The Robbery

I got robbed two nights ago.

Here's the story:

I was walking to my friend's residencia, which is a good 15-20 minutes away from the apartment on foot. I have to walk through my neighborhood (Gothic Quarter) and the one next to us (El Born) then through a park and then into the area where the building is. It was about 10:30-11PM. I was in El Born, which is a relatively nice area. I wasn't walking on the main street, rather two or three streets to the left of it. (I was told later it wasn't exactly El Born where I was.) The streets were not crowded, there were groups of people standing around. It was a predominately Muslim/Arab area based on the businesses and people I saw around me. I was getting closer to a plaza and I passed a group of kids younger than me. I didn't really have a bad feeling about the area, but regardless, I was walking rapidly. I always try to walk quickly to make it look like I know where I'm going. I don't ever want it to appear like I'm wandering. As I'm approaching the plaza I can sense someone walking too closely behind me. I assume they're about to pass me but they don't. I turn to look over my shoulder and see a boy, maybe 15 years, wearing a black shirt. I turn back around and keep walking. Suddenly I hear feet taking off, like for a race and before I know it someone is violently snatching the purse from my hand. Ahead of me there is a plaza if I veer to the right and another narrow street if I veer to the left. I look up after them and see them running down the narrow street. Them. It's now two boys. The black shirt, who stole my purse, and some sort of accomplice in a red shirt. I begin to take off after them but instead scream, "HEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!" as loud as I can. They are long gone. There are people walking towards me coming from the plaza. I stop a woman and tell her I was just robbed and she sort of shrugs and continues on.

I think I kept walking in a sort of daze for a few minutes. So many things were running through my head. Do I call police? Do I turn around and go home? What exactly did I just lose? Am I safe here? Everything was contradicting. I wanted to continue to see my friends but I didn't have a phone to call them anymore. I wanted to get on the Metro instead of walking because I felt in danger but I had no money. I decided within minutes that I WOULD keep walking to the residencia despite the fact that I didn't know which building my friends lived in or have their room number or have access in through the door. The place the residencia is located is also a little sketch at night. But I didn't want to go home! That would be some kind of lame surrender. As I continued walking I wondered why I was targeted. I don't obviously look or dress like an American. I was wearing a fitted black dress, a lacy black scarf, black sandals and bright red lipstick. I was walking with my head up, quickly. Maybe they thought I looked too formal for that part of town, so I would have money on me. So wrong. As I walked I made a list in my head of what was taken.

-cellphone
-debit card
-int'l student ID
-T-10 pass for the Metro
-23 euros
-house keys
-a keychain from Italy (gift from dad)
-red lip gloss (gift from Jihae)
-my little red Coach purse (gift from Crissy)

The last three things seem so unimportant, but I think I'll miss them the most. Everything else is just utilitarian and necessary.

So I finally got the area of the residencia but I have no idea which building I am supposed to go into and nothing looks like it could be right. I eventually walked into an Asian restaurant and tried to explain to them what happened and if they knew which building housed students. No idea. I went back to the street, which, at this point were starting to seem scary. I found a girl that looked American and asked if she spoke English. Success, she was from the UK. I explained the situation and she agreed to walk around with me to look for the building. With her, I found it! I snuck in through the open door and marched up to the counter. I told the man I had just been robbed and I needed to know the room number for my friends. He told me. I found them and told them why I was so late. They were so nice and sympathetic. I got online and canceled my debit card and phone and emailed my mom. Then I tried to get a hold of Megumi so I would have a way in to my house at the end of the night. She was also SO kind and agreed to meet me at home whenever I wanted.

Because of the rough start I really wanted to have a fun night. I ingested and indulged a bit and we headed out. It was strange not having anything with me, but comforting to know I couldn't be robbed again. We were trying to find an Erasmus party at this club. (Erasmus is like study abroad for European students or something.) After laughing and walking our way around for many minutes we finally found the correct club off Diagonal. We were in the mood to dance but the music was all un-danceable 90s trash. My friend asked the DJ what was coming next and he told us Daft Punk. With excitement we waited and waited but it never came. In the meantime I talked to a Barcelonian (?) who recommended some places we might like better. Fed up with the music, we left. Piled in a cab. We rounded a corner and I lifted my head. Something felt so dizzy and sickly in the pit of my stomach. I worried and tried to look down.

We stopped at some clubs at the waterfront. Got a free drink (nasty sweet) at one club, left to go to the better one next door. We finally danced! First with one of my friends, protecting each other from men who would try to butt in. Then I danced out of control with these Danish guys. They spun me so much I almost had to tell them to stop because I was going to barf. It seemed so much room had been cleared on the floor for our antics. The party at that place stopped at 3:30. My other friend had met some "British boys" on one of the little podiums for dancing. She insisted we follow them. There were three of us, and me and the other one were getting tired but we went along anyway. There is a common problem in Barcelona...it's that the Metro closes from 2-5AM on certain nights, so we were trying to stay out till it opened again. We walked around along the waterfront passing multiple clubs that all seemed lame on a Wednesday night at 4AM. At 4:30 we decided to walk back to the residencia despite my one friend's wishes to stay with her "British boy". We were going to wait on the couches downstairs at the residencia for a few minutes till the Metro opened. I was the first to pass out on the couch, and soon after the other two did. We all woke up nearly two hours later. Two of us left to go home on the Metro, my other friend went back to her room. I got home and Megumi met me outside our building with a huge hug. We walked up together and I fell asleep again, unsure if I would wake up in time for my class, since I had no source of alarm clock anymore. I didn't care. Luckily I woke up in time the next morning. Unluckily I felt like crap.

Overall, it's horrible I got robbed but I can be glad about two things. First, glad I didn't have anything really valuable on me. I could have been carrying my iPod or camera. Those punk asses only really got a cheap cell phone that won't work, 23 euros and three rides on the Metro. Nothing else would have been of value to them unless they tried to sell the purse. Second, I know what to be suspicious of now. I really didn't think I'd be robbed here. I thought it would happen to confused looking tourist types who weren't paying attention. I thought theft was mostly like pickpockets in crowded areas or people who play tricks on Americans, like thought out distractions with a theft. I never thought I'd be robbed out in the open with someone taking my WHOLE purse right from my hands. I mean, I was holding it by my side, it was even around my wrist and they just yanked it right off. I do regret that now I feel much more paranoid when I'm walking around. I wasn't scared right after it happened, I feel more scared now that it could somehow happen again. I didn't lose too much except having to pay $150 to replace the shittiest cellphone ever.

Anyway, that's the story of the robbery. I think I want to sew pockets on the insides of my underwear and store everything else in my bra. I can't let it happen again.

Right now it's Friday night, the beginning of La Mercé, one of the biggest festivals in Barcelona. I can hear the parades outside, the music playing and the crowds waiting.