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