Barcelona

The lowdown:

Here in Barcelona they don´t speak Spanish like you all thought... they speak Catalan. It`s like Portuguese meets French meets Spanish. I understand fuck all that anyone says to me.

Barcelona is in a region called Catalonia... There is political graffiti all over the city for the fight for independence of this region from Spain. A lot of them don´t speak Spanish and don´t feel Spanish.

Others refuse to speak Catalan and only respond to Castilian (the Spanish we are taught at school). They don`t want independence. There is tension between these two sides.

In Barcelona everyone insists on having a tiny, little, fluffy dolly dog and putting clips and bows in their hair.

The clubs open at midnight or 1am here... When they go out, they don`t plan to come back until daybreak.

Here in Barcelona there are doting Dad´s everywhere walking their children, collecting them from school, playing in the parks with them or walking around with a kid strapped to their chests. It´s something to be seen!

In Spain they have no card shops like Clintons because it is not a tradition to send cards on Birthdays or other special occasions.

There is a huge skate and graffiti culture in Barcelona. The port and sea front are designed in a way so that there are lots of slopes and smooth surfaces. There are always people long boarding and roller blading too.

I love Barcelona