9/23/10 La Merce!

Okay, so today was amazing and packed with adventures.  In the morning, I had class.  First, my literature class and then my Spanish Civil War class.  For half of our Spanish Civil War class, the professor told us about different cafes in Barcelona that we should visit.  These are just cafes known for their food or drinks, but cafes made famous by either writers or artists who made it a place of culture.  After class I went home for lunch, which was basically like two lunches… a whole plate of sausage stuffed ravoli in a cheese sauce, in addition to a chicken breast and mushrooms.  I stuffed myself, so that I could eat a later dinner, since the festivities of Dia de la Mercedi.  After lunch, I took a nap… I am feeling like Ann Mann with my regular siestas now.  I left to meet Morgan and Emily in front of the University around 6:20.  We decided to meet by the University and walk to the Plaza de San Jaume for the opening ceremonies.

            On the way to the University, I ran into Michael on the metro.  I convinced him to come with us for the night.  We met at the University and walked down towards La Plaza de Catalunya and Las Ramblas until we found the Plaza de San Jaume.  The plaza is situated between two, old government buildings.  I think that one is the Parliament of Catalunya and I’m not sure what the other is.  In the square, a screen was set up on one side, where some guy was giving a speech.  He was inside one of the government buildings, but it was projected outside.  The only problem with the speech was that it was in Catalan.  On the other side of the square was a stage with chairs and instruments set up.  In the center of the plaza was a square stage.  All the people in the square surrounded this stage.  I was excited to see what would happen after the speech.  Between 7:30 and 8 pm, the square filled with more and more people.  When the speech ended, the band members took their seats on the side stage, and then these huge figures began to come out of the government building.  The parade of figures was amazing and set to the sound of the music made it even more exciting.  There were 3 couples of figures, that appeared to be kings and queens, and there was also a lion, dragon, huge turtle thing and much, much more.  They all filed out of the building and into the crowds of people surround the square on three sides.  Then one by one, the figures would come up to the center stage and do a performance to the music.  The first couple came up and did a dance together.  Each of the figures had one person inside of it, to hold it up and move it.  It is hard to describe, so check out the pictures.  Anyways, so one by one the figures came up and did their routines.  The dragons had sparklers coming out of their mouths to simulate fire breathing.

            So towards the end of the show, I started not to feel well.  I almost felt like I was going to throw up, and then I asked Emily if she had some water.  Then I got really lightheaded and from there I vaguely remember what happened.  I was leaning on Emily and then Michael, trying to get out of the plaza to get some water.  At that point, I couldn’t see anything.  So basically I fainted in the middle of the crowd.  I remember people telling me to lay on the ground and then someone lifted my legs up, so the blood would go to my head.  Then I felt better and this Indian woman was talking to me in English and telling me she was a physician and asking me if I had eaten enough today and if I had any other medical problems.  I was surrounded by people who were all looking at me and I felt so bad for passing out.  Then I stood up and went with Michael, Emily and Morgan to a restaurant (kind of like a Spanish version of Panera), and I sat down and had some water that Michael bought for me.  I also ate the apple I had brought with me.  I felt so bad that they had to take care of me in the crowd, but after drinking the water I felt so much better and we laughed about it.  Emily and Michael said that when they were trying to get me out of the crowd and I was really pale, that people were yelling at them in every language to put me on the ground.  And then they were asking if I was diabetic or if I had this issue a lot (which clearly Michael or Emily wouldn’t know if I did).  Anyways, so we stayed in the restaurant for a little while.  The parade ended outside and we went back out to see this wicked sick projection show on the building.  I have never seen anything like it.  I took some videos, so hopefully I can upload them onto the blog.

The fireworks show on the beach started at 10 p.m. so we walked for about 25 min to get there and sat down on the sand.  The fireworks were alright.  It is hard not to compare fireworks shows to the one in Jaffrey, NH.  I enjoyed watching this dog wander around the beach.  The owners had just let it roam around and I was really hoping it would come over to us.  It didn’t, but the dog was still really amusing to watch.  We then stopped in a grocery store to buy pan and jamon para nuestros bocadillos.  We got a call from some other people who were in the Plaza de Catalunya, so we started to walk back in that direction.  We walked for a while and then we came across this random parade.  The parade had some more of those large figures in it and lots of bands.  It was going down this narrow street and people were everywhere!  People were watching from their balconies and from the sidewalks.  The whole night it seemed as if the entire city was out partying.  People were walking around with open containers of alcohol everywhere and people were just wandering the streets.  It was truly a city wide fiesta!  So… we came across this parade and there was one drum squad that had people following it, so we hoped in the parade and followed them.  The group had so much energy and just kept going and going.  Occasionally they would stop in a plaza and just play for a while.  Morgan, Emily, Michael and I followed them for over an hour, just dancing and following them through the streets.  As we passed through the streets, more and more people would join the crowd and just follow the drummers, because they were so good.  I can’t even describe how fun it was and this is only the first night!  About an hour and a half later, the band finally needed to rest.  I was so impressed by how long they played for.  I was sweaty from just dancing, and they were drumming and dancing the whole time.  I took one video of it!  I wish I had taken more, but this one captures the excitement and involvement of the crowd.

            After the drumming, we went to a different plaza where there was a huge stage set up and hundreds of people.  They were having a concert with flamenco music and we all got some sangria before watching it.  After a few minutes at this concert, we decided to call it a night.  We took the metro from Las Ramblas and I made it home by about 1:30 am.  The metro will be open all night for the whole weekend.  I am so excited for Friday!  There will be events all day to go to!