La Merce

The LA MERCE festival..... La Merce is bigger than anything I could have ever imagined. It is like a combo mix of Mardi Gras + 4th of July. On Saturday night, a bunch of us went to the Hives concert. I experienced my first big, bad, super hard metal rock concert. Yeah, I think I'm gonna continue to stick to country music... The next morning, there were dance performances with people of all ages participating. Little old men and women would join in on their dancing. It was very cute. And that evening, to close the festival, there was a 45 minute fireworks show! One would not think European fireworks were different than American fireworks, but somehow they were very superior. The fireworks were so beautiful and the festival so great, I almost found myself brought to tears by the sadness that La Merce was over. I somehow was able to keep it together though, no pasa nada! (no pasa nada is our madre's FAVORITE term. i hear it at least 20 times a day)

According to Meg and my cultural psychology professor though, these intense feelings, such as the ones felt at the end of the fireworks, are only a result of our "cultural transitioning." Our class is so much of a therapy session, I feel like I should either pay her when I leave or start giving her hugs. My other classes at UPF are in full swing! I had my first time in the Spanish library, which actually turned out to be a tramatic experience. I didn't realize that you had to sign into the computers with an access code and apparently, I am very capable of stealing someone's computer, aka an angry Spaniard's computer. He scared me so badly that he came up to apologize later and told me he had overreacted, and I am free to use his computer whenever. I often use my inability at speaking Spanish to my advantage. Not understanding is just such a simple excuse....

My other class at UPF is awesome! Out of about 50 kids, 3 are American and the rest are from literally ALL over the world. Countries represented include: Iceland, Sweden, France, Germany, Portugal, India, Mexico, Germany, Holland, UK! It was a very impressive cultural experience.

We have gotten to enjoy our first soccer games with our host family. The family lives very close to the stadium, and they keep telling me that you can actually hear the crowd yelling and cheering.

So far I have not heard these supposed noises, but every time they all ask me excitedly I just kinda nod my head in agreement. It is really fun to watch the soccer games with them, because I get to sit on the couch with the 3 little boys and their dad. It is so cute to watch all of these little boys yell and cheer at the television. They totally mimic whatever their dad does. The funny thing is I also mimic the dad because I too want to pretend I have some idea what's going on.

There's lots to look forward to here in Barcelona! This weekend our friends are visiting, which is so so great. I love seeing people from home abroad. It is the greatest feeling. And next weekend, we are going to Portugal to see more friends from Wake!