First of all, I just want to say, I know this is going to be ridiculously long, but really stick with it because this was like.. FIVE DAYS of AMAZING that I am trying to squeeze into one blog entry. Anyways...
La Mercé means... the best time you have ever had, EVER. No seriously, I am not at all exaggerating! I wish every week were Mercé, although I am positive that I would not be able to handle all the fun and lack of sleep.
The first I heard of Mercé was when I was half asleep and Cristina (woman from London who works for BCA) was giving us a tour of the campus said, “Yeah, here is where the giants for Mercé start out.” Which peaked my interest, but not enough to actually do much about it. Then I started seeing signs everywhere about it. Then I noticed a random Thursday off of school. So I was like, “okay WHAT is going on...”
Mercé is Spain's patron Saint week, the actual day is Thursday, but the festivities last from Wednesday to Sunday. It is a big deal here. Fina was like, "you will go out every night.. right?" She thinks I am kind of... dull because I don't have the ability to stay out late and really party like a Spaniard. And I really don’t go out too often. Anyways!
Caitlin did some awesome research and looked into bands playing and other really neat things happening. To our delight, Billie the Vision and the Dancers would be playing, along with the Hives and other bands.
Check them out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-dakz2R_o
WEDNESDAY
We saw the giants in a parade and jumped around insanely! Our goal was to get confettied as much as possible. I think the most successful technique was the skip-clap dance. Seriously a blast! There was a concert at that plaza so Caitlin, Miguelito and I checked that out. I have no idea who it was, but Caitlin and I danced and were living it up. Miguelito left us and we proceeded to attempt a relationship with this woman who was really feeling the music. I soon realized that her armpits had not been shaved… ever.
Oh yeah, that was the night Caitlin began haggling with the street venders selling street beer. She was naturally skilled at this, but as the week went on, harnessed her rare talent.
We were home and in bed by 2am, which is SO not Spanish, but we had a big week ahead of us and couldn't get worn out on the first night of la Mercé! Oh right! I was wearing some.. mildy saggy crotch pants that I had bought for like 5 euro. They are not THE pair, but they are a good starter pair I guess. And Caitlin rocked a cute little jean dress (totally in style in España right now, go Caitlin). This was definitely a successful first day of Mercé.
THURSDAY
We went to see the stacking of people*****! Caitlin and I arrived approximately two and a half hours early and watched about 2.5 hours too many of giants dancing while squeezing into the smallest plaza ever. No, it was okay… just crowded and I was hurting from the night before. We spotted some children sitting on some metal gates on the outskirts of the plaza and made our way over there. Some nice man helped Caitlin and I climb up. It honestly was the best sitting/standing area in the whole place. I got a call from Miguelito who said "Look to your left", so I scanned the crowd of THOUSANDS to find him not far off from us. He, Aly, and Marie joined us in the best spot ever.
The CABALLEROS.. (or something like that?) started! Teams came out one by one and would make a human tower, first a man, then a smaller man, than a woman, then a mere child. Yes, a child, at the top of a tower of people. So these human towers supported by about 20 people at the base would walk through the crowd to the middle of the plaza. Then they began to construct a tower shaped like a circle with four people on each level, and with several small children at the top. The last two small children would have to go up and over this arch made by the two small children before then. The goal is to construct and deconstruct the tower without anyone falling and the fastest possible. It really was insane! I saw like two or three small children fall from ridiculously high! I think no one got hurt though…
A couple of teams went (the teams were from each neighborhood of Barcelona). The police came and told us to get down, so we were then crammed into the crowd. It was SO CROWDED and kind of on the stinky side. One of the human towers was made my five feet away from me! It was amazing!
I left there and saw some really neat little stands of people selling jewelry and clothing. I took my time going back and randomly, like an hour after parting ways, I bumped into Caitlin! In such a big city with so many people this is not a all likely. It was really convenient because she had left her keys in my purse! When she realized that I had her house keys, she sprinted through the metro station to catch me before I got on my metro headed the other direction.
The rest of the day, I just had a siesta, a Fina fight, and began to study for a ridiculously hard final that I would have the next day.. who makes a final during Mercé!? Side note: I am learning that fights with Fina are just part of life and not to take them personal.
FRIDAY
I walked to Caitlin's house (the entire opposite side of Barcelona) because I got tired of studying and wanted to waste some time. I saw all of these cute little shops that I hope to venture to again at some point in the near future! Caitlin and I studied outside of a little tapas place and had some Coke Lite. After was had done all we could to learn everything there is to know about Spanish (essentially, our test was "be able to use every one of 15 tenses in Spanish perfectly”) I headed home for lunch. Fina greeted me and started yelling at me in Spanish and I was like.. oh no! What is going on? So, I was all upset but it turned out to just be a misunderstanding. She did, however, tell me that I need to be more of a "señorita", which I took a little offense to, but no biggie.
Okay! exam and then back home! One my way home, I spotted a... well I guess it was like a goodwill. In this "goodwill" place I saw a really cute dress! Really cute and only three euros! Wonderful! It is a little black floral dress. I was pretty sure that it was some old lady dress, but it had potential to be trendy if I accessorized correctly. So I bought it! I had a siesta at home, and then put my sassy little grandma dress on and started getting ready. Okay, unfortunately, I did not have the right trendy accessories for the dress! I ended up wearing my pearls, black spandex and cute little flats. I was afraid I might be cold, so I threw on a little white sweater on my way out the door. As I was walking to meet Caitlin, I realized I looked straight up grandma and not trendy at all. Oh well, I embraced the role of Barb fully.
We met up and danced some salsa at a plaza where a band was playing. Caitlin was purchasing a street beer in the dark and made the mistake of paying with a 50 cent euro coin instead of 1 euro. She was quite pleased with the new price and managed to rip off a couple more street people. After salsa, we went to see the Go Team, a pop group from London. Okay, SERIOUSLY a good time! We managed to get extremely close to the stage. The lead singer, a cute chick with a London accent and an afro yelled "BARCELONA! HOW IS YOUR ENGLISH!?" and Caitlin replied "MY ENGLISH IS BANGING!" This man in front of us turned and asked her where she was from. She said California. He was from Missouri or somewhere (I will have to ask Caitlin, the details are all blurring). I was just minding my business, you know, getting my groove on when all of a sudden... this chick behind back-bends me! We were back to back and she just unexpectedly was bent over me and I was pretty much on the ground. I cannot explain it except to say that it was extremely awkward, shocking and euphoric all at the same time. I think I said "I just got back-bended" and "what was that!?" about ten times. The hippie girl gave me a hug from behind and said thanks! A combiaygh-kind of song came on and the Spanish hippie and her friends behind us were hugging and swaying. All of a sudden, they started saying "join us!" and grabbing Caitlin and I! I was embraced from behind, pet, and caressed on my face for the remainder of the song! The hippie man pulled Caitlin into the swaying group. Truly, unforgettable! As we were leaving, ANOTHER person stroked my hair! I have no idea what the deal was, but it was very peculiar! We called it a night, and were in bed by 2:30ish.
SATURDAY
This is the BIG night for Caitlin and me. We had planned for Correfoc, Billie the Vision and the Dancers (seriously look him up on Youtube this moment and listen to Summercat), and The Hives. I joined Caitlin at her house for dinner and then we headed out. First thing to do: find Pepe, Miguelito, Tomás and the gang at some random metro. The trouble is that there are like ten metro areas for every stop. Anyways, we kind of miraculously found them without the use of a cellphone. From there, we went to Correfoc, which I had thought was like, Spanish fireworks, but learned that it is people with dragons and metal sticks that are like HUGE sparklers that throw fire at the crowd. We had been warned to wear long sleeves, so we did, but honestly, nothing could have prepared us for this! The parade of fire goes through the streets and you are supposed to jump in with the fire people and dance in the fiery sparks! SO AMAZING. Tomás was like "Hannah, there were so many sparks in your hair" so I tied my sweater around my head!
After our fill our fire dancing, we headed off the find BILLIE THE VISION AND THE DANCERS. I was more excited for this than anything of Mercé. This was THE event that I knew I wanted to check out. So we get lost. And miss Billie. But in the process we run into a tiny plaza with a grand piano suspended 20 feet in the air.. sideways.. with some man playing it. I mean, he was no Billie, and it was disappointing, but he was pretty cool.
We finally figure out where we are going and manage to get see the end of the Hives concert. It was ridiculously packed and slightly uncomfortable, but amazing nonetheless.
After the concert, I headed out to Frankfurt's with Miguelito and Tomás and had an amazing burger! My first burger in Spain! We agreed it was an acceptable place. I was in bed by 3am, still not 6am, but baby steps! One day I will be able to do the nightlife like the Spanish do!
SUNDAY
Unfortunately, this is kind of anti-climatic. I spent Sunday adventuring. I managed to hit every corner of Barcelona in one day and saw a ton of really cool places! I had planned to meet up with Caitlin for the fireworks, but she has no cellphone and there were 800,000 or something like that crammed into the plaza and I could NOT find her. Oh, her host mom, Pilar, called me and tried to give me some message, but I just kept saying "Lo siento, pero Kaitlin está en los Estados Unidos. Ella está a su Universidad en Tennessee, cuando yo vine a España, ella me dio su mobil". Yeah I thought she was KAITI JONES'S host mom, not Caitlin Bigelow. Whoops! I decided to leave the fireworks before they began and on my way out, I get absolutely DESTROYED by this man on rollerblades. I am surprised we both survived. Literally, he was going full speed and knocked me down to the ground. I was like "HEY!" and he was very apologetic. I am just glad he was a small little Spaniard. Yeah, Sunday night was not great.
So that completes my first ever Mercé. I am still recovering from the lack of sleep and endless dancing in the streets....
