Keeping busy in BCN!

Alright, so apologies for not updating my blog in over a week. Its quite a busy life here in Barcelona. I spent the last 3 days at the university here trying to add/drop classes. Definitely not as easy as in Richmond.  I really miss how efficient the US is sometimes.

A few shout outs. First happy birthday to my beautiful little sister Sophia! Hard to believe she is 10 years old already. I miss her so much!

Second, I want to say thank you to my friend Joan for continuously reading my blog! Joan is from Barcelona and studied at Pompeu Fabra. He is a pretty awesome guy :) He loves to show us around Barcelona and knows everything about the city!

This weekend was the famous festival in Barcelona called La Mercé. Friday night I went out to a club on the beach until 6 am so I was very tired all day saturday. I gathered enough energy to attend the gigantes parade - I'm not sure how else to describe it but it is a parade of giant human characters. Saturday night night I was able to see a La Mercé concert. It was a group from Sweden. Their songs were actually very good. Unfortunately it started to rain halfway through so I went home.

Sunday was a great day!! The best part of the day was seeing the human castles perform in Plaza St. Jaume. I have always seen pictures of the famous human towers in Spain but seeing them in person was absolutely incredible. Being so close to the towers made me realize just how challenging they are and the amount of strength, balance, and trust needed to build them. Here are a few photos:

After seeing the human towers Natalie, Bilyana, Joan and I grabbed lunch by the port. Then with other ERASMUS students we took a tour of Montjuic, a hill to the west of the city with incredible views. Natalie and I grabbed tapas and vino before heading to Correfoc, a parade of people dressed up as devils with dangerous firecrackers. You are supposed to wear flame-retardant clothing... whoops? We finished off  the night by racing to Plaza España just in time to see the closing fireworks!  It was a long day but definitely a fun-filled one.

I guess now it is time to buckle down and start doing work. My classes are all in spanish which makes homework more difficult. But it is a great challenge and I really hope to become fluent. This weekend will be a nice break from work. On Thursday there is a huge Pompeu Fabra party at a club on the beach. Then this weekend Richmond students in Barcelona will head to the beautiful Costa Brava. I should have plenty of pictures to post next time! :)