Clubbing

The last two days have been quite an adventure.  On Thursday after our orientation class we were assigned to do a scavenger hunt around the area of our school.  The prize for winning is a free trip to La Garrotxa, the volcanic zone.  It is a 50 Euro trip that I was planning on doing anyway because it is cheap and only one day, so I was trying to win.  Since I was the only guy in my group I pretty much took charge and navigated our group around the city while some of the girls took the pictures that we needed.  I think we have a good chance of winning and I will be stoked if we do.

Thursday night is the first night my roommate and I really experienced the nightlife of Barcelona.  We both have signed up for a lot of Facebook groups where promoters send us deals and other information about going out and Thursday night their was a free pub crawl. We went to three bars and got a free drink at each one so it was an opportunity that we could not pass up.   We met up with some people at our school and then headed down to the first bar.  The first bar we went to was like an English pub and had two floors.  It also had a bunch of TV's and I would bet that it gets pretty crowded when a game is on.  The second place was a lot smaller and since the group was so large it wasn't that great and you couldn't really move.  The third was a bit bigger and the free drink was a shot that tasted like apple juice, so I doubt there was too much alcohol in it.  By that point I was pretty tired and only had a few drinks but we decided to go to the disco (dance club) called Opium Mar by the beach.  This place was very nice and we got in free because of the pub crawl.  The music was pretty fun and we danced for a few hours before getting a cab back home.  I had a great time and it was just as I expected it to be.

Friday was our first day of Spanish class and waking up at 11 was harder than I had anticipated.  I also decided to ride by bike to class and ended up being a little late and getting a little lost, but my teacher understood.  Class was pretty easy and it was more of an introduction and a getting to know each other class.

After class, a lot of people were going shopping and I had my bike so I decided to bike around the city and explore the beach area.  I went down to the Marina where there is a beautiful boardwalk.  I had my camera and I took about 20 pictures.  I got the feeling that every road I went on had a beautiful picture that could be taken and there were so many buildings that just blew my mind.  This city has so much history and so many old buildings that you really can't explain it in words...so I have pictures.  I ended up biking about 12 miles during the day and was so exhausted afterwords that I took a 2 hour nap when I got home. 

Friday night we went out again.  This time near a street called Las Ramblas.  This is a area near the Gothic district with literally hundreds of bars, clubs, and restaurants.  I was told that the restaurants are a bit nicer and to take my parents there when they come visit.  We looked on the map and found a bar called the London Bar where we had a beer and then went to a club promoters birthday party at a place called The Guru a block down.  On the way to the first bar we had a first in our lifetime experience.  We happened to run into some prostitutes who heckled us for a few minutes.  It was pretty annoying but we just walked fast and kept our hands on our wallets. After we left the club around 2:30 we went to catch the NitBus home.  While we were walking there were a lot of people on the streets trying to sell us things.  The men were trying to sell us beer and the women were trying to sell us sex.  Very interesting experience but we just kept walking.  Then we accidentally took the bus the wrong way so we decided to get off and wait for it going in the other direction.  Sadly, when it came going the right way for us, it just drove right past us.  We tried to run after it and it stopped to let some people off but then drove away when we were right behind it...and then ran a red light so we couldn't get it.  We ended up getting a cab which was only 10 euros and finally got back around 4 in the morning and went to sleep.  I had a great time and we learned from our mistakes, so next time it will be easier to get back home.