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.