Sunday January 24, 2009

Hello all!

It's late afternoon in Barcelona and I am enjoying a lazy Sunday in bed- the perfect ending to a busy weekend! On Friday evening, we went back to the Black Sheep near the beach and even made it there without getting lost. We were so proud! Mimi and I are finally learning how to go the right direction on the metro. After a little "pregaming" on sangria at Black Sheep, we went to Kennedy's Irish Sailing Club on the beach. This was Candice's favorite spot during her semester abroad here last year, so we were all excited to check it out. It certainly did not disappoint and we all had a fabulous evening. There was a live band playing traditional American music. All of the Wofford students are used to getting on the stage and dancing/singing with the band, so we had to practice a little constraint here in Barca! I did manage to get a high five from the lead singer though. I also enjoyed the evening because I got to hang out with my new friend Danielle, who is Mary Rives' good friend from UNC. She introduced me to some of her friends too, so it was nice meeting others outside of the Wofford group.

Mimi and I slept in on Saturday morning and then took a long walk around the city. We both really like exploring areas of the city we haven't seen before. Last night, we ate dinner with Cecilia and Maya in our homestay. We have been so spoiled this week because Elena has had to work late and as a result, Cecilia has been in charge of the food. Cecilia understands the types of food we Americans prefer and has cooked us some excellent meals this week. Unfortunately, Elena will be back earlier from work all this week so I'm afraid it's back to the dark turkey and chick peas. After dinner, we walked to Sarah Johnson's homestay because her senora was out of town. So high school! It was really cool to see a different spanish apartment and compare it to our living situation. I gotta say, we were a little jealous. Her apartment was so much more spacious and they had lots of good snacks...Mimi and I couldn't get enough of the endless selection of food they had! Still, we are so lucky to have the apartment we are in and I know it could be a lot worse. We went to an Irish pub called George Payne's afterwards, but called it an early night because we were all exhausted.

Today, Mimi and I went out to lunch at a new place called Cafe Kilimanjaro. It was kind of like a Spanish Panera Bread with lots of different sandwich offerings--and it was relatively cheap! One thing I've noticed, though, is that if I can find a meal for under 8 euro, it's probably not going to fill me up. Their portions are just so much smaller here and they don't serve sandwiches with sides or anything. So, after our delicious sandwiches we headed to Starbucks for pastries and coffee. Finally something to satisfy my sweet tooth! 

After Starbucks, we walked to the Sagrada Familia which is a famous church that was designed by Gaudi (same designer of the Parc Guell that we went to on Friday). I have enjoyed playing tourist this weekend and seeing some of the famous Barcelona landmarks. Now off to a week of studying!

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

My .30 Euro Bathroom that was IMPOSSIBLE to operate. Definitely stood out as a foreigner here!