Barcelona study abroad Summer 2011: Day 10/Olympic museum and stadium, Catamaran cruise, and DJ Tiesto

Good day, good day. I stayed up late last night studying and slept through my alarm today so I wasn't able to do my homework before leaving for school. I luckily woke up about 5 minutes before the housing director came over to inspect our apartment though. I rode the metro to school alone and met with my classmates a couple of blocks away from the school, where we hopped onto a small, but very nice charter bus and took a scenic drive up to the mountain where the Olympic arenas are located. I was giddy the whole trip, and I even got lost towards the end! haha. We were fortunate that the weather was a little better today than when we went to Camp Nou, although it slowly got worse throughout the day. The museum and stadium are in a beautiful location at the top of the mountain, and are just up the hill from Hotel Miramar, which is where we went during the first couple of days and you can see almost the entire city. It was awesome to see the different exhibits of each sport and they had old gear and equipment on display, as well as brief descriptions about each sport. I really liked seeing the "Dream Team" basketball exhibit and we were even able to watch game highlights from the 1992 Olympics. At the bottom of the museum, they had about 4 or 5 video archives where you could watch highlights from past Olympics. I decided to watch the "Dream Team" highlights, the Jamaican bobsled team run (what the movie "Cool Runnings" is based off of), and the USA-USSR hockey game at Lake Placid. It was really cool to watch all of these in real highlights, especially after seeing the movies and hearing the stories. In the next room, were able to see the statues for each sport for the Olympic games, as well as the medals and more historical items. I was taking so many pictures that I lagged behind the group and wasn't able to tell which way they went when I got to a fork in the road (or museum), and of course, I went the wrong way. So I just waited for them at the entrance, and then we walked over to the stadium together. On our walk over there, I snapped some pictures of the different athletes' foot sizes that were imprinted into the ground below their names (kind of like in Hollywood with the hand prints and actors/actresses). The stadium was big, but not even close to the size of the recent Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest. Next, we walked over to the arena where they hold concerts and where the basketball teams played during the games, although we didn't get to go in. Our professor told us that during the June program, they coincidentally took a tour to the Olympic stadium on the SAME day that Justin Bieber was performing at the basketball arena that night, and that some of the girls on the program were asking how to get tickets! I walked off into the distance to take more pictures, and of course, when I turned back around, the group was gone! I had to book it to find them, but luckily they were nearby. We then headed down to the swimming and diving pool, which was in a beautiful location. From the stands, you could see almost all of Barcelona, including Sagrada Familia, Torre Agbar, the beach, and more. I am thrilled that I took this class because I probably would not have been able to experience these places on my own, and the fact that we are going here for free as field trips is INCREDIBLE. After the tour, we had to return back to school for our next class. We made it just in time, although we didn't have enough time to grab food before, so I had to get something during my break. I forgot to take a picture of this meal though and didn't realize it until after I ate it! I attempted to order in spanish, but luckily the lady behind the counter spoke english, but she told me I was speaking it well (hey, the customer is always right, right?). I got a hot sandwich with a Coke (the soda over here tastes differently, it's a little sweeter) and bravas (a hashbrown-like food served with a dipping sauce composed of a white and dark sauce). I didn't have enough time to eat it before our break was over though, so I had to eat during class (it made me feel disrespectful, although many of my classmates do it all the time). After class, we hopped on a metro and went on our Catamaran cruise excursion. It was a lot of fun and they even had a crew member who played the saxophone. Unfortunately, he didn't play any George Michaels (sexy sax man saxograms, anyone?) As soon as we got on the boat, massive cloud came over the sun and darkened the whole boat ride, although the sun was able to fight through the clouds at some points. The captain took us through the port where the cruise ships are, out into the Mediterranean to see Barcelona from the sea, and back to where some of the private boats are. There were a bunch of sailboats, a decent amount of yachts, and 2 huge mega-yachts. The sea was a little rough and choppy, and the waves splashed some people through the netting that we were sitting on. All in all, it was a good experience. Afterwards, many of us were starving, so we hurried off the boat and back to our apartment to prepare dinner. My roommate and I stopped at the local grocery store (which, for no reason at all, we call Wal-Mart) to pick up ingredients for dinner. She was the mastermind behind the meal though and did all of the cooking, while the only thing I did was cut vegetables and buy ice cream bars haha. Tonight was the first time that I have ever had the Magnum ice cream bars, and it will not be the last. The chocolate bar with almonds is phenomenal! We ate a stir-fry type dish with chicken, cheese, tomatoes, and red peppers. It was very tasty and gave me even more reason to learn how to cook. Well, tonight we are going to see DJ Tiesto (whom I have no idea who he is, but the only thing I have heard is..."you HAVE to go. It is incredible/insane. Do not miss this." So, I decided to go. This should be very interesting seeing as how people don't go to the clubs until 2am-ish and don't get back until 5 or 6am, and I have 2 midterms tomorrow! This Barcelona lifestyle is CRAZY.

Seeing DJ Tiesto was one of the craziest experiences that I have ever been a part of. We arrived to the club around 12:30am and waited in line until probably 1:15am. Once we got inside, the club was overflowing with people, including some of my fellow CEA students, and only getting more crowded. Tiesto didn't come on until about 3am, but they had a DJ on before who was getting things started, and we also went outside and on the beach to pass the time. Oddly enough, they had people doing the rope balance beam thing on a tight rope (like they do at Tech, but tied to two trees) tied to a tree and the end of a volleyball post. It was neat to watch the skilled people do it, and just sad to watch the intoxciated people attempt it. Luckily for them though, they were being helped by the experts. After about an hour, we returned back inside and tried to find a spot in extremely crowded club. We found one by some stairs, but this wasn't good enough. I made my way to the middle of the floor, and once the coast was clear, I returned back to get my roommates and some friends, and once we got back out there, I saw some more of my friends from the program. This was the first time that I have ever legitimately fist-pumped, and I had a blast doing it! The club was huge, with many VIP areas with couches and velvet ropes, but there were still so many people that it you could barely move. It was insanely hot on the floor, but we still managed to dance like maniacs for a few hours. After taking lots of pictures and even a few videos, I glanced to my right and had to do a double-take to verify that I saw who I thought I saw. Heck, I may have even stared for a little bit because it is hard to tell when the strobe lights keep flashing and everybody keeps moving. It was someone from Wilmington in the exact same city in Spain in the exact same club at the exact same time as me! This was just too good to be true, so I got her attention and we talked for a little while and enjoyed the crazy performance by DJ Tiesto. We then parted ways and returned back to our circle of friends on our respective trips, but luckily she has been in this city for a while so she was able to tell me some "Do's and Don'ts". It was getting very late and the club was emptying out a bit, but we had stayed for so long already and bought the 30 Euro tickets that I wanted to stay until the sun came up, because the club (which is right next to 3 or 4 other clubs) is right on the beach and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. But, we decided that it was best to go home now because we have finals tomorrow and then a busy weekend. But, someway, somehow, I will see the sun rise in Barcelona before I leave...I'm just not sure when that will be, yet!