OK, so I haven't been on here for quite some time (sorry), but I've been just so busy! There is so much in Barcelona that I want to see and do, and I haven't even done half of it. Anyway, so I left off at Toulouse...

The day I got back from Toulouse, I really did not do much that week. I did have 2 walking tours that week which were interesting. One of them was for the "Barrio Gotico" which is the oldest part of Barcelona. We saw some really old streets and a lot of historic sites (i.e. a Roman graveyard, the capitol building, the Jewish quarter).

The other tour that I did was for the "Palau de Musica" which basically means "Music Palace." The word "Palau" means "Palace" in Catalan (the Castellano/Spanish word is "Palacio," and I thought learning one language was hard). Anyway, the Palau is amazingly beautiful. I could not take pictures because it is prohibited, but there is tons of mosaic art and sculptures. Muy bonita...

Also that week, I went to go see a flamenco show with my Anna (remember Anna is my "guardian angel!"). If you don't know, flamenco is a type of dance that actually oriengated in Sevilla (I think?). It is extremely difficult and basically includes a bunch of loud heel clicks and intricate finger movements. I was surprised because usually when I have seen flamenco in pictures, it is always a woman with beautiful dresses, but our show was a man. He was really talented!

Friday after class I went to see the "Sagrada Familia" with a couple of friends. I have always seen pictures of this temple, but seeing it in real life was really remarkable. If you don't know what it is, the sagrada familia is a temple that was designed by the famous architect Antonio Gaudi who is Barcelona's pride and joy. Gaudi also designed Park Guell and 2 apartment buildings which are also in Barcelona. The sagrada familia was only about half finished when he died and has continued to be build for over 100 years. It's a construction site probably for another 100. Anyway, I was fascinated by this temple and took a lot of pictures that I will hopefully share with you soon.

That night I went to Anna's piso (spanish word for "flat"/apartment) and we hung out with her, some Americans and a couple of her Spanish friends, including Meri, another GA that I like a lot. We went then to a club called "Razzmatazz" which was amazing!! This club was honestly like a warehouse, there were 4 huge rooms, each which had it's own music (aka house, rock, techno, hip-hop). There was a live band as well and we danced for a long time. I was happy to finally go somewhere where Spanish people go.

On that note, last week was interesting because I started to feel a little disappointed about the program I am in. I have gotten amazingly better since then, but I was feeling really sad about how things were turning out. ONe of the main reasons why I chose to come abroad is because of the opportunity to live in another culture and meet Spanairds. Many of the activities that I have done have been only with Americans (there are 90 of us in my program, so it's kind of hard not to get to know people). I also was feeling like I could not relate much to the people I was meeting. Most of the things we do socially are "promoted," or basically these club promotors create Facebook groups and want to be our "friend" so that all of the Americans will go to their clubs. I really hate thatand would prefer to hang out where Spanish kids go way more. I have realized though that it is still only my 3rd week. I have started my class that is intermixed with Spanairds (it is called "Legal Market of the European Union"). I also have signed up for 2 intercambios (a Spanish student that I am paired up with so we can speak in English and Spanish to one another) that will hopefully allow me to meet more Spanairds. I am attempting to be patient...

On Saturday I had the best day I've had in Barcelona thus far. Saturday was an excursion that was coordinated by my study abroad program. At around 11:30, we went to the mountains in Barcelona and began a hike up the mountain. It was a beautiful day, around 50-55 degrees and at some points, I was climbing with only a tank top! The view as we walked up the mountain was absolutley incredible. I could see the entire city from the mountain and it was so beautiful. Barcelona is huge, crammed between the amazing Meditterean and the mountains. When we got near the top we stopped at a little restaurant for our meal.

The meal that was served to us (in an enclosed patio looking over Barcelona!!) is a very traditional Spanish meal called "Calcotada" coming from the word "calcot," a Spanish onion-type vegetable. What is special about this meal (besides being 7 courses) is the calcot itself. The calcots we had were cooked over a wood fire and when eaten, one has to pull the calcot from the charred outer layer, dip it in "romensco" tomato sauce, hang the calcot above your head, and then eat it. Bibs are necessary because the sauce gets all over your face and clothes. It was really funny to see everyone at our 2 long tables wearing blue bibs. I definitely got the sauce all over my face as well.

The other food included red wine (which is called "rioja" here after the region that it is made) that was served in a "borron." Ok, the "borron" is also a very interesting device. Bascially imagine a glass pitcher, except with a long spout coming out of it, that closes off into a tiny hole. You put the borron close to your mouth, pour it into your mouth and pull it away and back again to drink the wine. It was created in Spain a long time ago so that everyone could have wine without dirtying too many glasses and so that everyone could share without touching it to their mouths. I bought one already, so I will show you when I come home.

After the calcots, we had "pan con tomate," wood grilled bread where we rubbed garlic, a crushed tomato, salt and olive oil on. "Patatas bravas," fried potatoes with garlic aeloi sauce, lamb and Spanish sausage, salad with tuna, "tortilla espanola" (spanish omelette with potatoes and onions), and finally "crema de catalunya" (a cake pastry with yellow cream) with coffee/espresso. And mucho mucho vino!! The restaurant told us that we had all consumed more wine than we were supposed to...oops!

I think the Calcotada dinner was my favorite day so far because it was so fun to eat the calcots and drink from the borron, climb up a mountain on a beautiful day and do something that is extremely traditional for Catalunya. I had a great time...

That night I went with some friends to a bar called Dow Jones which is an American bar. This place is actually kind of fun though because the have screens everywhere that have the prices/names of drinks. The prices of the drinks fluctuate on if the Dow crashes and how frequently people buy them. Kind of neat...

Sunday I went to Mount Tipidabo, which is a Cathedral on the top of the mountains I had been on the day before. It is extremely high up and we went to the top. I took a bunch of panoramic views of Barcelona from there. Happy Birthday Sara!!

On Monday (19th) I went to class and the gym, and then I went to the beach with my friends Winnie and Alex. It was so nice to just lay on the beach and feel like it was actually getting warmer. There were a bunch of windsurfers out, which made me want to sail. I went the next day to talk to my activities coordinator about sailing and she called some places that are going to send me information. It is exciting to think that I will have the opportunity to sail on the Meditterean Sea!

On Tuesday I went to class and then went to an Irish pub around 6'oclock so watch the inauguration with a bunch of Americans. It was really amazing to see the pub so packed, and also to see the Spanish news buzzing about the inauguration as well. I am really happy to be in another country like Spain during a time like this, or at least to see how people around the world reacted to this. My host mom and I talked for a very long time about Obama, and I'm really grateful to have a different persepctive.

The rest of the week I had exams in my Spanish class and just went to the gym a lot. Last night, my host mom took me to a really nice restaurant about a 10 minute drive from our house to another beach. This restaurant is owned by a long time friend of hers and we had a great meal. We had bread, vino blanco (white wine, the wine that is made in Catalunya, a really expensive wine made by the Torres brand/family), salad, "croquettes" (deep friend chicken things), "jamon iberica" (salted thinly sliced ham, no thanks), octopus with potatoes, paella (rice with seafood), and ice cream. I coudln't believe how much food we had. I only didn't eat the ham and got slightly frightened when there was a lobster head floating in my paella with it's eyes still on. Pilar told me "todo carne, es carne" about a million times which means "it's all meat, it's meat" but I still thought it was gross. Anyway, it was really nice of my host mom to take me though because I got to speak in Spanish the whole night with her friend and her. And I didn't do too badly!! I do think I am getting better.

This weekend I am going to Girona and Besalu, 2 medeval cities in the north of Catalunya, for a day trip. Next weekend I am going to Paris!! From Thursday until Sunday. The weekend after that there is an excursion to Madrid with my group and I am also planning trips to Amsterdam the weekend after and London/Edinburgh at the end of February. I am excited to have travel plans and can't wait to start seeing more places and for the weather to get warmer. There's still so much that I even want to do in Barcelona when it gets a little nicer.

Tonight there is a party being hosted at a club that a Spanish student at my university's school put together for everyone at ESCI and the study abroad students. Hope it is fun. I'll try to update again soon. Love and miss you!!! Ciao