This weekend was Sant Joan, or Saint John. Today(Sunday) is the actual day of Sant Joan, but like many holidays here, Catalunyans celebrate it the night before.
Sant Joan is not actually about Saint John, but about the summer solstice. So we are actually celebrating the arrival of summer, but call it Sant Joan. This stems from the part of European history when the Church was beginning to gain power. While they could not completely squish the pagan holidays, they instead put a different emphasis on the day. But it has not been forgotten here!
My family kicked it off with a dinner party on Friday with 2 long time friends. This was complete with a whole flounder as a main course. E was kind to give me a piece of steak instead since I'm not a huge fan of fish, but A gave me some fish to try. I promised my Grandma that I would try new foods, which I've been doing pretty diligently. I didn't like the flounder very much. I was told it had lots of flavor, but I found it had none.
During dinner, we watched a slide show of A and his friend's trip to the US after they graduated college. Both A and his friend graduated in Computer Engineering. E graduated a year later from the same school. They drove from one coast to the other, beginning on the East and heading to the West Coast. We also looked at composites of their graduating class. They look so young! E is as beautiful as she was in her photo, but A was completely different! In A's composite, there is also a dog. They told me to play "where's waldo" except to find the dog. And there it was, with its name underneath it! As it turned out, there was a blind student who had a guide dog. The class felt it was only fair that since the dog had been to every class in the degree program, it should be a part of the class. I thought it was really sweet.
After dinner, we ate coca, a special cake that you only eat at Easter or during Sant Joan. There are two different types, one made with pork fat and the other without. We ate the one without, the one with is more expensive. On top of the cake(which I thought was more like a flatbread) was candied fruit and pine nuts. The fruit that they put onto is melon(with green food coloring), cherries, and oranges. You can actually eat the rind on the orange, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. :) The coca was not as sweet as I thought it was going to be. But I did really like it!
On Saturday I went out with some friends(Yes, I've made friends now!) to the beach in the morning. We opted to go to Diagonal Mar, which is less touristy. It felt great to lay by the sea and gossip with friends, and even better to get in the water! After the beach we went for lunch, and shopping. I found two adorable dresses for 15 Euros! I wore one later in the night.
We went our separate ways to shower and change and then came back together for dinner and partying. We met up with several other people and went to a bar to watch the Spain vs. France football match. It was a great game and good food. I tried sangria for the first time!
After eating we went to the beach to sit and watch fireworks and just celebrate summer! It was a lot of fun and we had a great time. We met up with some British men on holiday for a bachelor party! They were really interesting. It's really wonderful how I've been able to open up socially and interact with people here. Soon midnight became 6 a.m. and we headed to the metro to go home. We did stop for a quick breakfast and I got home around 8 am.
I slept until about 1 pm, and then got up to get ready to a lunch for the family. There I met A's sister and her family for the first time! We also had some very good food, or course. It was at a really nice beachside restaurant in Barceloneta; very close to where I was the night before. A said I could have just stayed at the beach and they could have picked me up!
It was a great(and new), memorable way to welcome summer!
Sant Joan is not actually about Saint John, but about the summer solstice. So we are actually celebrating the arrival of summer, but call it Sant Joan. This stems from the part of European history when the Church was beginning to gain power. While they could not completely squish the pagan holidays, they instead put a different emphasis on the day. But it has not been forgotten here!
My family kicked it off with a dinner party on Friday with 2 long time friends. This was complete with a whole flounder as a main course. E was kind to give me a piece of steak instead since I'm not a huge fan of fish, but A gave me some fish to try. I promised my Grandma that I would try new foods, which I've been doing pretty diligently. I didn't like the flounder very much. I was told it had lots of flavor, but I found it had none.
During dinner, we watched a slide show of A and his friend's trip to the US after they graduated college. Both A and his friend graduated in Computer Engineering. E graduated a year later from the same school. They drove from one coast to the other, beginning on the East and heading to the West Coast. We also looked at composites of their graduating class. They look so young! E is as beautiful as she was in her photo, but A was completely different! In A's composite, there is also a dog. They told me to play "where's waldo" except to find the dog. And there it was, with its name underneath it! As it turned out, there was a blind student who had a guide dog. The class felt it was only fair that since the dog had been to every class in the degree program, it should be a part of the class. I thought it was really sweet.
After dinner, we ate coca, a special cake that you only eat at Easter or during Sant Joan. There are two different types, one made with pork fat and the other without. We ate the one without, the one with is more expensive. On top of the cake(which I thought was more like a flatbread) was candied fruit and pine nuts. The fruit that they put onto is melon(with green food coloring), cherries, and oranges. You can actually eat the rind on the orange, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. :) The coca was not as sweet as I thought it was going to be. But I did really like it!
On Saturday I went out with some friends(Yes, I've made friends now!) to the beach in the morning. We opted to go to Diagonal Mar, which is less touristy. It felt great to lay by the sea and gossip with friends, and even better to get in the water! After the beach we went for lunch, and shopping. I found two adorable dresses for 15 Euros! I wore one later in the night.
We went our separate ways to shower and change and then came back together for dinner and partying. We met up with several other people and went to a bar to watch the Spain vs. France football match. It was a great game and good food. I tried sangria for the first time!
After eating we went to the beach to sit and watch fireworks and just celebrate summer! It was a lot of fun and we had a great time. We met up with some British men on holiday for a bachelor party! They were really interesting. It's really wonderful how I've been able to open up socially and interact with people here. Soon midnight became 6 a.m. and we headed to the metro to go home. We did stop for a quick breakfast and I got home around 8 am.
I slept until about 1 pm, and then got up to get ready to a lunch for the family. There I met A's sister and her family for the first time! We also had some very good food, or course. It was at a really nice beachside restaurant in Barceloneta; very close to where I was the night before. A said I could have just stayed at the beach and they could have picked me up!
It was a great(and new), memorable way to welcome summer!
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