The Week of Old Friends!

Wow, what a busy but good week it has been. On Monday I had class and then I went to a volunteering orientation. I’d like to volunteer while I’m here, but for most of the opportunities, intermediate to advanced Spanish is required. Hopefully, my low intermediate Spanish will cut it. My first choice is to work with kids through the YMCA. (In Spain, they pronounce this Im-ka) I find that funny. Hopefully, I will be contacted for an interview this week. At 11:30 p.m., Denice’s flight landed and luckily everything went super smoothly. She caught the Aerobus into Plaza Catalunya for only four euros and then took a taxi to my apartment. It was amazing to see her. I think you know you have a good friendship with someone when it feels like you saw them last week, even though it has really been a year and half. We stayed up till 3:30 a.m. just catching up and then went to sleep because I had class on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning we made Toasties for breakfast and I have now eaten one everyday since. I missed them so much. I went to class at 1:30 p.m. and Denice hung with Rikki and then met me after my class ended that afternoon. We shopped around Las Ramblas and just laughed and caught up some more and had an incredible time. That night we went to a club called Shoto with Rikki and Lindsay. We had so much fun. We met guys from the Russian basketball team and they invited us to their game against Barcelona on Thursday, but Denice was leaving at 6:30 a.m. that morning. Too bad, that would have been really cool.

On Wednesday, Denice and I got up relatively early and started our day of exploring. We went to Port Vell, which was beautiful and sunny. Then we went to a big flea market and browsed. After that, we attempted to find one of Den’s favorite stores, Saint Tropez, but we failed miserably. I had looked it up on Google maps, but I think Den had the wrong address. We tried asking a bunch of people for directions, but the language barrier makes it very difficult when the directions are complicated. We just came back to La Boqueria and Denice got some gummies. I have a feeling I’ll be going there everytime I have a guest! At this point, we were completely exhausted from doing so much walking, so we came back to rest. After reloading, we went out for tapas with Rikki and Lindsay in El Born and had delicious crepes once again. We also went to Chupitos again for a bit and then Denice and I went back and had our final catch-up. Luckily, I will be going to Holland for a week in May, so the goodbye wasn’t too hard. Denice woke up at 4 a.m. and took a taxi to the airport. Her visit really brightened up my trip. I’m so happy she came.

Thursday, it was back to routine. Even though I have been doing a ton of walking here, I decided I was also eating so many crepes and gelato and I didn’t want to stop! So, I joined the gym around the block with Lindsay. I am actually really glad. I think my body missed the gym. It felt incredibly good and the gym is super close and convenient. I won’t be able to go on the weekends when I am traveling, so I am aiming to go three or four times during the week.

On Friday, CEA organized a day trip for us to Montserrat and Sitges. Montserrat is a monastery very high up in the mountains. The views are supposed to be some of the best, but unfortunately it was a foggy day and very cold. After that, we had a traditional Catalan lunch, calcotada. It was a humongous 10-course meal. I have never eaten so much food in my life. The Catalan’s favorite part of the meal is the spring onions, which are brought to the table in a huge pile. They are charred are you are supposed to peel off the layers from the bottom and dip them into romesco sauce. I actually found them quite tasty. It was a very interesting experience. After that, we went to Sitges, a gorgeous beach town. I am so excited for the weather to be warm here! The Carnival is also supposed to be topnotch there.

Saturday, I met up with my friend Barrie. We did a summer program together at Penn the summer before our senior years of high school. It was so much fun to see her. We wanted to go to Tibidabo, an old amusement park up on the mountains, but when we got to the tram to take us up, they told us it was closed! We ended up going to El Born, which has become one of my favorite and most frequented places here. For dinner, we decided on Mexican at a place called Chido One. I couldn’t read any of the menu, except for guacamole, so that is what I ordered. It was delicious. I think I was in avocado withdrawal. At night we went to Ribelinos, one of the clubs that was being promoted for the night. It was a lot of fun, but I always miss Jon when I’m out.

I did a lot of catching up with old friends this week, which is something I always like to do. I hope this week is as good as this past one. I am falling more and more in love with Barcelona. The city has so much to offer everyone. I am very excited to show all my guests around.

La Boqueria, Born and Montjuïc

I am going to pick up from where I left off. Overall, it has been a really great week. On Wednesday, I am proud to say that I made it to the Sarria campus all by myself. I have the same professor for both of my business classes. She is Romanian and seems very easygoing. I think those classes will be quite easy.

On Thursday night we went to this bar called Chupitos. Chupitos means shots and they literally had about 500 different shots to choose from with names such as Harry Potter and Bob Marley. We tried a shot called the Boy Scout. The bartender poured the shots, then lit them on fire. Then she gave us a marshmallow on a stick and we roasted them in the fire, ate them, and then took the shot. It was great. We had a lot of fun, but it was very smoky. I hate that people are allowed to smoke inside bars and restaurants.

Friday was my favorite day in Spain so far. We woke up early and went to La Boqueria, which is a huge market full of fresh fruits and veggies, meat, seafood and best of all—chocolates and gummies! The gummies are so beautifully displayed. I took a lot of pictures that I will put up soon. Then we walked to the Born district, which is a great area full of cute shops and restaurants. We shopped a little and then got drinks and sat at an outdoor café and people watched. We were hungry after that but we forced ourselves to wait—most restaurants don’t even open until 8 p.m. for dinner anyway. I bought my first shirt at Topshop. I love that store. We went to sushi for dinner at a restaurant called Komomoto. The sushi was very fresh and good but the portions were very small and it was expensive for how little food it was. As the waiter was clearing the table, he picked up my glass bottle of water (you have to pay for water here—ugh!) and dropped it on the cement table, shattering it all over me. I had huge pieces of glass in my lap and shards all over my arms. Luckily, I didn’t get hurt at all. I was very startled though and a little taken aback. The waiter didn’t speak much English but he helped me brush it off. The manager came over and offered us free cocktails, but we weren’t in the mood at that point. We said we would prefer to have stuff just taken off the bill. He took off about $6 worth of food off our bill, even though the cocktails we were offered were worth $24. We asked for more, but they said no. This was a time where I missed American customer service. I was pretty annoyed at the way they handled the situation, but what can you do. Fortunately, to my immense happiness we were very close to Crepes de Barcelona and I ordered a delicious strawberry and nutella crepe that more than made up for it! The guy working in the crepe store was Polish and had an American girlfriend that he met while she was studying abroad. He was super sweet and smart and we had a nice conversation with him about American politics and current events. It was a really cool night. I felt very happy. It is days and moments like those that are the reason I came here.

Yesterday, we took the Metro to Poble Sec. We then took a connecting Metro to the base of Montjuïc and then a gondala all the way up to the top. We got a breathtaking view of the city. We also got to see the Montjuïc castle. After exploring the area for awhile, we sat at a bench overlooking the city and the water and listened to music. I also read my guide book on Barcelona and thought about next weekend’s adventures! We went out last night but it was soooo crowded. I couldn’t even move. Fail.

Sunday is the lazy day. I did laundry. We don’t have a dryer so I had to put all my clothes on a drying rack. I am also going to practice Spanish, Skype and watch a movie. Denice comes tomorrow night. I am beyond excited!

First Day of Classes, etc.

So, what can I tell you about the last few days. Going out was a lot of fun, but so not conducive to my sleeping schedule. We didn’t even leave until 1 a.m. and we got home past 4 a.m.! We went to a big dance club and met a group of nice British guys who were having a Bachelor party! Since we got home so late, we slept until 2 on Saturday and kind of wasted the day. What we learned is that the best night to go out the latest is Saturday night, because on Sunday the whole city of Barcelona basically shuts down. Most stores and attractions are closed and the whole city rests. Saturday night we went into the Born district and went to a really delicious tapas place called Bubo Bar that Tara had recommended me. They had scrumptious patatas bravas, just like she promised. After, we went to an Irish bar, George Payne, and watched Barcelona beat Sevilla 4-0! I am excited to go to a game for real. On Sunday we practiced the metro. I asked to navigate because so far I have just been following Rikki around. She has a great sense of direction but I’m going to have to get to class on my own, so I figured I better learn. My classes on Monday and Wednesdays are at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona at the Sarria campus. To get there I have to walk 15 minutes to the metro, take a 10 minute metro ride and then walk 10 minutes to the campus! Ah. On the way there, I took us a really long way because I used Google maps to get the directions and since it was driving directions it avoided the one-way only roads. Luckily, on the way back, we figured out a shorter route. I wrote all the directions down. I hope I find my way on Wednesday! I am going to leave very early. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have classes at the CEA Main Campus and the CEA COACB. Both of these buildings are a 10 minute walk from my apartment, so that won’t be too bad. Yesterday, I had orientation for the UAB classes in the rain. What a drag. At night we went to the George Payne bar and met a lot of nice people. A lot of them were doing the API. It is a much smaller program that kind of seems nicer. Oh well. I found out that Denice is coming to visit me in Barcelona next Monday! I am so excited. I haven’t seen her in almost two years. She is staying until Thursday morning. We have so much to catch up on. Today I started class. First I had history. My teacher is British and very adorable. Then I had Spanish. My professor is super sweet but talks so fast in Spanish. I definitely think I will learn a lot that. But I won’t be able to zone out even for a second because then I will be so lost. It actually felt good to have class—it provides structure to the day, which is needed. I want the rain to stop! It has been raining the past three days! What happened to the beautiful weather that was promised?!

Awful Travel Day

Wow, what a nightmare it was getting to Barcelona. My flight to London was great—I slept the entire time, but when I arrived at Heathrow, I was informed that my connecting flight to Barcelona at 11:30 a.m. was cancelled because of snow. By snow, I mean barely an inch of slush on the ground. Luckily, I found one of my roommates Lindsay and together we located a lovely British man who helped us rebook a 4:15 p.m. flight. We decided to make sure our luggage would still be sent on and we got lost going between terminals. We literally went back and forth, up and down, a dozen times before being sent to wait in a line that we thought was about luggage. After waiting for an hour and barely moving, we realized we were in the wrong line. We gave up and had lunch and then just sat for the next few hours. Finally, we went to through customs to go wait for our flight. The screen told us to wait for the gate to show up. We waited. And waited. It got delayed. We waited some more and explored a bit. The airport is ridiculous. There were so many designer stores. Do people really buy that stuff at the airport? Anyways, we finally got to the gate and we had to take a bus to get to the plane. Once we boarded the plane, we were told that we needed to wait because someone who was supposed to be on the plane didn’t show up so they needed to take off all our luggage to find hers to take off. Fine. Another hour goes by. We miss our takeoff time and are sent to the back of the line. Then the girl in front of me lost her passport. We spend the next 15 minutes looking for it before she finds it in between her seat. The flight itself was fine—I slept a little. When we landed we went to go get our luggage. Luckily I found mine right away but poor Lindsay’s never showed up. She just found out they are still in London. We had to wait at the airport until everyone in CEA got their luggage and then we got on our bus to go to our hotels. Rikki, our third roommate was very sweet and was waiting up for us. At this point it was past 3 a.m. I had been traveling for over 24 hours! Woke up the next morning to go to orientation at 9 a.m. We made it to the first one but then napped for the next three hours. It had been a long day. Went on a bus tour around the city, which was nice and had our first dinner out. Barcelona is such a beautiful city.

Now, we just moved into our apartment and it is AMAZING. It is gorgeous and big. Three bedrooms, a nice kitchen, a porch, a washing machine and it is right next to the market. I'm so pleased. Feeling much better. I unpacked and finally feel settled. In a few minutes we are going to buy some extra necessities for our apartment and get groceries and then tonight we are going to go out.

Two Hours Until the Airport!

Ahh! I am hours away from heading to the airport. I have been on and off nervous and excited all week. The last hour of my sleep this morning consisted of nightmares of missing my connecting flight from London to Barcelona. All in all, I am trying to stay optimistic. I realize how lucky I am to have been given this amazing opportunity. I better enjoy it now because next year at this time I will most likely be looking for a job! I sort of want to fast forward and just be settled in my apartment already but I am going to try and enjoy each new experience. One of my goals for the next few months is to really live in the moment. I'm the type of person that always has countdowns and is always looking forward to something. While there are certainly some specific times I am especially excited for, I am going to really try to enjoy each day. I will try to blog often and post pictures and stories from all my adventures. Adios for now!