The Family Photo! Andreu and Arnau were our lovely hosts, who I found through the website couchsurfing.com and I feel like I won the lottery! They were so hospitable and we shared so much in common- especially music! Andreu put our names on the guest list for this awesome party for the website he works for: indiespot.es (check it out)! It was so fun, though I felt like a lame-o for leaving so early (3am). Everything in Barcelona goes very very LATE, but the nightlife is incredible.
The view of the Temple de Sagrat Cor from their front balcony
One evening, we went to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make a nice Catalan dinner!
Wanna buy a pig leg?
the "natural" family photo
chestnuts! delicious!
We ate the chestnuts for dessert as we watched the Barcelona soccer game (they won, of course).
We sang songs together.
I am definitely bringing this Catalan tradition back home with me- make a piece of toast (with some good bread), slice a tomato in half, and rub the inside of the tomato onto the toast. Add a bit of olive oil, then put some sliced cured meat, or maybe some cheese on there, and BOOM! Catalan breakfast. SO GOOD!
(the view doesn't hurt, either)
Anyway, we all became good friends, and I could not possibly thank them enough for how good they made the trip. We ate traditional Catalan food, they showed us places we should visit, and they taught me a lot about the situation in Catalonia, which I think was the most important thing I took in, and I would not know about it if I had not spent time with locals.
People from Catalonia, which is a kingdom in Spain, do not identify with Spain. They speak Catalan instead of Spanish (though they can speak Spanish if needed), they have their own traditions, and they have been trying for the independence of Catalonia from Spain far a very long time now. But what I thought was especially cool was that they didn't have any bitter animosity towards Spain, everything they talked about was constructive. This was so refreshing having just come from France, where everyone is making a huge fuss, breaking stuff all over town, blocking schools and public transportation, and causing various other barbaric damage to their own land, just to "show" the government that they are unhappy. The people in Barcelona had the best attitude, they were all friendly, intelligent, hospitable, and constructive. It was so good to see people who were so knowledgeable and proud about a cause they were participating in. Then, when I got back to France and saw a torched car in front of my school, I wanted to go back to Catalonia!
You often see the Catalonia flag of independence all over the city:
So if you ever ask me how my trip to "Spain" was, I will get all sassy and tell you that I did not go to Spain, I went to CATALONIA!
Thank you to Andreu and Arnau for the best time in Barcelona!
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