Chapter 5: Plan B, C, D and E

A public holiday, people climbing on top of each other in the middle of Barcelona, a new person moving into the flat, Karleidoscope finally going public and some very stupid drinking games.

by Karl

How to build a tower

All week, everyone had been telling me that Friday was La Diada.
But I had no idea what that actually meant.


I think pretty much everything I thought I understood about it was wrong, which is why I've put some information below if you want to read up on it.


The important part for this story is that Alex, my roommate, and his girlfriend Julia took me with them into the very crowded streets.
They were both visibly proud of their Catalan culture, and Alex wanted to share that feeling with me. He bought a Catalan flag, which he wore over his shoulders like a superhero cape, as well as hats for himself and Julia and a small pin for me.

That way, we all had something Catalan to wear as we made our way through the city.

It's always kind of strange for me to see people being that proud of their country, city or region. I've never really felt that way about Germany or Berlin.

Something they really wanted to show me were the human towers (Link einfügen). They're something pretty special in Catalan culture. Groups meet regularly to practise so that at big festivals like this they can actually show what they've been working on.

And then they start climbing.

The strange thing is that as the tower gets higher, the people climbing it seem to get younger and younger.
It starts with adults forming the base, but somewhere on the way up they turn into teenagers, and by the time you reach the very top, there are actual children climbing over everyone below them.

They do wear helmets, which is obviously reassuring.
Although somehow, seeing a tiny helmet up there also makes you realise once again that yes, that really is a child standing on top of a tower made entirely out of people.

El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria

▶

Once we were back among the crowds, I wasn't having particularly deep thoughts about Catalan history anymore.

Most of my attention went into keeping track of Alex somewhere between all the people around us.

We stayed out for a while longer, watched what was happening around us and took some photos before slowly making our way through the city.
Eventually, I headed home.

There was someone I hadn't met yet waiting at the flat.

Someone was waiting at the flat

After having Giulia's place almost entirely to myself for nearly a week, things were about to get a little fuller.

Not only was Alex back home, Cami was also about to arrive.

I don't usually live with other people, so I was trying to make a good first impression.
Also because Giulia had kept telling me that I was going to love her.

And she was right.
When Cami arrived, I showed her around briefly and we immediately arranged to meet again later, before she had to leave for work.

Over that evening and the next day, we ended up having a lot of surprisingly deep conversations and got to know each other pretty quickly.

But first, I finally got to press publish on the first chapter of Karleidoscope.
After working on this thing for so long, the you could finally become part of my travels.

Right after that, I called Cami and we met at Arc de Triomf, where a really good DJ was playing one banger after another.

That's also where I met two of her colleagues, Matteo (not the Mateo from the airplane) and Sophi.

It turned into one of those nights that just kept becoming something else.
We danced for quite a while before eventually getting some beers, and somewhere along the way that turned into drinking games.


By the end of the night, the stupid games had somehow been replaced by surprisingly deep conversations.

I think that's what I liked about it. None of it really felt planned, but somehow we went from dancing with people I'd only just met to sitting there talking about things that were considerably more personal.

Eventually, Cami and I said goodbye because we were both completely exhausted.

— Which is slightly ironic, considering I'm writing this on a plane to Amsterdam right now, completely sleep-deprived and with absolutely no idea how I'm supposed to get through the next few days.

A considerably slower Saturday

Saturday started accordingly.

With a hangover.

I'd love to be 20 again, but one advantage of being 27 is that I have money, can cook and can make myself breakfast.

TACOOOS <3

Which, after dancing until four on Thursday and then staying out late again on Friday, was probably necessary.

But apparently even a hangover isn't enough to keep me inside.

So back onto the streets I went, where I came across four string players performing together.
I couldn't tell you the technically correct name for their combination of instruments, but there were three somewhere in the violin family and a bass.
Whatever they were called, they were really good.

So naturally, I did what every other tourist around me was doing and took some photos.
I also got their number so I could send the photos to them afterwards, including the one you can see above.

As nice as they were to listen to, they were also a distraction from what I had actually gone out to do that day: Find some new clothes.

Luckily, I found a place. And even better, I had one of the best people I know available for a second opinion: Manu.

It had been a while since we'd properly talked. I'd been pretty busy, so I was really happy when he picked up. What started as asking for his opinion on some clothes turned into almost an hour on the phone while I wandered around, tried things on and continued through the city.

Eventually, I made my way to a place where I'd heard people danced salsa.
The location was nice.

The price, however, was a bit much for my taste considering there were only three or four people actually dancing.

Luckily, I always double-plan.
I'd also arranged to meet Cami somewhere around this time, so I called her. Unfortunately, she was still stuck outside the city because of a delayed train.
So. Plan C it is.

And Plan C turned out to be pretty awesome.

I ended up at what felt like a proper street festival. There was a live band, a DJ and even a little tent where you could order a canya, (a small draught beer), which I had now learned was the important word to know.

Being there completely on my own felt a little strange at first. I think when you're alone somewhere like that, part of you is always slightly more aware of what's happening around you and that you have to look out for yourself.

Luckily, I didn't stay completely on my own for very long.
I met a few people.

But that's for the next chapter.