremely stuck up and they were so rude and disruptive during class. After class (we got out 2 hours early!) we went shopping. at least that was the plan. we were trying to find some other people in our group but we ended up a little lost, but it was a really cool part of the city to be lost in. we found the best gelato place ever, and a really cool bakery. then while we were wandering, we stumbled upon the museum of catalan history which was beautiful old building. Then we walked right into the barcelona cathedral. Oh my Lord. I honestly have no words to describe this place. I was and still am very upset because they are renovating the outside so there was a huge poster covering the whole thing except for some tall spires. But, it was free to go inside so we did. When we walked it i felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. It was beautiful. It's weird because i have been studying about these sorts of buildings for two years now, but this was the first time i have actually been in a structure like this. The scale is just so impressive! That evening, we had a pot luck dinner with 6 other people in our group. We all met in one room and brought a dish. It was so fun to all eat together and have a home cooked meal granted we have no microwave or oven. we had to get creative. we had pasta with chicken in it, pork, and mashed potatoes, and ice cream! how amazing.