Sunday afternoon me and Daniela caught the RENFE train and headed north of the city. There are a ton of beaches to the north and our plan was just to get off at whatever one appealed to us. We stopped at one named Ocata. It was incredibly hot on Sunday so everyone was at the beach. They were packed with families and the chilly water actually felt really refreshing. We went to the beach with the intention of doing homework but our excuse was that it was too hot to focus. :) So after roasting in the sun for a couple hours we got lunch and headed back to the apartment to shower and actually do homework before the FINAL EUROCUP game: Spain vs. Germany.
We met up with a bunch of IES kids at an Irish Pub called Kennedy's down by the beach. We got there about an hour before the game and it became packed! We split a bottle of Cava (Spanish Champagne) as we rooted for Spain. We met some girls from Holland who were also cheering on the red. The game was incredibly exciting and when Torres scored the only goal everyone went nuts! Spain ended up winning 1-0 and "We are the Champions" started playing! Hahaha! All the way over here in Spain - same song. It was just insane. Daniela informed me that Spain hadn't won the Eurocup since 1964 and hadn't made it to the finals since 1984. Sadly, because we are in Cataluña...the partying wasn't quite as crazy as it was in Madrid at the Plaza Colon which looked like New Years Eve in Madison Square Gardens. Rumor has it that some people were burning German flags in the streets in Barcelona and there were tons fireworks and cars honking their horns to the Spanish song. I can definitely see how everyone follows soccer. Living in Europe can turn anyone into a fútbol fan.
Monday was a pretty normal day as far as I can remember...did lotsssss of homework.
Tuesday, however, was the beginning of REBAJAS!!!! Rebajas is a city-wide sale that starts every summer on July 1 and lasts until August 30. All of the stores have sales between 30-70% off. Tuesday morning me, Saran, and Tania were lined up outside of Zara with a bunch of Spaniard women just waiting to bust into the store - just like the day after Thanksgiving in the states. More craziness. I bought some work clothes at Zara and Mango and a tank top at Desigual which are three famous Spanish labels. Pretty exciting. Tania and Saran were getting mad at me though because I spent a lot less then them because I'm an expert sale shopper. Haha. And I reminded them that at the American stores it's not necessarily that great of a sale if you factor in the exchange rate...They didn't like that one either even though they admitted that it was true. Haha.
Today I had to do a ton of work in the morning before class but then of course I went shopping again after class. I was on a mission to complete my souvenir hunt and completed it many hours later. After cooking another yummy dinner, I was studious and studied with Saran for our test tomorrow and now I'm packing things up and getting ready to come home.
Barcelona has treated me well, but I can't wait to get home! See you all soon. Love you lots.
DD
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