"ball till u fall"

We took the metro to get there and there was this really sweet man on the metro with his grandson (who was fully decked out in Barca gear omg and his grandpa was holding a giant Barca dufflebag) and he directed us to the stadium because the grandson apparently had football practice (I CALL IT HE'S GOING TO BE A STARTER ONE DAY). But once it came into view, I honestly felt numb with excitement. There are no words to describe what you feel when you first lay eyes on it from the outside.

Once I got in, OH MY GOD. The museum is beautiful and filled with so many things. Rows on rows of trophies, a ton of jerseys, and pictures, some that even dated back to the early 1900s. And the shapes of the trophies were different too. They also had cleets and a football from back in the day, it was amazing. The glass counters that contain everything light up and the rooms are dark, so literally everything is glowing like you're in heaven. 

And then I laid my eyes on the treble trophies and the Champions League trophies and I sprinted so fast, let me tell you. My roommate grabbed me and was like, "We'll make our way to those, I promise!!" because I was so overwhelmed with excitement that I couldn't figure out how to get to them LOL. But it was so surreal. To be standing in front of all these trophies that the players I love held themselves. That was heightened when I saw Messi's three Ballon D'ors omg. Like HERE THEY ARE I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

There are also a ton of tv screens everywhere, with certain footage playing. In one room, there were about 10 screens and they had footage of Iniesta's goal against Chelsea with Pep running from the bench and a few clips of Messi in the clasico and I may or may not have teared up omg like I can't believe I'm here. In Camp Nou. Experiencing all of this. And I think the dramatic music in the background may or may not have contributed to that.

After that, I made my way into the press room and it's funny because my roommate's mom, the night before, was like "Make sure you don't lose Zahara in the stadium!!" and my roommate was taking a picture of something and she turns around and I'm gone because I ran into the press room skgjfhghjkf. And that's when I noticed the press room and there was a Champions League trophy sitting on the desk and a camera set up and this guy approaches me and goes "Would you like your picture taken with the trophy?" and I was dying at this point like, "How much?" and he told me and I look at my roommate and go, "I'M DOING IT!!!" and ran again. And yes, I did get a printed version of it and plan to hang it in my room. 

I also got to see the changing rooms and once again, it was just so unreal. I couldn't believe I was in there. It all hit me like a ton of bricks. I've seen this exact changing room on tv so many times and here I am, standing in it omg.

Also, at one point, I made my way down some steps and I heard Cant del Barca and I ended up in this room that had a ton of headphones hanging from the ceiling and you can put them on and listen to the song. In this room, there was also this giant television screen with a ton of people in Barca gear singing the song together. And yes, I did break out into song omg and my roommate looks at me like "-___-" (she's not really informed about soccer because she grew up around hockey).

And it's not just football inside the stadium, there's jerseys and memorabilia of basketball and racing and a ton of other sports as well. I snapped a picture of Pau Gasol's Lakers jersey for my best friend. 

One of my favorite things about the museum and Camp Nou in general were all the giant photos of different things that were blown up. I saw some tifo displays (the som i serem one is my favorite) that were the size of the wall, the players, the actual stadium, etc. I stopped by this one and had to get a picture :')

And then, the botiga. Aka heaven on earth for a Barcelona fan omg fdgkjhdgfjkgdf. 

THEY HAVE EVERYTHING UGH. I ended up getting a black iphone case, this season's warm up training jacket, a keychain, a few postcards, and the picture with the trophy. The girl at the register was so sweet omg (we discussed how much we both love San Francisco because I'm from that area) and she saw my debit card and saw my name and goes "What?! My name is Azahara!" WHAT A COINCIDENCE, IT WAS DESTINY I TELL YOU.

I took a million pictures and there's probably an entire book I could write on my experience there, but it was absolutely phenomenal and I don't think I could ever put it into words. To love something a lot and dream of seeing it and then finally getting to, it's unbelievable. Just sitting here now, back in Italy, I can't believe I was there. It was breathtaking and you know what I'm talking about if you've seen it and you'll know what I mean when you all get to see it. It was all so wonderful. The pitch, all the old photos and trophies and jerseys, the press room, the changing room, the botiga, just everything about it.