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!!!