Adventure the Fifth: Fireworks, Castles, and Girona

Today marks the end of my fourth week in Spain and so far it has been packed with activity, until now. Even though, thanks to La Merce, I only had classes on Monday and Tuesday I still had an incredibly calm and relaxing weekend. I began the long weekend by going to one of the free concerts that are part of La Merce and exploring the barrio known as Raval. The best way to describe Raval; hipster. Seriously there were beanies everywhere. Sometime I would like to go back to that barrio when it is less crowded. Being in the area after a concert, when no one has to work the next day is not always the best idea. Wednesday only brought on bigger crowds as I and a few friends ventured to Placa de Jaume to see some amazing human castells. Yes, the castells are always interesting, but what I really learned that day was that the Spanish really have no respect for personal space. Riding the metro that day gave me a taste of what it was like to be packed in like sardines. It was really terrible! Despite the fact that the metro doors couldn't close people still thought it was a good idea to shove their way onto the metro. In the evening it was time to head to Placa Espanya for the closing fireworks show where I was, once again, met by crowds and people who were perfectly comfortable with practically standing on top of me. But the fireworks show was spectacular; considerably better than any 4th of July show I've seen in the states, and I've been to Boston for 4th of July! The fireworks were choreographed to the music and a film on the history of Catalonia would play in between the explosions. I wish I could describe the experience, but it really was a "You had to be there moment". Also there was a pole in the middle of my view so videos didn't really turn out that great. Thus ended my experience with La Merce. A wonderful week full of fire, explosions, free concerts, and no classes.

Thursday and Friday were spent relaxing and, quite frankly, doing nothing. I successfully found the library in my barrio and the store that sells all the American goodies such as peanut butter and Mac & Cheese. Friday was spent laying on the beach and doing nothing else. Now that is what I call living the good life. Saturday brought a little more adventure as I headed to a city about 45 minutes outside of Barcelona called Girona. All we knew was that we were leaving Barcelona at 12:45 and returning from Girona at 9:00, otherwise we had no plans. No idea of what to do in Girona, no guidebook, no nothing. So keeping that in mind here are a few stories/thoughts on the things we saw while in Girona.

University of Girona: I would transfer there if I could. I'm pretty sure one of the buildings used to be a castle. Essentially it's the Spanish version of Hogwarts

Jewish Quarter: Kind of a let down. Honestly I didn't know I was in the Jewish quarter until we walked past the Jewish history museum. I was hoping for restaurants with latkes and stores that had recipes for matzo ball soup. Instead I got a store that sold t-shirts that said Girona with a picture of a menorah on it.

Cathedral: Big. That's it just big. It cost 7 euro to go in so we were content with just observing the exterior.

Fashion Show: I don't think we were supposed to be there. It just looked like a plaza with a bunch of vendors until a friend pointed out that the red carpet I was standing on was actually the runway. So we quickly had some free snacks and then left.

Hiking Trails; Just like any other trails except these were in Spain. Although at some point we did end up in someone's backyard. To be fair that is where the trail led us.

Great Wall of Spain: I'm sure there is a real name for the castle/wall but I don't know what it is. We dubbed it The Great Wall of Spain because at some point we looked to the left and saw the wall and castle towers continuing on. We got a little adventurous and chose to climb the castle wall and shimmy around a gate and then jump a small gap just to reach some small temple like thing. Not really sure how legal these activities were, but there were no posted signs telling us what not to do so I assume we didn't break any serious laws.