Barcelona, Spain – Day 7

July 1, 2015

Let me tell you, it was hard to wake up this morning after going to bed so late and only getting two hours of sleep…

Class and lunch proceeded as usual. In Contemporary Spain, we watched a documentary about the Stolen Babies Scandal that the Catholic Church was involved in. Hundreds of thousands of babies were stolen from their mothers between 1950 and 1980 by nuns, etc. Mothers were told that their babies had died, but never were allowed to see the baby or hold it after birth. Upon exumation of graves it was found that many babies graves had other bones in them of animals, human body parts, or were empty. People all over Spain were trying desperately to find out if their suspicions were true that they were stolen as a baby or that their baby was stolen and were doing enormous amounts of DNA testing and searching. I can’t even believe that this is something that took place. It’s absolutely unbelievable to me. If you can, the BBC documentary Stolen Babies is worth a watch.

After class I decided to walk over to Spain’s Arc de Triomf. Confused yet? Haha I was, because I thought it was in Paris! But it turns out that Spain has one as well! Upon some research I found out that Spain’s Arc de Triomf was built as the main entrance/access gate to the 1888 Barcelona World Fair and was designed by Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas. So cool.

Then I went to the Mercat de Sant Antoni where we did the orientation scavenger hunt. I walked through the Els Encants Flea Market and then had some tapas and a café at the café in the Mercat de Sant Antoni. While there, I sat next to a 91 year old man who used to be the master of paintings at a Cathedral in Spain and I talked to him for a little while and got to practice my Spanish! It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. I also so the real building that the market usually resides in, but it is currently under construction. The semi-permanent structure the Mercat is in now is just temporary until construction is finished.

After that I got home and then Sarah and I went and met up with Addie in Placa de Catalunya to do a little shopping because there are some really big sales going on in Barcelona – like our Black Friday type sales. After shopping we got a glass of rose in the roof restaurant at Corte and took in the view of Barcelona, pretty stunning.

Then we got some tapas on Passeig de Gracia before heading home.

Tonight we ended up going to good old Espit Chupitos where we tried the Harry Potter Shot and the Chupeton. Then we went to a bar called Dow Jones where the price of drinks goes up and down with popularity as people order them and every now and then the market crashes and people rush to the bar to put in their “trade.” Pretty fun! They have lots of interesting drinks too, but definitely not a fan of the “Hand of God” haha. We stayed there until the bar closed because we had made friends with the bartenders and we hung out with them briefly before leaving.

After Dow Jones we headed to a club called Sutton. Sutton was really fun for a while and the music was good. It took a turn for the worse when I noticed my feet were sticky in my sandals and saw a rather large puddle of blood on the floor. I immediately checked my feet to make sure I wasn’t cut and then started checking everyone else, only to find the Addie had a severe cut on the top of her foot, from a broken bottle, that was gushing blood. We immediately went to the bathroom and seeked out help. It was hard to communicate with the employees at Sutton and there was a distinct language barrier, but they were very concerned. They helped Addie while Sarah and I mopped up blood off the bathroom floor. But they insisted that she take an ambulance to the hospital for stitches. They literally carried her out of the club to the ambulance, which they claim is free (fingers crossed!). Sarah went with her to the hospital so that she could get stitches and I went home and collected her insurance information. In the end everything worked out, but she is having a difficult time walking and they only offered her very vague information and care instructions. Hopefully insurance will cover all of it! When all was said and done it was another 5 AM night and even though it didn’t end quite so well we’re still in agreement that it was a fun night.

xoxo J