“It’s a cruel and random world, but the chaos is all so beautiful.”
― Hiromu Arakawa
I have an tremendous amount of luck when it comes to being in the right place at the right time.
The year I decided to study abroad in Spain just happened to land on the same year Spain won the World Cup. It also happened to be (probably) one of the craziest experiences I will ever have in my life.
The night began in Barcelona. I went with a couple of friends to the liquor store to grab some drinks to pregame the championship game. While purchasing a bottle of wine, we asked the cashier “can we drink this while just walking down the street?” He replied, “why not? It’s a free country”. I love Spain.
Drinking our wine on the way to Plaza Espana
After the cashier uncorked our bottles, we took off to Plaza Espana to watch the game on a big screen TV with a thousand other fans. At one point, I was actually lost in this crowd, which may have been the most frightened I’ve ever been in my life.
Big Screen TV in Plaza Espana
I find it really hard to explain the events that took place after the big win, but I can try. Of course there were people screaming and shouting, hugging, waving their flags and jumping up and down. Then there were people jumping in the many fountains that lined the plaza. These people would begin splashing tremendous amounts of water onto the crowd, soaking everyone at the plaza.
Celebrating the win
Soaking wet with fountain water
People on top bus stops, traffic lights, buildings. People wearing flags, wearing underwear, or wearing nothing at all. Fireworks being set off in the crowd.. horizontally.
I’ll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking….
The night ended with the riot police firing rubber bullets and a huge stampede of people rushing to the underground subway stops. Insane.
