When I was off on vacation in Spain a few weeks ago (I’m still in denial that I’m back), I went to La Pedra (“The Stone” in Catalan), which is the oldest Go club in Barcelona!

La Pedra started way back in 1979, and the club has been active ever since, and they meet weekly.

I love playing Go. I normally play online, and have played here in Chicago in the past, but this was my first time playing outside of the… place where I live, ha. Whenever I travel, I do look up if there’s a go club or presence anywhere, but almost always it’s hard for me to get to, or the timing doesn’t work out.

On this trip though, the apartment where I was staying was a short walk away from the club, which was perfect! I was so excited to play. When I got there, I was immediately intimidated and had to flex every Spanish-speaking muscle I had. The people there are experienced players. The two folks that I played with have been playing go longer than I’ve been alive.

…As you can imagine, they destroyed me, even though I had a nice handicap to start with. They were really kind to me and explained which moves I made that were good, which were bad, and which things I needed to focus on to improve. It was a humbling, enjoyable time!