Forca Barca!!

Hola!

As many of you know, a huge part of the European, (especially Spanish) culture is their love of futbol or soccer!  Sunday March 2, I finally had the opportunity to experience it for myself! We went to Camp Nou and watched FC Barcelona take on Almeira and it so much fun!

Like the Tarragona and Wine Cellar trip, the game was included in my program.  It is usually hard to get tickets to these games so I was happy this didn't come at any extra cost!  My roommates and I had been looking forward to this game for a long time and it did not disappoint!

Before the game, we went to one of our favorite bars called George Paynes.  We ordered a bunch of drinks and nachos and a party platter that had chicken fingers, wings, mozzarella sticks, french fries, potato skins and more.  We weren't the only ones who had this idea - many other students from our program were there as well.  After sitting there for almost 2 hours, we got on the metro and went to the stadium.

Camp Nou where FC Barcelona plays is the biggest stadium I have ever seen.  It has almost 100,000 seats! My program blocked off a huge section of seats for us so we were able to sit wherever we wanted.  We sat in the 2nd row! It was so cool being so close and in that type of environment.  I have been to football, basketball and baseball games before but nothing is close to the hype of this soccer game.  The people live and breathe soccer and it shows.  They are always chanting and rooting on their beloved team.  FC Barca is one of the most (if not the most) profitable and expensive soccer teams in the world - everyone knows about them and they are talked about by all the locals all the time.  The fans all dress up in their favorite players jerseys (most of them wore Messi shirts) and bring flags and wave them around.  In the 17th minute of the game, it is a tradition that they sing their Independence song and everyone whistles and waves the flags they brought.

HI MESSI

MESSI

The game was one of the most fun nights in Barcelona.  I really thought I was a part of the Barcelona culture.  We talked to locals and really saw how much they love their soccer team. Barca won 4-1 and I even got a video of them scoring a goal! (I tried uploading the video 3 times and it didn't work, sorry!) This really was such a unique experience that I will always remember.  

Besos!