HCJMU Abroad: SPAINsational!

Hola!
 
Somehow, I managed to leave Barcelona and make it back to London. I unpacked and dozed straight off into a nap and woke up the following morning around 9 a.m. Getting approximately ten hours of sleep over a three day span didn’t make things easy, but it was definitely worth it. Let’s start from the beginning of the craziest weekend I’ve ever had…
 
With pre-planned intentions of seeing the beautiful city, our main intentions were to attend one of the largest dance parties in the world: Sensation White 2011. When planning this trip, it just so happened that this amazing event was taking place in Barcelona that very same weekend we wanted to go. Didn’t take much convincing to buy the 69£ ticket equaling out to almost $100. Without knowing a lick of Spanish besides “hola” and “gracias,” myself and four other girls left London on a Friday at 3 a.m. and jet set over France to southern Spain. After an hour bus ride from Gerona, we made it to Barcelona sleepy from Dramamine but buzzed from excitement. Finding our way to our hostel was like freshman year finding my way around campus: we turned around about five times, but finally made it.
 
Hostel experiences can be rough. Picture a guy’s apartment in Fox Hills, and then picture sleeping in his bathroom. Thankfully, ours was like a girl’s apartment in 865 East. Conveniently located in the center of town, the staff helped us plan activities and even planned our first night out. The weather was warm, sunny and perfect. First, we grabbed some coffee and went on a bus tour. (Yes, I’ve been on about five of these now.) Not trying to make you envious, but being surrounded by Gothic architecture, aqua blue water, palm trees and Spanish street markets was surreal. I finally felt like I was out of London and in paradise!
 

The people in Spain have the best of both worlds. They have found a way to combine working and enjoying life. Everyday, from about 1-4 p.m., everything shuts down for siesta (afternoon nap). This nap is essential if you plan on partying in Barcelona. They eat dinner around 9-11 p.m. Go out around 2 a.m. and party until 6 a.m. Of course, we tried to fit in. We ate at a restaurant called Mussols around 9 p.m. – thankfully the restaurant provided an English menu. I had never had veal before, but top it off with some Brie cheese and roasted potatoes and I could eat it every night! After dinner we met our hostel group in the lobby. We mingled and met people from all over the world. Finally, we painted the town.
 
First, we ventured to an Irish pub. (Can’t go wrong with cheap shots and Guinness!) We stayed there and let loose for two hours then left for a salsa club called Mojito. Obviously, they were known for their mojitos and ten euros later, I completely drained mine. Next, I meandered to the lounge part of the club where the strangest thing happened: someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I went to JMU.
 
Low and behold, the whole JMU Belgium group was in the same club! They heard about Sensation White and came to Spain for the exact same reason. Out of all the clubs in Barcelona, what were the chances of them being at the same one?! We left around 4 a.m., walked to our hostel and crashed.
 

The next morning, we toured the beautiful city. Everyone told us to go to the famous tourist street, La Rambla. It’s a pedestrian street with markets, jewelry booths, art and everything you can imagine – including being the pick-pocketing capital of Barcelona. This is where I got my passport, credit card, ID and all my cash stolen… just kidding, that would have sucked! No one got anything stolen and we walked the street sipping on Sangria and eating gelato, running into other JMU students along the way. Then, after a speedboat tour of the coast, we started to see people dressed in all white, hinting that our night was about to begin.
 
Around 10 p.m., we drank some special drinks, and left the hostel dressed in all white. After coming to a group decision of not being tipsy enough, we stopped at a bar outside the arena and drank some more special drinks. This is when things get a little blurry.

We entered… The. Most. Insane. Place. I. Have. Ever. Seen. Even though we purchased standard tickets, we somehow mingled our way into the deluxe section on the ground floor. Dancing with four thousand-plus people all dressed in white is pretty indescribable. It was pretty clear that almost everyone there was definitely under the influence… of what? Well… let’s just say that varies. 

 
There were six DJ’s scheduled to play across the whole night. The first one started at 10 p.m. and the last started, yes, started at 5 a.m. We knew this was going to be a loooong and interesting night considering our flight to London was at 7 a.m. To get one thing known, Barcelona goes hard. One of the first images I saw was a man being taken out on a stretcher, followed by a girl puking in a trash can, and it was only 11 p.m. We didn’t manage to meet up with the Belgium group, but we managed to stay together and have the best times of our lives. After dancing and dancing, we left around 5 a.m., got to our hostel around 5:30 and left for the airport at 6 a.m. Like I said, getting approximately ten hours of sleep over a three day span didn’t make things easy, but it was definitely worth it.
 
Until next time,
Cheers