Wednesday June 6, 2018:
It was around 4 pm when a group of my friends and I decided to head to Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona City. I initially didn't want to leave the campus we are staying at because I was being lazy and wanted to nap all day, but something told me I should stop being 'antisocial' and just head with the crowd because I don't want people to think that I am a 'loner' or something. Anyways, so we went to Plaza Catalunya, which is a huge shopping destination for tourists, Spanish locals, and many people looking to pick up some new merchandise by pickpocketing tourists.
Recently, Barcelona has grown to be one of the most visited cities in the world; thus, leading to the rise of pickpocketing and theft in Spain, especially in big cities like Barcelona and Madrid, where there is a high traffic of tourists. The first day of the program there were local police who came to talk to us about being safe in Barcelona and making sure we were aware of pickpocketing. They warned us that when a person is being pickpocketed, they rarely notice it happening because they are usually distracted; I took this message to heart, but didn't think it would happen to me because I thought " like c'mon what are the odds of this happening to me?" But still, I was very cautious from there on out.
The Wednesday when we went to Plaza Catalunya felt like any shopping day for me; I didn't feel like anything was out of the ordinary. I went to Zara, which is an original Spanish Fashion House, and brought some really cute jeans. Next, my friends and I decided to go to H&M. I wasn't looking to buy anything, but I noticed this corner with some sandals that I loved. I went over there and found two sandal style that were to die for, but I was on a budget, so I decided I was only going to buy one of them; I had a little black purse with a gold chain around it. I took off my purse and put it in my Zara bag, and put the bag between my legs. I then looked up and showed my friend the shoes and asked her to pick the one she likes. Next thing you know I looked back down and to my surprise, my purse was snatched!
I started panicking and crying; the store managers and security told me that I would have to go the police station because there was nothing they could necessarily do about it. My purse had my entire wallet and two iPhones in it, so I was just devastated. I knew crying wasn't going to solve anything, so I just called my bank and cancelled my card, and I also reported a stolen phone. I couldn't believe my purse was snatched in a matter of 30 seconds, and I didn't even noticing it happening.
