Ey! Cabrón! Saluda al Campeón!

So as we’ve all seen, I’m now the world’s biggest FC Barcelona fan. Call me what you want: an athletic enthusiast or simply a bandwagoner. Regardless, FC’s big win this weekend was easily one of the standout nights of my time in Barcelona. In case you weren’t aware, Barça had the Champions League final game this past Saturday night against Manchester United. Futbol (soccer) and FC Barça is not only an athletic event here, but a cultural phenomenon/OBSESSION. On Easter Sunday, people went to church, but for a traditionally catholic country, it was a fairly underwhelming spectacle. As far as I’m concerned, FC Barcelona has replaced organized religion in Cataluña. On Saturday night, I set out downtown to meet some of the girls I had met in Mallorca to watch the game. We settled in a bar near Las Ramblas that had set up a huge screen and rows of folding chairs to watch the match. Everyone was decked out in blue and red and anxiously awaiting the kickoff. At 27 minutes in, FC´s Pedro tapped the first goal in. The people in the bar went nuts: high fives, hugs, and the FC anthems broke out. Things settled back down for a few minutes until ManU’s Rooney weaved past Barça’s defense and tied the score. One very brave ManU fan celebrated but was promptly silenced by the local fans. After a tense 20 minutes AND halftime break, Barça’s Messi put another goal in to secure Barça’s lead. More celebration including singing and hugging continued. After a few close calls on both sides, at 69 minutes, David Villa secured Barça’s final goal. The room’s reaction made it clear that the rest of the night was going to be CRAZY. After the game ended, we headed out into the streets to join the celebrations. We headed toward Las Ramblas, where there were more people than you could possibly imagine. Everyone was singing FC Barça’s anthems (“Ole le! Ola la! Ser de Barça es el millor que hi ha!” Ole! Ola! Being a Barça fan is the best there is!), cheering, setting off fireworks, and dancing. Even the police officers, who were enjoying “adult sodas” in the street, were celebrating as well. However, as the night went on, it was clear that the celebrating was getting to be a little more than I could handle so I decided to head home.

The following day, I wanted to avoid the crowds in the city that would be celebrating the big win, so I decided to take the train to Sitges, the beach town outside of Barcelona CIEE took us to visit. It was a wonderful, relaxing day on the beach. Sitges is a popular destination for gay vacationers, so the beaches were full of painfully attractive men wearing the skimpiest bathing suits you could find. Rough. A Spanish couple from Alicante asked if they could use my SPF 50 (ha good joke. Baby oil. Duhhhhh.) and then chatted me up for a bit. They asked where I was from (San Francisco), where I learned Spanish (partly in school, partly at my family’s vacation home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico’s gay capital), and where I studied in the US (a women’s college). Javi, one of the guys then responded to me, “Wow. You love ‘nosotros gays’”. Yes, Javi. Yes I do.

A common theme throughout my semester abroad has been the prevalence of protests. While I was in Morocco, revolts broke out. All of Spain has been full of political protests the past few weeks, including in Plaza Cataluña in downtown Barça. This past weekend, there was a incident of what people are calling police brutality, where protestors refused to leave the Plaza when the city needed to clean it, and the police forcefully removed them (using their batons). People were OUTRAGED. Last night at around 9pm, people throughout my neighborhood went out onto their balconies and began banging on pots and pans. There was no shouting, just banging. I asked Juan what was going on and he explained it was a typical Spanish way of expressing displeasure with political events. It went on for about 30 minutes, but eventually people went back into their houses. It was surprisingly powerful.

Nothing terribly exciting coming up. I’m starting the second job this week, which is great, so I’ll have a little bit less free time. I suppose that’s all for now.

Hasta!

Current obsessions: FC Barcelona (2011 winners of the Champions League), guarding my bag from getting pick pocketed, getting annoyed at tourists (I’m going to elaborate on this. First of all, I’m flattered you think I’m Spanish, but if YOU don’t speak Spanish, don’t try. “AYUDA AHORA. PEDIDOS.” Shut up. At least throw a “por favor” in there. And then when I respond to you in English don’t say “Oh thank GOD you speak English. There are so many people who speak Spanish here!!!” Seriously? You’re in Spain. Keep up.), no lines at Bo d B!!!!!, tortilla española everrrrrrrrry day.