Barca the week after Sevilla provided a lot of excitement for the week leading up to the much-anticipated Amsterdam trip. On Monday, after an exhausting day of class, Fil , Hank and I headed to the courts near my resi to play some ball. The courts were full of absolute ballers and upon seeing these 6’5” guys and taller dunking over one another we were pretty intimidated. We agreed that we were gonna challenge them nonetheless and even discussed that we would have to play the games of our lives to stay on. Well we did. 3 consecutive games in a row we grinded out wins. It was incredible. I was sinking 3’s like it was my job. Fil was controlling the lane and playing big D and Hank was taking on the man of the courts, a 6’6” Brazilian baller. We were pretty impressed with ourselves and left the courts on a huge high. Exhausted, we all parted ways and headed home. The next day we weren’t so fortunate, as Fil and I tried to get in on a game of full court but got there too late and so only got to play one on one in the dark. No worries, we parted ways after a while with Fil staying to shoot around a bit more while I needed some good rest. Wednesday was another athletics filled day with game day for my ultimate Frisbee fall league. My team played an epic game and they even started calling me “super jay” since I played the entire time and scored and threw a majority of our goals. Unfortunately, the team chemistry still wasn’t there and we conceded a hard fought game to De Puta Madre. It was a beautiful evening in Barca and was so nice to play ultimate outside with people from all over the world.
Thursday marked my groups chance to partake in Cook and Taste, an activity organized and paid for by the program. Wow. One of my most incredible evenings in Barca for sure was here. We met Jofre at the metro near Jaume and walked to the gourmet kitchen for our chance to cook and then eat traditional Catalan and Spanish dishes. See pictures below for a better idea of the evening. We cooked paella, gazpacho, pan con tomate, tortilla de patatas o tortilla Espanola (this is what I made), and crema catalana. We joked and sipped wine while we prepared our food with the guidance of a gourmet Spanish chef. My group ended up spending roughly 4 or 5 hours at this place wining and dining ourselves with the delicious treats we had labored over. If you are ever in Barcelona, you MUST do this.
Friday morning I didn’t have class so Laura and I decided to work on our project for class. We explored Poble Nou (the barrio in which we live, more to come on this in later posts) for an hour or two, snapping photos and conversing with locals before I had to head back to the resi to grab my bag and head to the airport. On my way up to resi, I noticed a large crowd dressed in business suits and formal garb standing in the lobby/entrance area. I realized that it was the day that the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Herrer, was coming to visit and christen the new residencia. On my way through the gates, the director of publicity for Melon District stopped me and asked if I had a few minutes to meet and chat with the Mayor. I told her that I wanted to but had to leave for the airport. After a few minutes she convinced me to stay for a short while. A short while ended up being an hour and a half (I missed my chance to take the bus to the airport but was fortunate enough that Melon paid for me to take a cab for 30euros to catch my flight). I gave 3 or 4 interviews to various radio, television and newspapers before meeting and chatting with the Mayor for 5-10 minutes in spanish. It was definitely a testament to how far I had come with my speaking ability and was slightly overwhelming seeing as I have never even met the Mayor in DC where I call home. It was a lot of fun and during the Mayor’s speech, I was mentioned! I also featured in various newspaper and tv specials and appeared on the front of the website for the city of Barcelona. You can see the pictures below!
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