Barca 2011

Currently my internet is down and we have about a half hour until dinner, so I figured what better to do than write a quick blog about the weekend. I’ll start with a short recap of last Wednesday. During the month of July, there is a top DJ at a club Opium Mar every Wednesday night. Last weekend was Kaskade, and it was one of the craziest experiences I’ve had. Even though we bought tickets to the show, we still had to wait in line for about an hour and a half because there were so many people waiting to get in. Once we got into the club, we headed straight for the dance floor because Kaskade was coming on within the next ten minutes. When he came out, the club erupted and people crammed into the main room, to the point where you could barely move. When his best songs came on (all which will be played at Tomorrowland, a festival I’m going to later this month), my buddies and I went crazy. Kaskade spun for about 2 and a half hours and when he left the stage we decided it was time to head home. Tonight, Tiesto (the number 1 DJ in the world) is spinning at Opium, but the tickets are 35euro (a little over $50) so I decided to opt out.

            On Saturday at 9am about 40 of us boarded a bus for a four hour ride to Carcassonne, France. The first thing we did upon arrival was take a tour of the medieval castle about a five minute walk from our hotel. The inner walls of the castle were erected by the Romans in 2^nd century AD as a fortress for them to trade between Spain and Italy. The outer walls were constructed 9 centuries later by the French during the medieval times, as a means to keep enemies away from the castle. It was really neat seeing all the history in the castle, especially in the Cathedral, because I have never seen anything as old as that. There are actually about 100 people who live inside the castle, so inside the walls there were shops, bakeries, and even a few bars. Later in the evening, after about a half hour of sing-a-longs with all the guys (backstreet boys, lion king, shaggy, baby got back, etc), we all headed back to the castle to go to a few of the bars. How many people can say that they’ve partied inside a medieval castle? Well now I can! The bars were really fun, and the people loved watching the “Americans”, who apparently never come there at night.

            The next morning we boarded the bus back to Spain to go to the Dali museum. Salvador Dali is an extremely talented and famous artist who most of you would recognize from his melting clock painting. We ended up spending about two hours in the museum, which consisted of 22 rooms and hundreds upon hundreds of paintings and sculptures. After leaving the museum, I came to the conclusion that Dali was either really messed up in the head or a complete genius. One of the paintings looked like a naked woman walking down a beach, but if you took a picture of it and looked at it on your camera, it looked like Abraham Lincoln. I was in complete awe at the amount of detail and time that must have been put in to each painting. Each one of us now has a completely new respect for good artists.

            This week has been pretty laid back so far (besides the 4^th of July which was too much to explain). I’m heading to Pamplona tomorrow for the Running of the Bulls, so I’ll have an update on that when I return. Hope everyone is doing well back at home. 

One of our group leaders, Roy, has posted about 6 videos of our weekend activities on youtube. The url is http://www.youtube.com/user/dreambcn2011 if you want to check them out!

This weekend was one of the best I’ve had in a long time. It all started on Thursday night with a holiday called Sant Joan, which is a celebration of the Summer Solstice. I don’t think anyone can really fathom the idea of Sant Joan until they actually experience it. Before going out, our leaders had told us to take every precaution in the book (girls wear their hair up, everyone wear long sleeves, wear a cotton shirt, don’t bring a lot of money because it will be stolen, etc, etc). The night was not as dangerous as they had made it out to be, but it was still the most insane experience I’ve ever had. We started off the evening by grabbing dinner here at the UAB campus, and heading over to the beach around 8:30. Our plan at the time of departure was to get to the beach at around 9:15 and drink champagne and wine while watching the sunset (the sun doesn’t set here until about 10pm). Our idea of a nice time watching the sunset was completely thrown for a loop when we got off the metro to find people throwing fireworks everywhere. Imagine watching a 4 year old light and throw a firework that could make your ears ring for about a minute. Parents were letting these kids do whatever they wanted with the fireworks, which was such a different cultural experience. And then of course there were the Spanish teenagers who pulled out the big guns that made you jump every time, even if you knew the explosion was coming. The scene was outrageous, and we couldn’t wait to get to the beach for the rest of the festivities. When we arrived at the beach, we were greeted by thousands of people with bonfires and more fireworks. These fireworks were big time though, all very similar to the big ones you might see on the 4^th of July. And the fireworks didn’t only come out for the start of the night…there were hundreds of continuous explosions until 5 or 6 in the morning. After a stroll down the beach, we finally found a good spot to gather the group for the night. Instantly, Carlos and Brett were in their underwear in the Mediterranean.  Carlos is from Spain, so he knows the holiday, and he told us that getting in the water the night of Sant Joan meant that your sins would be cleansed. About 10 of us decided to join them in the water for a late night swim, and it was the more fun than I could have imagined. After swimming, it was terrible trying to put our sandy jeans back on, but the swim capped off one of the greatest nights ever.

On Friday about 8 of us thought it’d be fun to go to the aquarium seeing as it is the largest in the Mediterranean. When we got down by the beach, some of us guys grabbed lunch at this authentic little Spanish joint thinking it would be really good. We ended up having to pay 94 Euro or about $140 between the 6 of us for what I would consider small appetizers. After that, I decided it might not be worth the 18 Euro to go to the aquarium, so me, John, and Mike went to the beach and fell asleep for about 3 hours, which was much needed.

Saturday night was another big night. As a group we all headed down to the city to see a Flamenco show at Flamenco Palace. The meal was one of the best that I have had here so far (Sangria, Bread, Salad, Chicken Paella, more Sangria, and a delicious dessert that I don’t even know how to describe. After finishing our meal, it was time for the show, which consisted of about an hour of stunning performances by 7 different dancers, a small band, and a small choir. The show was completely different than I thought it would have been, but I was glad that I was able to see such a unique side of the Spanish culture. Following the Flamenco show, we all headed to Mont Juic to watch the Magic Fountain show. The show is basically a smaller version of the Bellagio water show with Disney music playing in the background. We had a ton of fun taking random pictures and dancing around the fountain for a while. My favorite part of the night came at George Payne’s; an Irish pub with karaoke. I got a little taste of home when my buddy Nic and I played darts for about an hour. My skills were not up to par, but we had some pretty close games and had a blast playing. Nic is basically my American Bar Game buddy, because we always play pool if there is a pool table at the bar too. After Payne’s we capped off the night at a club called Otto Zutz. The group came to a consensus that Zutz is our new favorite club, because they play rap and hip hop, which is a nice change from all the House music they play out here.

On Sunday morning Meri, Luke, Olivia, Brandon and I decided to go hike Montserrat, which I must say was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. The ride over there took a while, so we brought cards to play Rummy on the train. I started off terrible, but got the hang of it by the time we got there. After taking the train up the mountain, we decided to hike around a bit before going to take a look at the monastery. We had a lot of fun taking crazy pictures along the hike, as we made our way towards the cross. The cross was at the edge of the mountain overlooking a deep valley, with an amazing view of the monastery. Looking over the valley, I was in awe of the amount of beauty that one place could possess. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite spots on the Mogollon Rim that we went a few times on D Group trips. Luke and I are thinking about taking a trip back to that spot again sometime to just have some alone time looking out over the valley, which is something I can’t wait for. When it started to get late, we headed back down the church, which was the most amazing church I have ever been in. There was so much intricate design and history in the building and courtyard. I can’t wait to show some of you the video I took, and explain the different aspects of the design.

This weekend was amazing, and my only wish would be to have shared some of the experiences I had with you guys back home. 

So this weekend was one of the most relaxing times I´ve had since I´ve been out here in Barcelona. On Saturday we went to the beach for the entire day and basically laid out and checked out the local area. Me and my buddy Nic went to a nearby surf shop to see if they had any cheap longboards, but the least expensive was 200 Euro or about $300, so we decided to pass. On Sunday, we went to the beach again for the entire day. This time we had a group of about 20 people. It was a bit chilly and windy, but the guys decided to make the best of it by body surfing for about an hour. It was funny because the wind affected the guys and girls in different ways. The guys had an amazing time because the wind made some pretty sweet waves, while the girls were freezing  trying to tan on the beach. It can be somewhat annoying just laying on the beach at Barceloneta though because there are tons of vendors who will invade your personal space in order to sell you their product or service. Other than that, the beach was much needed, and I felt really refreshed afterwards.On the way home, there were thousands upon thousands of people protesting in the streets near Plaza Catalunya. It had to do with the unemployment rate, police brutality in prior protests, and Government issues. I had never seen that many people in one place before. Imagine an entire stadium full of people crammed into the streets, to where you can barely move to get by. The scene was incredible to see. I took a video, but it’s having trouble uploading, so I will try to post it once I get it on my laptop.
On Monday, we started up work again. It´s been neat at work because I get to work on a few different projects throughout my time here. Currently I´m focusing on ad based revenue market research as well as pricing specific location based advertising agency services. It´s interesting getting to see all the different things that come up when searching for these types of advertising, and so far I´ve learned a lot. Monday was also my coworker Matt´s birthday, so our boss took us all out to eat at this delicious sushi restaurant near by. I´ve found (unfortunately) that the meal portions here are a lot smaller than those in the States, which I´m not a huge fan of. They say that you´re getting a four course meal, but each course is about the size of an appetizer, which is slightly disappointing. The food has been pretty good so far, but I´m going to try and branch out this next week and find some unique places. Monday was also the day that I came down with a bad cold, so when I got home from work I slept from 5-10, watched a movie, and then went back to bed again at midnight. It was a much needed rest after the go go go of the previous weeks and I felt much better on Tuesday morning, which was good because Tuesday afternoon was the Camp Now visit!
Camp Nou is Futbol Club Barcelona’s Stadium. If you don’t know about FC Barcelona, they are the best futbol/soccer team in the world. They won the UEFA Champions League title earlier this month, and won La Liga (Spanish Premiere League) against their rival Real Madrid not too long ago. Basically they are a group of all-star players all put on to one team, but they’re classy unlike the Yankees. We could not wait to get to Camp Nou, as it is supposed to be an incredible sight. Walking into the stadium, everyone had their cameras out because we knew we would be taking tons of pictures. The first thing we did was sit in the grand stand section of the stadium while our tour guide Frank explained a few things about the stadium. The capacity is an astounding 99,000 and about 80,000 of the seats are owned by people of the city. It a ticket holder decides not to go to the game, they can sell their ticket back to the stadium for about 50euro ($75) and then the stadium can sell that seat to the public. For the Real Madrid game, most of the ticket holders go to the game or sell their ticket on the black market so that they can get a lot more for it (about 1000euro/$1500). This is one of two games all season that has full attendance. The other is when Barca plays in the Champions League Semifinal. For a standard game they usually get about 75,000 people in attendance. The rest of the stadium was amazing. We got to see the opposing team’s locker room, the tunnel that the players come down, the players high quality seats for the games and the box. We even got to stand right next to the field. The coolest part about the inside of the stadium was the phrase Mas Que Un Club that was painted on the seats across from the players seating. It means More Than A Club, and it represents how the team is more than just another soccer team; they are part of the Catalan culture and represent the community.
Another thing that I was really surprised by was the fact that until the 2006 season FC Barcelona did not have a logo on their uniforms. Most teams have companies like O2, AIG, and bwin pay money to have the team put their company name on the team uniform. In 2006 FCB payed UNICEF 1.5 million euros per year to wear the UNICEF name across their shirt in order to give to a charitable cause. This upcoming year will be the first year that Barcelona has had someone pay them (Qatar Foundation) for a name spot on their uniforms. Pretty neat if I do say so myself. I asked the security guard on the field if he could give me one blade of grass with a root from the field, but he declined. I had planned on growing the blade into an entire lawn back in the States, but Mr. Security ruined all hopes of that dream ever coming true. The last part of the tour was the trophy room and museum, which were the most amazing things I’d ever seen. FCB has been a premiere futbol team for a long time (starting in 1899) so the amount of trophies they had was almost endless. The most amazing was the six major trophies that they had won over one year. The museum had touch screen pads for each major player and all their best goals, as well as a huge theater displaying Barca’s best games over the years. I can’t even begin to explain how sweet the entire tour was. It is definitely something I will never forget, and i hope that one day I can actually see a game played there.

This blog is going to be really short, but I have to explain this place.

So last night we went to this bar called Dow Jones which is just about the greatest place on earth. It’s a bar that revolves around the market, so depending on who is buying what, the drinks go up or down in price. And then every half hour the market crashes and it gets really crazy. I ended up playing pool with a bunch of British guys and had a blast (forgot how much I loved that game). So if you ever get a chance to go to Barcelona, definitely go to Dow Jones because it’s fantastic.

Also, mom, i know you were wondering if I’ve been staying healthy and I would like to let you know that we play soccer twice a week for 2 hours, basketball twice a week for two hours, and lift about 3 times a week. So there :)

          So currently I’m sitting at my desk listening to some Mumford (good choice, I know), and just kind of thinking about what has happened the last few days, so I thought I’d let you know! Well to start, we began work on Wednesday. I’m working with a company called Spectrum IFA (independent financial advisers) as well as a company named Levana Games. I mostly work with Spectrum though. So far it’s been really great. I work in an apartment with 4 other people; my boss Barry, a guy from my program Matt, Barry’s PA Heather, and an intern from Germany Vivien.  It’s been a really fun group to work with so far! I’ve been given the opportunity to work with things that are completely new to me, so although they may be difficult to start with, I can already tell that I’m going to learn a ton this summer from this internship. The most difficult part so far has been establishing financial portfolios for clients and basing the information off valuations and purchasing history. My first day, my boss Barry, sat down and just chatted with me and Matt for about a half hour about life, and then we got to work. I even got to go to a lunch meeting with my boss the first day, which was a great experience. I’m working from 10-4 each day with about an hour lunch break, so it’s not bad at all and I like the work so far.

          Besides work is the night life. IT”S INSANE! I’ve been out 6 of the 7 nights I’ve been here, and tonight will make it 7 out of 8 (we are going to an Irish Karaoke Bar). Now going out here is completely different than back at home. At home we might go out at 9:30 or 10 and stay out until 2 or 3 on a late night. Let’s just say that the real party here doesn’t start until about 2am. On Monday, we went to a club called Boulevard on the street Las Ramblas (popular for tourism). We caught the last train from our stop, Bellaterra, and arrived at the club at about 1am figuring it’d be raging by then. Well we were wrong because we were basically the only people there. So we just started hanging out with the Chupitos bartender Charlotte (who we might all have lunch with soon). Chupitos basically means shot, and they have about 200 different ones that are all so fun. For example, one has gum in it and tastes like watermelon, one of them you eat part of an orange to start and the rest of the juice goes in the shot, The Osama is a shot with coffee in it, then the orgasm (hold the shot in your mouth while she uses a head scratch thing to give you the chills).  At about 2:30 the club was insane, with people packed wall to wall. Besides that the story is about the same. Clubbing every night has been legit, getting in at 6:30am on the first train home. Some amazing stuff has happened here and I can’t wait to see what the next seven weeks hold!

So day 2 was basically spent roaming around the city. We started in Plaza Catalunya and headed towards the mountains. The variety of architecture in Barcelona is astounding.  I threw some pictures up on Facebook if anyone wants to take a look at the photos.  The first stop we took was to the night bus stop (the train stops running at midnight on the weekdays and 2 on the weekends, so this is where we go after that). After finding that, our “group” at this point went to a restaurant called Qu Qu and had just about the greatest Sangria that this world has ever know. The restaurant was delicious and since it’s so nice out we all sat outside and people watched. after lunch we got a glimpse of some naked protesters running through the city screaming (literally completely naked), and watched them get into an argument with an elder gentlemen who wasn’t too happy with their presence. Diana, Luke, David, and Brandon decided to tour Casa Batllo (Gaudi) and check out the architecture, and while they did that me and Mike got a little better feel for the city. We found out that the closer you get to the mountains, the nicer all the restaurants and shops are, and the more difficult it is to find a chill bar to grab a beer at. When we all met back up, we decided to go to Plaza Catalunya and check out all the hippies camping out and selling all their fake purses and sunglasses.  So far nne of them have lured me in, but some of those Ray Bans were pretty sweet, so I might have to make a stop back there later on. We ended up grabbing dinner in San Jugat at this pizza joint, and afterwards met up with some of the other girls on are trip and just kicked back for the night.  The weather so far is beautiful, consistently in the 60’s and 70’s, so we’re hoping that lasts. Other than that, this morning we just hit up the gym (which is really nice to be able to use), and we’re heading to the “walmart” here soon to grab some grub and a basketball.  I’ll keep you all updated!