By far, the highlight of this week was a trip to Camp Nou to see a FC Barcelona game. That is, their soccer team, which just happens to be one of the best teams in Europe. I never really followed soccer before, but now I think I've been converted into a real Barça fan. I understand now why the world loves soccer so much, and I don't understand how it's not popular in the US.
The stadium is huge, and we were in the nosebleed section, but we still had a good view of the game. We somehow ended up being surrounded by French kids and teenagers who were making paper airplanes and throwing them down into the stadium. There were some Catalonians behind us, from whom I learned some new vocabulary while they were yelling at the refs. The whole time, the stadium was buzzing with the sounds of horns blowing (we got there an hour early and there was a group of kids blowing their horns for 45 minutes straight before the game even started). The place was teeming with energy the whole time, and before and after the game the whole crowd united to sing Barça's fight song together, which might have been my favorite part of the whole thing. Barça seemed to have control of the game the majority of the time, and ended up winning 2-1 against Getafe, a team based just outside of Madrid.
In other news, I randomly got invited to a Calçotada this afternoon, which I have mentioned before, but this one seemed more legit. My friend's host brother was cooking, and my friend and I got to join him and some of his friends for the midday meal. To explain briefly, a Calçotada is the Catalonian equivalent to a barbeque. It starts with Calçots (which are leaks cooked on the grill), and continues with all sorts of different kinds of meats- sausages, pork, something that was vaguely similar to bacon, salmon, chorizo, etc. It was delicious, especially since my host family is vegetarian, and I have been craving some meat lately. I have never tried to buy leeks before, but if I can find them in the States, I'd love to try to recreate this Catalonian tradition with family and friends back home.
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