Festival de La Mercè has begun!

Being on time today, school was a breeze. We had our first Spanish Life and Culture lecture and it was so interesting! It was on the history of Spain for the past 2 million years and our lecturer (whose name I have no idea how to spell) covered it all in less than 2 hours. She kept me intrigued and put in references and comparisons to things most people my age know. That made it a lot easier to understand.

After that, my roommates and I took the metro back to our place to relax before going out to experience Festival de La Mercè. Festival de La Mercè is the celebration of the Patron Saint of Barcelona, Mare de Deu de la Mercè. Today is the 1st day out of 7.

Once ready, Anavi and I headed to the metro to get to Barceloneta where the carnival and fireworks (marking the 1st night) would be. The carnival was not what we were expecting. We weren't expecting it to be like an American carnival but it was. It had lots of rides and typical carnival food stands (candy, churros, etc.) All the bright lights and happy atmosphere made it so enjoyable and felt somewhat like home.

First Mojito in Spain!

Feeling adventurous, we decided to get Mojitos! This is (for both of us) the 3rd alcoholic drink we've had here. Neither of us really enjoy the taste of alcohol and don't see the point of drinking it in excess.

Anyway after sipping our Mojitos for a bit, the fireworks started and we realized we were in the wrong spot to see them! Immediately we followed the crowd and rushed closer to the beach to get a better look. It was extremely loud but worth it. I've never seen fireworks that close. They were amazing. 

Now we're home and getting ready for bed. We've got a big day ahead of us. Anavi and I are going on a tour of Taragona and Sigtes, basically a tour along the coast. I'm very excited but I need to get to bed so I'll talk to you all later :)