Our First Excursion!!

Friday I did absolutely nothing so there’s not much to talk about… Oh wait, we had family dinner!  And finally, Jill and Ivan came with us and met the rest of the group!  Tim made salmon burgers, shrimp scampi and chicken for us losers.  It was really good!  After dinner we wandered around our neighborhood because I was craving some sweets J we ended up finding the cutest Crepería and we got milkshakes and juice!  They have really cheap sandwiches and all sorts of deserts and milkshakes and yumminess so we’ll definitely be going back!  Afterwards, we came back chilled and attempted watching a movie in Spanish (I lasted five minutes).  We wanted to call it an early night because of the busy day ahead!

Saturday was our first API excursion!!!!  We met at 9 am and took the bus for two hours to Poblet to visit El Monasterio.  We had a guided tour in Spanish (because we’re awesome) and it was so cool!!!!! Minus the fact that it was FREEZING.  I was definitely numb… Jill gave me the pleasure of warming my hands in her armpits! Hahaha.  It was a really good experience though, I learned so many things I never would have thought of!  There were so many rules to keep up with!  Only certain people were allowed “inside” which actually meant the third door that lead into the courtyard-ish area called el claustro.  There was a grassy area and fountain and all around were different rooms.  The first room we went into was not yet inside the doors but it was where Conversios? (people who assist the monks) slept and they had a little eating area as well.  We finally made it inside and learned that the monks are not able to speak.  There are not allowed to be any noises other than water, birds and bells (except, of course, when they preformed religious acts).  Then we saw the kitchen and then the room they ate in.  After eating, they went into a room until bedtime where there was a fireplace and they would warm up before bed.  They would then take a corridor that didn’t expose them to the cold so they would be warm for the night.  Interestingly enough, they were each only allowed one blanket and when it got really cold a young man and an old man shared their space for body heat.  Never two old or two young he stressed haha.  We also saw the library and a room where they practiced prayers and, lastly, the church which was amazing! We got a tour of the whole place… here’s lots of pictures.

Outside the Monastery

up close... beautiful!

The room where the Monks' helpers slept

El Claustro

The room where they warmed up

This is the closet where they kept their books.  They were so big that two people had to carry them.

The church... crazy detail!

After the monastery, we took the bus to Barberá to have La Calçotada.  This is an event unique to Cataluña where you burn calçots (a type of onion) on an open flame and then you peel them, dip them in special salsa called romesco (made with olive oil, sundried tomatoes, almonds, salt, pepper and spices).  It is extremely messy and you gotta make sure you pull the outer layer off correctly or all you will be eating is burntness and dirt haha.  They were pretty good… definitely different and very sweet, surprisingly!  We also had pan con tomate and some chicken and sausages which were interesting!  The best part was the dessert—a type of creampuff thingy that was AMAZING!  J After lunch, we had free time and we had time for a wine tasting at the local winery.  It was really crowded at first so we chose to try it at the bar across the street and it was so good!  A huge glass was only 1,20€!!!! Then we decided to try the free stuff so we got a taste of Trepat, which is a type of grape only found in their vineyard and it tasted completely different than anything I’d ever had.  Somewhat peppery but I can’t quite explain it.  We also got to try some champagne and got a tour of the cellars downstairs… very cool!  Finally, the day was over and we headed home.  We were exhausted but were determined to keep going so I cooked Amatriciana, which turned out really good!  We had been wanting to give Jill a good night out so finally made it to Aire, a gay club nearby!  It was very different and fun, definitely a good time!!

Roomates!

Cooking the calçots

Preparing ourselves for the mess!

Mica in action!

Soooo much cava!

Mmmm wine tasting!

The whole bus watched us on our 1,000 attempts... this is the best we could do hahaha

On Sunday, I did absolutely nothing.  That was the laziest day I have had since I came here.  I was actually very productive—homework, organizing my schoolwork, preparing for my interview, etc—and I finally finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!!!! I could not put it down!!!

Yesterday, I had classes which went really well!! I’m so happy, I’m really understanding my classes… at first I was really worried but I think I got it down!  We were assigned a lot of work for my Spanish class this week which is not cool because I have better things to be doing/exploring.  Oh yeah, I've meant to mention-- the weirdest/annoyingest thing is that their hand dryers in the bathroom here are COLD!  It is completely pointless because it doesn't dry your hands and it makes you go numb.  Very weird. But anyways.  After class, I head home to realize… I forgot my keys.  Of course it’s only 3 o’clock and none of my roommates will be home until 7.  I had a to do list with plenty of things I wanted to get done but of course I had no money to run my errands.  But it was okay, I ended up hanging out with Ivan and wandering around!  We got some durum, which you can never go wrong.  It’s pretty much a like a kebab, Dave, but it’s not open-faced… like a wrap!  After dinner, we decided that the group should go out for some drinks!  So Jill, her friend Julia, Micaela, Emily and Colin, Ivan and me went to Barski!  It’s a cool bar with tapas and Jill knows the owners well so they took care of us! J  They gave us almonds covered in salt… best thing ever.  We actually had them the first night at the bar Obama!  They are my fave snack EVER!

Today I have to be super productive.  I finally decided to finish this because I had been wanting to for a few days now but I have lots of work to do because this week is busy, busy and this weekend Micaela, her friend Pavel and I are going to Madrid!!!!  Her friend is from Czech Republic and he arrives today for the week!  Gotta goooo

Finally A Routine...

So Tuesday was our first test... it actually wasn't too bad!  (Or at least I hope) They have themes for every test and for ours this week it was How I Met Your Mother so I was sooooo happy and it was actually really helpful!  After class, we came home and took a nap (duh) until our next class at 5!  I really needed the rest because my throat had been hurting and I woke up that morning with a lot of congestion... but now it's gone!  I had my first Contemporánea Literatura Española class!  There are actually a lot of people I know in the class which was super weird!  On the first day, we jumped right into learning about Romanticism! It doesn't seem too difficult so far but I just hope I can stay focused and not zone out because that would not be good... After class, a group of us went to La Champañería, which is a local place that sells sandwiches and super cheap cava.  Their chorizo is AMAZING and really cheap so we'll definitely be going back soon!  After that we decided we didn't want to go home just yet so we roamed around until we found a quaint little bar!  We hungout and talked and ended up finding Jenga nearby :)  We played two games, both of which I, unfortunately, ended and had a good time!

Getting ready to kick some booty!

Yesterday I had two classes with a three hour break in between!  Micaela, Emily and I went to the library to do some homework!  I didn't get the internet to work correctly there so I need to get it fixed next week but it was weird to actually be doing work! Ha.  We went to the "Harry Potter library" and it's super nice and gets ya in the mood to be productive.  After class, I came home and relaxed for a bit.  I finished up some homework and then people began coming over to start the celebrations for El Clásico!!!!!!! I was stressing out a little bit because I had a Skype Test for my interview next week!! We were supposed to be leaving around 9:15ish for the game and the test was set up for 9 but they hadn't called until a bit later!  It ended up being okay... super weird because it was blurry on their end but apparently they could see and hear me well.  I'm nervous for a panel of six people to be shooting questions out at me and hopefully the video/internet will be working okay!  Finally we left for the game and went to El Plaza del Sol, which is about two minutes from our house!  This was the first time we actually wandered around our neighborhood for bars, which is super surprising because we have some of the best!  It was really cool, we were actually a bit awkward and chose to save money and watch the game on the steps outside of the bar and peek inside hahaha.  But it was lots of fun!! We apparently tied?  I wasn't sure because someone had told me we won but I guess not?  So I wonder if there'll be another game!!!!

Today we had class and mostly did nothing...  not much to say.  Right now I'm sitting in the dark because our light in our living room burnt out?  Haha.  Tomorrow is the first Friday with NO classes! So you know what that means... gotta go :)

Montjuïc

Thank goodness we stayed in Friday night because Saturday was the perfect day to visit Montjuïc! It was a beautiful, sunny day in the upper 50s!!!  Micaela and I decided to invite our Argentinian friend Ivan with us for the day because he doesn't know that many people and we wanted to practice our Spanish :) We took the metro to Paral·lel... we'd never been this far before!  There was another metro that went up to the mountain (good to know for the future=free) and we decided to take the teleferico (cable car) up to the top of the mountain... I didn't realize that it was so short and it was a little expensive, cost 6.80 €, but it was a beautiful view so it was worth it!  We got up to the top of the mountain and walked up to El

Castillo de Montjuïc.  It used to be a prison and torture center for political prisoners but now it is an international peace center... interesting. The view was gorgeous over industrial park and being able to see the city and the water.  We walked around a lot and got super hungry, so good thing we packed sandwiches :)  We stopped and had a picnic with bocadillos and, of course, Sangria. We got whistled at the guard because we had dangled our feet over the edge, whoops, but it was so amazing to just hangout and take in the scene.  Ivan is really cool, our  first true foreign friend!!!!  It was really good for us to practice our Spanish and pretty hysterical most the time... between our okay Spanish and his thick Argentinian accent pronouncing 'll' and 'y' as "sheh" instead of "yeh" it was definitely a long day!  His accent grew on me throughout the morning and by the end of the day I was totally okay with our conversation.  We talked in Spanish the whole day so by the end of the afternoon, we were frickin exhausted!

After the Castle, we roamed around the mountain!  We found several cool parks and gardens and we came across these awesome slides!!! It was so much fun, we'll definitely have to go back! I was a little embarrassed because I didn't put my hands down so I went soooooo fast and I was so close to eating it and I was screaming and everyone was laughing at me haaaa. Finally we found El Museu d'Art de Catalunya in Plaça d'Espanya with La Font Màgica!  We didn't want to pay to get into the museum but the view was still amazing in this spot!  The fountain is currently broken I think? but we are definitely coming back to see it in action and hopefully at night because it is BEA-utiful.  I didn't realize Montjuïc was so developed but it is gorgeous, as you can see!  

Plaça d'Espanya

      We wandered a bit more up the mountain and found El Estadi Olímpic, where the 1992 Olympic Games were played!  It was closed when we went so we didn't get to see the inside but I think we'll come back another time!  There was a beautiful fountain here and grassy area so I think we're going to come back to have a picnic there!  It was so gorgeous, honestly we had to just stop and take it all in.  I STILL cannot believe I live here!!!!! We were late to meet Anna, Jill and Colin for a picnic so we caught up with them in Ciutadella Park and ended up eating all of their leftovers-- lentil soup, stuffed peppers with rice and tuna, crackers with homeade hummus our friend Matt made, cookies, chips and birthday cake made by Andrea (best cake EVER).  This was the first time we actually hungout in the park and it was so nice!  It was starting to get chilly out but there were so many people around and hanging out, it was cool!  Dogs kept roaming around wanderlessly and trying to eat our food.  Did I mention the dogs here? I may have already but it AMAZES me.  They are geniuses.  They don't need leashes, can cross the roads by themselves, wait outside stores by themselves for their owners, etc etc.  They seriously know what they're doing... I don't get it!!!!! We really want to get one :) I've seen several that look like lions and they're sooooo funny/cute, I need one!

Sunday we didn't really do much but hangout and be lazy!  Everything's closed anyway so I didn't feel bad!  We did venture out of the house to try to find a smoothies and McDonald's was the only thing open but they didn't have any!  Ivan got a Big Mac combo and it was over freaking SIX €! I find that crazyyyy, it's so expensive here! And the Spaniards love it!  Oh, and the other thing is they're soooo nice.  I'm sure it's a city thing but it's ridiculous how luxurious they are!  I finally put pictures up on Facebook last night so check them out!!! Then us cool roomies watched Intervention in Megacamaaaaa before bedtime :)

Today was the first day of HESP (Hispanic & European Studies) classes so I woke up early to shower and actually be awake for once! :) Spanish class was good, we began watching this movie called Tapas... very interesting!  Tomorrow we have our first test :( ughhh, I'm going to have to study tonight!! Then I had a 30 minute break where me and Micaela just hung out on a bench in the courtyard taking in the sun, it was beautiful!  At 1 o'clock I had Poesía Hispánica: Autores y Cantautores.  I was actually pretty terrified for this because I heard it was the hardest class but it turns out the professor seems pretty cool and he talks slowly enough for us to understand!!!  I don't exactly love poetry but this class seems to be interesting!  And we focus on songs in the class too! Hopefully, it doesn't get too hard!  Okay, well I need to go do homework and study for my test! Chau!!!

My First Barça Futbol Experience!

Our view for the game

Wednesday was a very hectic day... after class Micaela and I went shopping near Plaça de Catalunya and we find some great deals from the rebajas!  We had to rush back to UPF for a mandatory meeting about our classes that start next week! It was helpful and an Economics professor gave us an interesting lecture about Europe and the economic crisis and such.  After the meeting, Micaela and I ran home and got ready super quickly because we needed to arrive early at the bar for the game Barça vs. Real Madrid.  We watched it at L'Ovella Negra, which is this HUGE bar.  It's practically a warehouse and looks somewhat like a cafeteria... there's tons of tables and then pool tables and a game room in the back.  This is the bar we went to last week that is famous for their 5 liter towers of Sangria or cerveza.  Our roommates had had issues last semester when watching the game there last semester and had told us that we needed to get there by 7 for the 10 o'clock game.  It turns out we got there right when they opened at 7 and we were the first ones there in this huge bar!  We were actually very surprised that no one was there yet because it's such a big game but we think it might be because there's another game next week between Barça and Real.  It was really funny so we waited for the rest of our friends to arrive and busted out some cards :)

This about sums up the night.

Eventually, it began to fill up and the whole place was PACKED in no time.  They're very strict about letting people in after a certain time so it was a good thing we got there early.  The game was very exciting, everyone was screaming and cheering and chanting and so into it... I loved it!  It turns out that my friend sitting next to me was cheering for Real Madrid so we were going at it the whole time :)  It was a close game so it was very intense and we ultimately won!  Afterwards we attempted to walk to the fountain where everyone celebrates the win but we never made it! :( Next time!  I'm excited for the game next week as well! I think I'm going to buy a scarf or shirt or something :)

"Pero hoy es mi cumple"

On Thursday, after class I stopped by the store to get my watch fixed... hopefully it'll work because I've been desperate without it!  Throughout the day we just took it easy and hung out with Anna because it was her 22nd :)  We met them at a Mexican restaurant called La Rosa Negra for lunch.  It was a super funky place and I really liked it!  We ordered from El Menu del Dia so I ended up getting a drink (water), entree (chicken fajitas) and dessert (melon) for nine euros.  It was pretty good and I finally had something somewhat spicy!!  The meal was lots of fun, we ended up staying for a few hours and just chit chatting... I enjoyed it!  We went shopping afterward for ingredients to make Jungle Juice and Anna taught us how to make our very own!  We got ready and cleaned up so that people could come over for our fiesta!!! It started off as a few of us and eventually there were a lot of us packed into our baby place!  Anna is really good friends with one of the girls that works at El Criollo across the street and I was so excited when she came over and brought her Argentinian friend!  We then began speaking Spanish to welcome them and Andrea had baked a cute cake! We sang happy birthday and it was loads of fun!!!!! It's weird being exposed to the Argentinian accent... definitely very hard to understand!

Meet Megabed!!!

Today we didn't really do much but hangout and be lazy.  Oh, I forgot to mention we pushed our beds together!  Micaela and I pushed our beds together to form "megabed" and it is soooo comfy.  It's probably a not the best thing because it's so hard to get up in the morning but we asked for more blankets and pillows so I have two comforters and pillows and it's just so snuggly, I love it! :)  For dinner, we had our weekly family dinner and Tim cooked us chicken enchiladas with Mexican rice.  It was good! I forgot to take a picture though!  Tonight we're going to take it easy and tomorrow we're planning on going to Montjuic for the day! Yay!! Adeu!

Un Día Productivo

 So this morning I decided that today I was going to make sure I did something productive.  After class, I came home and took a look at all of my travel guides.  Now that I know my surroundings, I wanted to put it all together and kinda see where I stood in the sightseeing category.  Surprisingly, I have already got a lot covered but there is also sooooo much that I have left to do and find (yay)! Micaela and I decided that today we needed to go to down Las Ramblas and actually look and pay attention… every time we had been there before we had a direct destination and/or it was nighttime.  It was definitely a great idea! Today was one of those days where I realized how lucky I am and was most appreciative of this city, as well as the day we had a picnic in Parc Guell!  First we stopped at the Font de Canaletes*, which is the famous fountain that if you drink from it once, you will come back to Barcelona and if you drink from it twice, you will never leave.  Of course when I had the time to stop and take a sip, it wasn’t working… Not sure if that’s a sign or what!  Las Ramblas is a really cool street that is beautiful to walk down, several stores, street performers, venders, etc.  I love the gelato here… I was surprised it tasted as good as when I had it and Italy and, honestly, it’s like an art*. Look how cool it is!

We continued down Las Ramblas, wandered around into really cool buildings and random places until we ended at the Mirador de Colom*.  It’s the Columbus Monument dedicated to the Universal Exhibition.  We paid 4 euro and took an elevator to the top and saw the most incredible panoramic view of the city.  It was really good for us to look up top and piece together where everything was in relation to each other.  And not to mention, it was BEAUTIFUL.  It was a bit sunny on one side but the view was so incredible we honestly stood in awe for a while.

The trees line Las Ramblas and if you continue down that road (about four metro stops), you have our neighborhood Gracia which is, of course, the best.

 After seeing the marina, we wanted to walk closer to the water by the pier.  Ours are boring but, of course in Barcelona, theirs has cool architecture and they even have buoys* that are decorative… We were super hungry and we found a sign for cheap bocadillos so we went to this restaurant but got taken upstairs on the balcony and it ended up being super nice.  We weren’t sure what happened so we shared a pizza and it came with pan con tomate.  It was really good and the view was incredible as we watched the sun begin to set over the water.  We went to the big outdoor market La Boqueria and bought some fresh veggies.  I also found some pimienta picante (spicy pepper) and since I've been craving spicy I got sooo excited!  I had no idea what it is but it's super spicy and I like it!  I wish it was crushed but oh well! Also, the candy* here looks amazing, I was salivating just looking at it so I’ll definitely have to come back to try some.  Kris, there's tons of chocolate too!  We also found out today that apparently there's a chocolate museum?? Interesting!  Later, we met Anna to go shopping for a birthday dress!  She had been looking for one for a while and we ended up finally finding one tonight for her so she was super happy!  Her birthday’s on Thursday so I’m getting excited for the upcoming festivities!  Tonight we cooked a veggie stir fry for dinner! Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I am!!!

The Cooking Show

Last night we had the cooking show at a restaurant called A Tavola (which is actually Italian).  It was lots of fun and a good experience! Of course I had a little incident... almost fainted.  We had been standing for about twenty minutes watching the chef show us how to cook each dish and I began feeling dizzy and hot and I could tell it was coming on.  I was fine after some fresh air, food and water but of course I just had to make the experience more interesting! :)  The food was very good but I didn't like the paella because it was too fishy tasting! Pan con tomate is definitely my favorite... when we got home I made my own! Slightly obsessed-- it's just toast with garlic spread all over, rubbed on tomato, dash of salt and drizzled olive oil. YUMMM. Tortilla de patatas is my next favorite and it's made with onions, potatoes and eggs.  The Crema Catalana was tasty, very rich!! We also learned how to make homeade Sangria and afterward Micaela and I attempted making our own later in the evening! Very interesting!

Tortilla de Patatas

Making Pan con Tomate

Blow torching the Crema Catalana

La Paella

I Love Fresh Food!

Homeade Guac w/ Garlic Bread

Yesterday we hung around the house but we wanted to be a little productive so Micaela and I set out to the left from the apartment-- we'd never been this way before!  We found a lot of cool shops owned by Asians and had SUPER cheap stuff! I bought a really cute scarf that looked really warm and I bought some flowers for our living room! :) We also found a lot of good fresh fruits and veggies and decided to make guacamole!  It is incredible how cheap everything is... three avacados was less than 1 euro!! There's another market on this side of our apartment but it was closed!  I love our location!  We made the guac and it was really good but I realized they don't have tortilla chips aqui!  So I made garlic bread and we ate it with that... it was really good and garlicy! Today I believe we're going shopping (hopefully I can get my watch fixed), then to the Picasso Museum because it's free on Sundays, and then going to see a movie! I have homework to do but I don't wanna do it :)

I Love Siestas!!

This morning I woke up with a rough start and headed to class.  Class is very interesting, right now we're learning about love, relationships and sexual relations.  I find it so interesting how forward everyone is in Spain... I cannot believe we're actually learning about this in class and we've learned all of the terminology/vocab, isn't that crazy? Today we did speed dating which was funny! We also played taboo with some other vocab and that was fun! The class is small, which I really like because I feel like I'm definitely learning and practicing a lot! And my professor is so cool! She's so cute and funny and she's really good at teaching! After class, Micaela and I decided to go to the fresh market nearby and I loved it!!!! It's about three blocks away and it's so nice! It's indoor and a lot nicer than I thought and it's also attached to a supermarket that has a lot more selection than the little place we've been going to down the street! I'll definitely be going there a lot! I bought my first thing of fresh fruit today-- strawberries! They were somewhat expensive but they were so big and red, I started salivating!!! They're good :) Also, I've been craving Ramen (because I'm a broke college student who loves soup and it's very convenient) and I've having withdrawals! So today I bought something like it and it tasted pretty good but it was kinda expensive :( All of their soup here is dried soup, nothing in the can, and I miss my yummy soups from home! I also miss croutons because they MAKE a salad so I'm pretty sure I'm just going to make some homeade or something! You know what I've learned about the food here? The main staples are meat (JAMON esp), olive oil and olives, vinegar and bread.  Which is definitely good because I love all of these! I've learned that the main meals include croissants/pastries and coffee for breakfast, bocadillos for lunch and a lot of tapas (pan con tomate, patatas bravas), tortilla de patatas, paella and sangria for dinner.  I just signed up for a cooking show for next Monday with my program so I'm excited :) And tonight our friend Tim is cooking for us again! So that should be fun! Ciao!

Me Gusta Practicar Español

Hola! This morning I woke up and made a over hard egg and cheese sandmich that was very good and left for class! I was really nervous because I was ten minutes early and no one was there yet! But eventually people came and the students seem pretty cool and the professor is really nice! There's about ten ish of us I think? I was surprised at how easy the class was for me... this professor is a LOT better than my one from Clemson last semester.  The only thing I don't like about Spaniards/Catalans is their weird accent and lisp.  Sometimes it's hard to understand, but not bad.  There's a ten minute break halfway through class so we went to the cafeteria y I got a Cola Light (Diet Coke) because I was getting sleepy.  Class was good and very interactive and helpful but I don't like how long it is! Two and a half hours is a long time!  After class, I came home and was exhausted so I tried taking a siesta but the construction was loud so I caught up on some TV shows.  Today was a lazy day and I didn't do much but hangout... I just did my homework, we're learning about our horoscopes and I had to right a page about mine!  I cooked some pesto for dinner and had some of our leftover chili :) Oh, speaking of, it was really weird but all night last night I had this really bad pain in my chest area? Every time I breathed it hurt really bad, I'm not sure if it was heartburn because the chili might have been too spicy or what but it was not fun and I had never had that before. Weird. Tonight we decided that when we're home in the apartment, we have to speak Spanish to each other in the kitchen and living room area but we get a break in our bedrooms.  So we should be practicing a lot and that should be good! But tonight we're having girl's night so I gotta' go! Adios!

Off To A Great Start...

I love Spain-- no one works, and when they actually do go to work, they sit there and talk the whole time.  My program has been out of the office "helping people get adjusted" for the past week and doesn't open until Friday... so when Mireia (our academic leader) told us to wait for an email to hear about what class we got placed in, that's what we did.  None of received an email so none of us went to class today and we had no clue what to do, whoops.  But it's not a big deal.  Micaela and I went to campus today and walked all over the place looking for the posting of our classes (that everyone failed to tell us about) and I got Advanced III!! There's Intermediate I-IV, Advanced I-IV and Superior (basically natives).  So I didn't do too bad for being so rusty!!  Class is M-F at 10:00-12:30 todas los dias for two weeks.  I'm excited!! My classroom moves around on certain days, which I don't quite understand, but it'll be cool!  Also, it's really weird but their paper here is graph paper... good thing I brought a notebook! I'm not sure if I'm going to use a bookbag or what... I'm kinda nervous someone can pickpocket while it's on my back, not quite sure? This morning Micaela and I were set on going to the beach so we walked around Barceloneta and it was beautiful! It was such a pretty day out, we even found a little patch of grass and took a little snooze!  Then we walked down the beach, visited campus and ate lunch! We got a bocadillo (sandwich) and heard the bacon & cheese was the best so we tried that one! It's super cheap, a little over 2 euro and basically like a foot long sub.  Oh, Kris-- my freaking watch broke today!!!!! :( I was just walking down the street and all of a sudden it flew off, a screw fell out! And I got so many compliments on it, too! :( I've realized a watch is essential for everyday, so I'm gonna' be on the lookout for a new one! Later, we decided to visit the Gothic District and walked around a bit and found some cute little shops.  We stopped and got gelato and it was delicious!!! I, of course, got limone and it was soooo good! I was expecting it to suck but it was such a good deal for 2 euro! Oh, and we're definitely pros at the metro now... I feel so legit! :)  It's also very cool (sarcasm) because the place across the street has been under construction since we've been here and I swear they're actually the only Spaniards up at that hour, drilling away and interrupting our sleep.  It's pretty bad and sounds like it's directly next to my ear because these walls are so thin but hopefully it'll end soon!  Also, what's a lot different here is how small the hot water tank is!  It can only hold 20-25 mins of hot water so all of us have to plan our showers around each other!  I've been a lot more conscientious of my showers although it's def. easier to reduce usage here because I don't feel as gross from the humidity and such.  Lately, if I've tried to go to bed at a decent time it never happens!  I'm better off going out or doing things because all I do is stay up in bed anyways... I guess I'm not completely adjusted to the time here.  And Spaniards are crazy and stay up till 3-6 anyways and find that normal.  But I love it!! Tonight we are cooking chili and it smells amazing!!!! Anna will be home soon and we'll have it all ready for when she gets home!  I have so much respect for Anna because she takes 15 hours of classes (one being integrated with Spaniards), tutors children, babysits and even goes to the gym/does yoga!! She loves staying busy, and so do I, but I have a feeling I will not be as productive here! Haha whoops. But I'm excited because tonight there's a Welcome Back party and so we'll be celebrating the start of school! Ciao! ps. I put some pics up on Facebook!!

Wandering through the City

Yesterday we went to take the Placement Test on campus which wasn't too bad, I don't think.  We still haven't gotten the results and we're supposed to start class tomorrow?!  They're very slack/slow here.... After the test, we finally went to get our 3 month pass and it was only 100 euro!!!! Amazing! So then Micaela and I went shopping a little bit around our house and we learned what was close by and where everything was.  We found two good stores right near our place and I bought a few things :) Very cheap! And the rebajas (sales) are amazing!! For dinner, we went over to our friend's dorm and Tim made us chicken parmesan!!!! It was soooo good! So we had a family dinner and Anna was introduced to our group!  Then we came home and we got to meet Jill, our other roommate!! Finally! Today we didn't do much but sleep in and Micaela cooked us breakfast-- toast with egg cooked over hard and cheese :) It was the first time I had an egg like that! It was good! Then Micaela and I wanted to to go to the beach but it didn't really work out as planned... we kinda just hopped on the metro and guessed where to go and didn't use a map hahaha. So we ended up roaming around and got totally lost. But we did find a really cool mall with some good shops! We planned to eat dinner at the pizza place across the street because it's Anna and Jill's friend's last night!!! It was so depressing to see them say bye and thinking that'll be us in four months! Tomorrow classes start so I gotta' get to bed, yet I have no idea when they begin hahaha gotta love Spain! Night night.

My Favorite Picture So Far...

Parc Güell

I Never Want to Leave

So this morning I slept in until 1pm :)  It was amazing... I've been so exhausted and all over the place, hopefully my sleep schedule will become more of a routine soon!  My roommate Anna who was here last semester had some of her friends over and we went to eat lunch at FresCo.  It was a really neat buffet for 11 € and had lots of fresh veggies, soup, salad, pizza, pasta, chicken, fruit, froyo, coffee, etc.  The best part was that you could get refills on drinks, that never happens here!  After lunch, I've been trying to review some grammar rules and stuff because our Placement Test is tomorrow! Exciting, I know.  There's really big sales right now after the holidays and all of the other girls went shopping but I decided to stay home and be productive! Aren't you proud, ma? :)  My roommates said they never really do anything on Sundays so I guess it'll be my lazy day or time to roam around the city.  Oh, guess what?!? I got an interview with the board of Medex Academy at Greenville Hospital for a summer internship! That means a Skype interview... how weird is that gonna' be?! Oh, and I finally got my classes assigned.  So I'll be taking a 6 credit Spanish language course, Hispanic Poetry and Contemporary Spanish Literature.  Thank goodness I got the Lit class because that double dips into the credits I needed and my senior year will hopefully be super easy :) Oh, and PS. I saved my photos wrong and my memory card messed up so I lost my photos from the first three days, how freaking depressing!  I'm stealing some from my friends that I will be able to post but a lot of the fun ones of the group have disappeared foreverrrr :(

Picnic in Parc Güell

This morning we went to the grocery store for the first time! I was surprised at how cheap everything was!!! I got a good amount of stuff and it was only 14 euro! So that was a good and I'll finally have food... lately I've kinda been starving myself! hahaha.  We were planning on meeting two of our friends at Parc Güell but we ended up not finding them so Anna, Micaela and I had a little picnic :)  The park is sooo nice, Gaudi is incredible!  I took lots of pictures and we hungout a lot listening to this one street performer play his guitar.  It was pretty nice!  It did get a little chilly so we headed home.  It was in the 50s today but pretty windy and when you're not around a lot of people, it gets cold.  We tried stopping by to get our metro passes but it was closed so hopefully I can get it tomorrow!  I took a nice siesta and now I'm about to cook dinner before tonight!  It's the first night we're going out with Anna! Exciting!  I still think I'm a little off on the time because I haven't had any routine and everything is at different times anyways but I'm getting closer!  The students that go to the other schools are beginning to arrive now... I can't believe it's almost been a week!

Moved In and Attempting to Fit In

So we finally moved into the apartment on Wednesday morning!  I learned the hard way how to figure out the alarm on mi telefono but managed to finally make it and see the place! It's so cute and I love it although the thin walls are somewhat of an aggravation.  I'll post up pictures soon once we clean the place!  Our apartment is technically the second floor but it's up three flights of stairs, carrying my suitcases up was definitely an adventure.  We got a tour of the area around our apartment from two of our program leaders and it was super cool.  I live in the neighborhood Gracia and it's one of the nicest and safest in all of Barcelona!  There's a cute plaza right down the street and lots of shops and stores and restaurants all around!  There's a nice pizza place right across from our apartment as well which we went to the first day :) A piece of pizza cut into four and an empanada and soda is only 4.10 euro. It's so cheap!!!!! Later in the day we got a tour of the API (my program) office and had a few meetings on health, safety, culture, etc which was helpful.  They have a room for us to study in, use the computers, print, etc and it's very nice!  All of the advisors are sooooooo cool.  I was very surprised, I didn't think that they would be so approachable and awesome but they're so easy to talk to and helpful.  Wednesday night we attempted to catch up on some sleep but of course I couldn't fall asleep till late!


Thursday morning, my roommate Micaela and I took the metro for the first time (!) to our campus at UPF.  We had an orientation session with lots of other international students, mostly from the US and Canada.  The session was very helpful, introducing us to the university, resources, available clubs and sports, what to expect in classes, cultural differences and all sorts of stuff! The school has about 10,000 undergrads which I didn't realize it was that big.  We got a tour of the campus and it is SOOO nice.  There are three different campuses but the one I'm at is Ciutadella.  It's practically a block from the beach! There are three buildings and they are ridiculously nice and clean and very modern and the third is a bigger library that used to be a water reservoir and is gorgeous.  The library looks pretty cool and I think I'll use it!  The place is 10x nicer than Clemson, it's incredible you would think that it's a private school.  It's in a good location too, I love it!  After orientation, we went to go see our friends dorm in the Melon District and it is RIDICULOUSLY nice.  It's a few years old and very, very pretty.  There's four different buildings attached to each other and each one has a rooftop pool and "refreshing lounge" to overlook the city!!!!! We're gonna' watch the sunset on it one night! After that, we met up with some other kids in our group and watched the parade para El Día de los Reyes Magos.  It's basically their big holiday that they celebrate in addition to Christmas but this is when all of the kids get tons of presents.  The parade was soooo cool! We walked around Las Ramblas for a bit while we waited for it to come by but it finally came at 7:30 and was over 45 minutes long! It was soooo cool to see, I cannot believe how much effort, time and money they put into it.  It was very cool to see the kids get all excited, they sit close and get candy thrown at them throughout the whole parade.  They even had little catapults to throw candy everywhere! Everyone would fight over catching candy and scrambling around! It was an amazing experience though to see the traditions and how involved everyone is.  Each float and group of people had a story but I'm not quite sure I understood it all haha.

Today is El Día de los Reyes Magos so most of the city is closed and we had nothing planned so I finally had time to catch up on sleep.  My roommate Anna who was here last semester had some of her friends over and they cooked us a lunch for the holiday.  It was very cool and homey!  We had a salad, tortilla (potatoes and eggs), pan con tomate, chorizo and bread and mushrooms and then had roscon de reyes for dessert.  That's the traditional cake for the holiday and it has a bean and Jesus cooked into the cake.  So we all cut randomly into the cake and Micaela got the bean which is bad luck and you're supposed to pay for the next get together and Anna got Jesus (it was actually Santa which was kinda funny) and that's good luck and she got to wear the crown that was on top of the cake.  It was pretty cool to do that tradition but we didn't put our shoes out for presents in the morning which all the kids do haha.  Tonight we actually cooked our first meal together-- pasta and peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic in a tomato sauce.  Everything is so fresh and good! The peppers here are HUGE, I likeeee!  Tonight we're going to have girls night because we're all still exhausted and watch movies and paint our nails :) So far everyone is verrryyyyy nice and welcoming!! Our fourth roommate Jillian returns from traveling on Monday so we'll finally be able to meet her!

So I definitely have the metro down and like it a lot, tomorrow I'm going to get the 3 month pass that's 140 euro but it's unlimited so it'll definitely be put to good use!  It's cool because everyone in our group has been speaking Spanish and trying to practice it so we've been using it a lot but sometimes I get lazy.  A lot of people mumble and don't enunciate and I'm already deaf so I can't understand sometimes but I'm getting used to it.  I haven't had much of a culture shock or anything but it's very different that everyone keeps to themselves.  People will push you and not say excuse me which is kinda weird.  The people walk really slow which will take some getting used to because I get impatient.  Oh, and the food! At restaurants, they're such bad servers and so slow it KILLS me!  Yesterday we went to lunch with 12 people from our group and everyone got their food at once but me and Le and we didn't get it for over 10 minutes.  It was just so weird and she didn't say anything about it at all, very different!  But the food was good! 4 euro for a big chicken and pepper sandwich!  Also, having to buy bottled water is so annoying.  Lately I've been carrying around my water bottle and somehow finding water to put into it (there's not many fountains) because they don't give you tap water anywhere.  I had the water somewhere and it was really weird tasting but at the apartment so far it tastes really good/normal.

Adios!