BARCA saturday!!!

I spent the majority of the day sleeping to recover from Friday's festivities.
Steph and I met at Lalola at 5:30 to have dinner before the game. At the end of our meal, we put on our scarves and someone behind the counter started singing a Barca song and our waiter came over to look at our tickets (we had them out to see where we had to go). Everyone was so excited for us and we weren't even near the stadium!
We went down to the metro and there was a group of boys also in Barca scarves. We got on near them on purpose.
We had to transfer and followed a MASSIVE crowd of people in blue, yellow, and red. Everyone seemed to be so excited! One group came in singing (wtih a member who puked on the subway tracks). The train was PACKED!! It reminded me a little bit of the Seoul subway at rush hour. They clearly don't send extra trains like BART. We transferred again and people seemed to think we got off in the wrong place, but another man showed us the right direction and told us to get off a stop earlier than we'd though for optimal access to our seats.
When we got out, we simply followed the sea of people heading toward Camp Nou. We admired everyone's gear and couldn't help but to be glad that we had our own.
We stopped in a grocery store on the way to get candy, soda, and beer.
Then we continued toward the stadium, which absolutely GLOWED in the night.

We found entrance 19 and looked for 18. I considered buying a noise-maker horn outside but didn't. The man at the 18 entrance ripped the corner off of our tickets. Then we continued to door number 35.

There was a big gate and you scanned your own ticket. They didn't look at our bags or frown on us bringing our own snacks. They didn't even look at our tickets! The door guards hardly did a thing. When we got through, we both went I SEE GRASS!
We went in and looked around. Ok, this IS section 115, but can we really be this close?! Shouldn't we be on a higher deck? Is it possible that THIS is our section?! We found our row and our seats and sat down, in absolute awe. How did Dad find us such amazing seats NEXT to each other for BARCA?!?!

The deck above ours hung down slightly so we had to go a little further up in our seciton to view the WHOLE stadium. Our view of the field wasn't blocked at all, just our view of the fans who weren't as lucky as us.


We went back and sat down in out seats. Steph took a picture of each of us to show how excited we were. This is me.

Here we are together in our seats.

Then the team came out for a photo and all posed on the field. They had been warming up when we arrived. THEN everyone sang some sort of Barca song. We could catch on to the oohs and oh la la types of things and when to clap along with shouting BARCA! It was also clear that we needed to stand up. EVERYONE did. There was a crowd near us that all had flags. We found out quickly that they were a rowdy bunch as they started to shout and take off their shirts. There was also a drummer there who essentially led the chants. People knew what went with his various beats.

Before we even realized it, the game was under way. I expected a coin toss and a whistle at the very least!
Barca scored right in front of us in the first... 10? minutes! I explained the offsides rule to Steph and we watched the game. I was most excited for the action on our end and took several photos. Steph and I enjoyed watching one of the Barca players warm up on the sidelines. He had seemingly infinite stretches and exercises. He was so motivated and kept jumping up and down and leaping in all directions and moving his legs in seemingly unnatural positions.

Near the end of the half, I had to go to the bathroom and I could hear the crowd going NUTS. Steph told me that one of the Barca guys had had a break away and almost made a goal when it was just him and the goalie!
The crowd all had the same responses at the same times-- they were clearly completely wrapped up in the game. OH! and AH! Signs of JOY and disappointment at missing a goal. The other team got booed when they tried to score.
Half time came and went. Loads of people went for snacks and to the bathroom. I was glad I didn't have to join them in lines. During halftime, they watered the field, one side at a time. The side that wasn't being watered had about 7 hole-fillers who patched the field.
The second half also began essentially unannounced. During the second half, there was more foul play. People got out hankies to wave around when the guys fell on the field and rolled around in agony. Like Boo-hoo. Pick yourself up and get in the action! One guy had to be taken off in a stretcher. We laughed as they rolled out a tiny truck and came jogging out to collect him. People called out sour milk and things about rotten or bad. Steph said that's our equivalent to sour grapes-- poor sportsmanship.
Barca scored again and everyone started to sing Ole! Ole ole ole! It was great fun because even WE knew that one. They also did clap-clap-clapclapclap-clap-clapclap-clap Bar-ca! We could do that too. When the ref pulled out a card or made a call, everyone went nuts and I felt the urge to scream out I'm SO upset!! too.
The crowd sang the Barca song again spontaneously. The wave went about halfway around the stadium about 3 times, although never to our area.
We were very excited when the guy we'd seen warming up came in. He was OUR player, #4 Ma... something. We realized that's how the TRUE fans feel about all of the players-- a personal connection.
When there were only about 10 minutes left, I decided I felt bad for the other team, Getafe CF. I decided I was on their side for the next bit, not for them to win, just to play a part. About 2 minutes later, they got a penalty kick and SCORED! I decided not to root for them anymore.

A sign flashed that there were 74,859 fans in the stadium. A fair number poured out before the end.
After the game, everyone sang the Barca song AGAIN! We got up and clapped along. Then we sat down and waited for some of the masses to go by. We want to take more pictures!!


Barca: more than a club! (Mes que un club)
We took our time getting to the subway and stalled a bit by going to the bathroom in a restaurant. The metro was PACKED!! We did eventually get on. We decided it might be easier to just stay on until our stop and ride the long ride instead of transferring.
At home, Tom and Young-ja taught me how to play Rummy. I was a natural and dominated until a certain point, that was probably when I should have gone to bad. I was seriously bad after that!
Then I called mom and dad to say HI!! Then I was exhausted and went to BED.

*Steph said the next day that the game was probably her favorite thing we did so far and to thank my dad for getting us such good seats!