Batalloning and Saying Farewell to Barcelona

That night, I went out on the town with my Berkeley friend Rachel, who is studying abroad in Barcelona this semester. After meeting at her dorm, a group of six of us went out to dinner in the Born, a really cute district in the city known for its delicious food. The restaurant only served tapas, which was more than adequate, as we ordered a countless number, as well as beer and wine. The meal turned out to be the best I had in Spain. The moment was spoiled, however, when it came to paying. When the bill arrived, we were all astounded it was as cheap as it was. It turned out to be only 10 euro a person, which was quite a pleasant surprise. "So what was so bad", you ask. Glad you did. We were walking out (in fact, a few of us had already made our way out of the restaurant) when we were stopped. They had given us someone else's bill. Damnit. They then proceeded to hand us the real bill, which was more than twice the price of the original. Damnit.

After dinner, we met up with more of Rachel's friends and started to drink before heading to the club. We all love this activity known as "pre-gaming", but it's different in Spain. Instead of going to a someone's house, or even a bar before going to the clubs, Spaniards take part in a more natural setting. In what is called "Batallon-ing" ("bottle), everyone goes to a particular outdoors, public area and drinks. For us, on this warm night, we found ourselves in a desolate park. When we walked up to the park benches, there were roughly 10 or 15 people there. Slowly, but surely, more people started churning out. Eventually, the benches were full of a potluck of batallones and the park was full of roughly 150 people. As it turned out, this was more of the more culturally-intensive activities for me in Spain. I was one of only two Americans at this little shindig, so I found myself talking with locals about their country, their people and their politics in a laid back atmosphere. It was awesome. After all the booze was gone, we stumbled about 200 feet to the club. How smart are the Spaniards?

The best thing aspect of Batallon-ing: no waiting in line to use the bathroom.



The rest of Barcelona was just as much fun. The top two highlights of the rest of the city were its large market (La Boqueria) and the night show at The Magic Fountain, both of which I enjoyed on my last night in the city. A few friends and I decided to have dinner in La Boqueria, and just walked around, sampling deliciuos food after delicious food. We found some pre-cooked meat of salami, ham and sausage and ate as we went. I soon became thirsty, and bought a phenomenal cup of fresh strawberry juice. As good as the meat and juice were, they were pathetic compared to the package of tomatoes and fresh almonds I bought later on. Best tomatoes I have ever had. Best almonds I have ever had. True story. I love almonds. I eat them all the time. I like raw almonds, but I prefer roasted almonds. Even beyond that, I prefer roasted, unsalted almonds. What I'm trying to say is that I have enjoyed my fair share of almonds. And yet, these were the best ones ever. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Ari must have been elated to find such enjoyable almonds." False. Ari was not elated. Ari was pissed off. (Well, for a about two minutes I was elated - I'll give you that.) I was pissed off because after eating these almonds, "I asked what I deem a fairly appropriate question: If almonds can be this delicious, then why am I only learning this now? If almonds can be this delicious, then why are they not always this delicious?

The light show at the Magic Fountain turned out to be a nice little find, simply because I had heard little about it and it was noticably absent from my Let's Go travel book. The only reason why I knew to even search for it online was because my friend Liz (thanks, again) told me I HAD to check it out. From 7 to 10 at night, the fountain hosts an amazing water show full of lights and accompanying orchestral music. Set against the night of the Barcelona skyline, it was a great way to bid adieu to the city.