Carnaval

Carnaval took place on Tuesday, February 16th. It was one of the most fun nights I have ever experienced. It is the celebration leading up to the holiday of Lent. It is so vigorously celebrated, as it was banned from being enjoyed during the dictatorship of Franco. The night was like nothing I have ever seen. I have never been to Mardi Gras in the United States but I imagine it is even more exciting than that. Almost every single person in attendance is dressed in some costume or another. I felt extremely out of place as I was not dressed up like everyone else. It seemed that there was some cross dressing, while other people on the floats were in the most beautiful costumes with great makeup and hair accessories. It amazes me how peaceful the people of Barcelona can be, while in the United States at parades similar to Carnival with a lot of drinking many people get violent, and police are needed many times. It just goes to show how different the drinking attitude is here when you compare it to the United States. People here do not need to be wildly drunk like people in the United States. Also, some of my friends who were hanging out by the beach got into a little argument, but obviously it was the American students which just further proves that people should adopt the European drinking ways. My favorite part of the night was when I got down to the beach with my friends. We loved dancing on the beach to the music. I also snacked on good french fries down by the beach and we made our way into and out of local bars which were also fun. I did not take the metro there, but I heard the metro was so crowded it was unbearable to move. So many women were wearing beautiful headdresses while other people dressed together in groups. It was funny to see people dressed as avatars, I did not realize it was so popular here. It is amazing to see just how many people could fit in one beach city - there must have been hundreds of thousands of people.