Friday started the celebration of La Merce in Barcelona. It is like a huge three to four day crazy festival with all these bands all day and night and all kinds of parades and stuff. It's like any American festival, but 10 times crazier. Sound fun? It was amazing. During the day on Friday I can't really remember what we did but the kick off actually started friday evening. All day they were setting up these huge stages all over the city where different bands would
perform all weekend. It began with a fireworks show done by France at the port at 10 pm. We all went down there in this big group to watch this supposedly great firework show. It was lame. I'm pretty sure I have seen better fireworks in Boerne, Tx. But, it was still nice to sit by the water and watch some fireworks. After they were done, the plan was to go back to the dorm and get ready to go out with the spanish kids that live here. We hadn't me them yet, but they had posted signs in the elevators to meet outside at midnight to go to the forum. The forum is like an area of town where they had a carnival and live music until 5 in the morning. When we were walking by the dorm we passed a stage with some music playing and some of us decided to stop. We went up to the front of the crowd and listened to the band. They were so good! It was obvisouly all in spanish so i had no idea what they were saying, but i am in love with spainsh music now, seriously, its so good. It was a rumba band, with a guitar and an accordion. We just chilled there listening to music and dancing for about an hour before we had to head back to meet up with the spanish kids. Everyone met up right outside our dorm building, and there were so many people. We met some of them and they were so nice and fun. Most of them speak english, but not very well, so the conversations were rather interestin
g. And, they were all super loud and crazy due to some alcohol in their system. We walked down the block to the subway station and all got on the subway. I can't even begin to describe them like it was, but it was crazy. They were all screaming songs one right after the other and dancing around. It was really fun. When we got there, the music just didnt compare to the band we had heard earlier. We were just walking around checking out all the bands for a while and then we walked over to the carnival. Christa and Anthony rode some rides and then we rode the subway home. It was really fun just because we had wanted to meet the spanish kids really bad and we finally got to. We didnt get home until pretty late, so we slept in the next day pretty late. Saturday guess what we did...walked around! There were all these little tents with people selling stuff, from jewelry, to food, to clothing, and they were everywhere. We started with th
e Raval area, which is on our street down a couple of blocks. There were these guys who were just like a street band and they were playing catalan music and there were like 10 people in a circle doing these really cool dances! It was so fun to watch. Then we headed over to La Rambla and went to the Boqueria to get some fresh fruit. After we dropped it off, we went back to La Rambla to some more of the tents. Along the way there are all these different type of street performers, so we stopped and watched some of them. One was these tango dancers which was really cool. I took a video, but it probably won't load on here. :( Then we stopped and watched some break dancers that were amazing. And then on to some more shops. By the time we were
done with this is was getting pretty late so we headed back to the dorm to change and plan the night. First on the list was the Fire Run. It's like a parade sort of, except insane. Like, i'm pretty sure it would be illegal in the States. They start off with a band and these people dancing up on the stage wearing burlap suits with hoods and horns like a dragon. The people of Barcelona participate in the parade according to the neighborhood they live in and they all come dressed covered with pants and long sleeves, bandanas around their faces and goggles, hoods, and tennis shoes. When the parade starts, people come walking down the street holding these sticks with fireworks similar to sparklers on the ends and wave them around and people dance u
nder them and stuff. Its pretty cool, but dangerous if you aren't dressed appropriately or act stupid around it. And, its not like the US where there would be like a roped off fence to keep people away or make the people participating stay away from you with the fire. nope. they can do whatever they want. some people would come by spraying your feet with sparks, and if you were in the first 4 or 5 rows, you were getting sprayed with sparks. It was amazing but pretty scary. We wore jeans and hoodies, but no glasses or anything and my jacket was a really light cotton sweater, so i wasn't very protected but good enough. When it first started we got really scared because we didnt really know what was going on, so we were like oh crap and were running tryi
ng to get away from the fire. Then after a while, me and Bhavika actually went out in the street and danced in the fire! It was one of the coolest things i've ever done! I got burned a little bit, but nothing bad on my skin. It was just some burn marks on my jacket that i could feel. I also got a picture with one of the guys who was holding a fire stick thing! After that we ended up going back to the same stage we had been to the night before where we like the music so much because it was another rumba band playing. They were good, but not near as good as the night before. And the guy was older so it was not exactly catered to our generation, but still good. After awhile we went and sat down by the water and just listened to the music. It was so calming and relaxing. Me and Bhav
ika decided to leave and go looking for some other kinds of music. We walked by Plaza Reil and it was packed, so we didnt stay, but the band was cool. It was an Irish rock band, and i think we liked it so much because we could actually understand what they were saying! We fought our way through the crowd and went to plaza st. Juame where there was a folk band from slovenia. I know, I know it sounds funny, a folk band, but seriously they were so good. Some of the best music I have ever heard. Me and Bhavika just sat there on this pole thing in the back for about two hours just listening. One of the guys was playing the violin and he was so good at it. I took a video of him too, so you could hear it. They also had a chello among other things. After that we just headed back to the dorm and went to sleep. I have a lot of pictures so i am going to post as many as i can, and write about sunday and monday on a new post!
perform all weekend. It began with a fireworks show done by France at the port at 10 pm. We all went down there in this big group to watch this supposedly great firework show. It was lame. I'm pretty sure I have seen better fireworks in Boerne, Tx. But, it was still nice to sit by the water and watch some fireworks. After they were done, the plan was to go back to the dorm and get ready to go out with the spanish kids that live here. We hadn't me them yet, but they had posted signs in the elevators to meet outside at midnight to go to the forum. The forum is like an area of town where they had a carnival and live music until 5 in the morning. When we were walking by the dorm we passed a stage with some music playing and some of us decided to stop. We went up to the front of the crowd and listened to the band. They were so good! It was obvisouly all in spanish so i had no idea what they were saying, but i am in love with spainsh music now, seriously, its so good. It was a rumba band, with a guitar and an accordion. We just chilled there listening to music and dancing for about an hour before we had to head back to meet up with the spanish kids. Everyone met up right outside our dorm building, and there were so many people. We met some of them and they were so nice and fun. Most of them speak english, but not very well, so the conversations were rather interestin
g. And, they were all super loud and crazy due to some alcohol in their system. We walked down the block to the subway station and all got on the subway. I can't even begin to describe them like it was, but it was crazy. They were all screaming songs one right after the other and dancing around. It was really fun. When we got there, the music just didnt compare to the band we had heard earlier. We were just walking around checking out all the bands for a while and then we walked over to the carnival. Christa and Anthony rode some rides and then we rode the subway home. It was really fun just because we had wanted to meet the spanish kids really bad and we finally got to. We didnt get home until pretty late, so we slept in the next day pretty late. Saturday guess what we did...walked around! There were all these little tents with people selling stuff, from jewelry, to food, to clothing, and they were everywhere. We started with th
e Raval area, which is on our street down a couple of blocks. There were these guys who were just like a street band and they were playing catalan music and there were like 10 people in a circle doing these really cool dances! It was so fun to watch. Then we headed over to La Rambla and went to the Boqueria to get some fresh fruit. After we dropped it off, we went back to La Rambla to some more of the tents. Along the way there are all these different type of street performers, so we stopped and watched some of them. One was these tango dancers which was really cool. I took a video, but it probably won't load on here. :( Then we stopped and watched some break dancers that were amazing. And then on to some more shops. By the time we were 
done with this is was getting pretty late so we headed back to the dorm to change and plan the night. First on the list was the Fire Run. It's like a parade sort of, except insane. Like, i'm pretty sure it would be illegal in the States. They start off with a band and these people dancing up on the stage wearing burlap suits with hoods and horns like a dragon. The people of Barcelona participate in the parade according to the neighborhood they live in and they all come dressed covered with pants and long sleeves, bandanas around their faces and goggles, hoods, and tennis shoes. When the parade starts, people come walking down the street holding these sticks with fireworks similar to sparklers on the ends and wave them around and people dance u
nder them and stuff. Its pretty cool, but dangerous if you aren't dressed appropriately or act stupid around it. And, its not like the US where there would be like a roped off fence to keep people away or make the people participating stay away from you with the fire. nope. they can do whatever they want. some people would come by spraying your feet with sparks, and if you were in the first 4 or 5 rows, you were getting sprayed with sparks. It was amazing but pretty scary. We wore jeans and hoodies, but no glasses or anything and my jacket was a really light cotton sweater, so i wasn't very protected but good enough. When it first started we got really scared because we didnt really know what was going on, so we were like oh crap and were running tryi
ng to get away from the fire. Then after a while, me and Bhavika actually went out in the street and danced in the fire! It was one of the coolest things i've ever done! I got burned a little bit, but nothing bad on my skin. It was just some burn marks on my jacket that i could feel. I also got a picture with one of the guys who was holding a fire stick thing! After that we ended up going back to the same stage we had been to the night before where we like the music so much because it was another rumba band playing. They were good, but not near as good as the night before. And the guy was older so it was not exactly catered to our generation, but still good. After awhile we went and sat down by the water and just listened to the music. It was so calming and relaxing. Me and Bhav
ika decided to leave and go looking for some other kinds of music. We walked by Plaza Reil and it was packed, so we didnt stay, but the band was cool. It was an Irish rock band, and i think we liked it so much because we could actually understand what they were saying! We fought our way through the crowd and went to plaza st. Juame where there was a folk band from slovenia. I know, I know it sounds funny, a folk band, but seriously they were so good. Some of the best music I have ever heard. Me and Bhavika just sat there on this pole thing in the back for about two hours just listening. One of the guys was playing the violin and he was so good at it. I took a video of him too, so you could hear it. They also had a chello among other things. After that we just headed back to the dorm and went to sleep. I have a lot of pictures so i am going to post as many as i can, and write about sunday and monday on a new post!
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