Barcelona Discoteca

So last night after coming back from Tarragona, we decided to take a long nap, since we had been up since 7 am, and then leave to check out the night life that we had heard so much about. Well, still unaccustomed to the later schedules of Spain, we painfully had to wait until 1 am to even leave the Colegio! As opposed to the regular upbeat music and high energy that usually accompanies getting ready to go out, we peacefully read our books and I listened to Sting's "Windmills of Your Mind" on repeat for the more or less 4 hours that we were waiting until it was appropriate to get to the club. We left at about 1:30, to walk to Club Bikini which is one of the must popular discotecas in Barcelona, and conveniently only 3 blocks away from where we are staying. To get into the clubs here are super pricey, like up to 20 euro! Apparently on some of the less-popular days like Sunday or early week, you get in for free before 2am or so. This one was 16 euro per person, which includes one drink once you get inside. Well, we didn't have enough money once we got there, but the nice lady behind the door let us in for 8 euro total, and we walked in to check it out. There were two different rooms, one with salsa music, and one with techno/house music. The salsa room was deserted when we got there, so we went into the other and sat at the bar. The bartender asked us what we wanted for our free drink, and we both ordered rum and coke, mostly because I was just so excited to see a diet coke without a 3 euro price tag! We sat there for a while and mostly people watched. It definitely caters to all ages, and I mean ALL ages. A group of ladies standing near us at the bar reminded me of my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Sanders, and and old man with serious arthritis was clinging to the bar as he wrapped around to order his drink. We must have been the youngest there, but I'd say the average age was 27-33. Although music was playing, people didn't scoot onto the dance floor until around 2:30am! We got up from the bar and stood by the door for optimal people watching, and went to the dance floor when one of our favorite (and ONLY decent song of the night I might add) song started playing. I should have mentioned, people here, or at least at this club, DON'T dance. I don't mean they can't, they just flat out don't! The fact that we danced when we heard a good song earned us plenty of awkward looks, like we were completely out of place to be dancing....at a DANCE club. Once the floor was packed full, the most movement I saw out of people was the occasional knee-buckle or shoulder sway. And nobody spoke to anyone, or approached anyone. It was like 6th grade western dance class with the girls on one side and the guys on the other. But then, the most bizarre sight I have seen in a while: A very large, nerdy guy with huge glasses, and a FANNY PACK on, gets onto the empty stage behind the dj and starts dancing like a maniac! I wish I had a picture of this guy, it was unreal. At any club in the U.S., he would have been boo'ed off the stage immediately, or had a shoe thrown at him or something, but noooo! People we head-bobbing and cheering for him. He did the same 4 moves over and over, best described as variations of the Macarena. He danced the whole time very seriously with his mouth hanging open and his hands on his hips. It was the most awkward, unappealing thing I have ever seen in my life. But he was the frickin God of the club! We didn't know if we should clap or laugh and point...

Anyways we later went back to the salsa room to watch the couples for a few minutes (they were really good, and the music was great, but neither of us have a clue as to how to dance salsa), and then we decided to call it a night. We got back home at about 3:30am, and went to sleep around 4. We shut all the windows and blinds so today we slept in until about noon, and then have been working on homework for tomorrow ever since, except for a Starbucks frappuccino break. So I really don't know if our experience is pretty standard and representative of the nightlife here, but I gotta say, Barcelona could use some serious pointers.