Posts to come...

This trip has been way too busy. My blogging has failed. I'm going to post a bunch as soon as I'm home and have time to write them!

Posts to come

- Costa Brava/Southern France
- Morocco (incredible)
- Weekend in Barcelona with Lindsay
- Portugal
- Paris

Then one on the final week and one on Rome, too!

FC Barcelona and Montserrat- with some pictures!

On Friday, we had dinner with our RA, Anselmo, and 3 other of the kids he is assigned. After that we went to a two story Irish pub called George Payne to catch the end of the FC Barcelona game. The place was packed with die hard fans and when they won the place broke out in song. People were banging beer bottles on the tables, hugging, singing.. they were some of the happiest fans I've ever seen. On our way home to the Metro, Ella and I stopped by las Ramblas where a huge crowd had gathered to celebrate. Some men were standing in a light post waving flags and shooting off flares. It was nuts but I appreciate their passion (this is reminding me of the Rangers loss and I have to say it ruined my Saturday morning to see we had lost. I was not a happy camper. But it sounded like a well played game and at least they made it to overtime. Still stinks though).

On Satuday, Ella, Emma, Nicole, Jonny, Andy and I took an hour train to Montserrat. From the base of the mountain we rode a cable car up to the monastery and it was BEAUTIFUL! The views of the country side and the towns below were incredible. The monastery itself was gorgeous. There were intricate lamps, all different, lining the sides of the church and statues that took up entire walls were amazing. Above the alter in a upstairs corridor was the Black Virgin Mary statue. People were lined up to touch it. I was in complete awe the whole time inside. 

After that we grabbed lunch and then headed out to hike up the mountain more. We were trying to get to a certain cross, but missed a turn off and took about a 2 hour hike up the mountain. At one point, a woman passed us and said "wow walking up all this way!" and it hit us that we could have taken a short train to our destination. That costs money though so we laughed that we're all cheap college students who need our exercise. Anyways, the views were even better than before and we couldn't have asked for a better day to be up there. 

We walked back down and watched a quick movie on Montserrat that featured music of the famous boy's choir of the monastery and had old pictures of people visiting and attending church there in the past. I am still blown away by the fact that people were able go get all the way up the mountain back then. I can't imagine how the train and cable car system were built- it's seriously amazing to me.

Click the pictures to bring up a gallery

 happy fans in a lamp post in last Ramblas

more of the celebration

cable car up the mountain

Nicole, Emma, Ella, Jonny, Me, Andy

 the views were amazing!

inside the Basilica

 the Black Virgin statue (dad- that's zoomed in from the pews.. the camera is amazing!)

the organ- for you Papa! 

 on our hike

 panoramic view from our hike

Calvin Harris

Thursday was Emma's birthday so we celebrated by going to the beach all day and the Calvin Harris concert that night. On our way to the beach we ate at Bo De B (Ella and I had it again today and waited in a line out the door..) which is this awesome sandwich place with some of the best bread I've ever tasted. They cook your meat right when you order it and pile on toppings of your choice and then they have 4 or 5 sauces- an avocado one, yogurt/dill one, spicy one... it was delicious.

The beach was crowded but really fun. We saw our fair share of topless women and men walk around trying to sell hats and mojitos but it's all part of the experience. We've been told of a quieter beach 30 minutes away to try called Sitges that everyone wants to check out.

That night we met everyone at a bar called Taberna (the Chupacabra of Barcelona- they have big fun drinks with huge straws and free popcorn) where we toasted to Emma. Then we went to the club for the concert. Calvin Harris (he's a dj who does a lot of mixes with other stars) came on around 2. Ella and I snagged spots on the front of a small stage on the left side. We had a direct view of him from above the crowd and danced the night away- very very happy that we wore flats. The next morning our hearing was fuzzy and our left ears were ringing all day. It was worth it, but I may snag some earplugs for the next concert..

New York Rangers

If anyone sees this before tonight, please please please cheer on the Rangers and hope they pull in a win! I read about the game this morning and can't believe they had that big of a comeback and then lost. Our internet is working now so I think I may have to try to watch some online tonight/the middle of the night. GO RANGERS!

Wearing in my walking shoes

I think I'm almost all the way over my jet lag. Phew. Ella and I woke up on our first full day (Tuesday) a little sleepy still, but we drank our coffee and headed to el metro- the subway. Ella had an earlier orientation so I walked around the streets near Plaza Catalunya for two hours. It made me realize how much I don't mind being alone sometimes. That may sound sad, but it was so much easier to explore and start to check out the area. After my orientation, I met with about 7 other girls and we walked around until we found a cute little place with pastas and focaccia pizzas for lunch. DEE-lish. Then we wandered Las Ramblas which is full of tourists but it has awesome little stands with food, flowers, gifts, and more. I loved how busy it was- made it great for people watching.  Then we wandered La Boqueria which is a huge market with stands full of fruit, vegetables, breads, candy, meat, seafood,.. everything. I'm obsessed with farmer's markets so I was in a mini heaven (actually went there again today with Ella and Getty to get fruit to eat with our baguette sandwiches). Then we wandered around more until a welcome gathering at the IES center. After that, Ella and I came home and slept for 2 hours. We ate dinner around 9:45 and it lasted until around 10:30- Mariana looooves to talk during dinner so they're longer than what I'm used to. I don't mind though because it's really helping my Spanish. Soon enough, we were ready to go and headed to a bar called Dow Jones to meet our friends. It was a cool bar where the shot prices change with their supply and demand, but we maybe stayed for about 5 minutes because every other IES kid had heard to go to the same spot. Our group left and walked around the corner to more of a pub place. We sat at the counter and I enjoyed my first beer from Holland. After about an hour there we wandered about 7 blocks up to a street we were told has more fun bars. We found one called Chupitos which seems to be the Cheers of Barcelona. The place has to have at least 200 shots-to name a few- Finding Nemo, Osama bin Laden, Boy Scout.. and over half of them involve the bar or shot being lit on fire. We had fun there because it wasn't too crowded, but a little before 2 we hopped in a cab and headed to the beach to go to a discoteca (love that word) on the beach. It was basically a huge rave with lots of fun music and we danced and ended the night walking on the beach to put our feet in the water. (I actually saw a girl in a white dress get all the way in.. one)brrr. two) bad idea). By 4:30 we hopped in a cab and headed home. Overall- great first night.

Today we had class, met our teacher- she seems really nice, ate lunch outside, and skipped the beach to wander more in the area where IES is. We went and saw the University of Barcelona and it was beautiful! The building is so old but the architecture is gorgeous. All the walls and doors had such intricate designs and the stone was incredible. The school also had multiple terraces with trees, gardens, and benches. I wish we had a building like it in Austin. We also found a bunch of places we want to eat at. Anyways, we went home later, had a delicious hour long dinner with Mariana (every Wednesday she makes spanish tortilla- it has eggs, potatoes, peppers, onions, kinda of quiche like to give you an idea-and it was MMMM YUMM!) So that's life in Spain so far. Tomorrow after class a big group of us is going to the beach for lunch and some sun. Then we're going to a Calvin Harris-whooooo!- concert and it's Emma's birthday- Can't wait! On Saturday, we want to take a day trip to Montserrat so more to come on that adventure! Adios for now!

p.s.- in a market today I bought myself golden grahams for my room- I was already having cereal withdrawal... they taste just as good as they do in America

Bienvenidos!

I'm officially in Barcelona! Can't believe I'm actually here, but it's already better than I expected. Earlier today Ella and I took a cab to our home stay and met Mariana, our house mother. She is so sweet but speaks no (literally not a word) of English. She couldn't stop calling Ella and I "bonitas" "guapas" and "preciosas" (basically pretty and precious- quite the self esteem booster for the first day) She gave us lots of hugs and seemed warm and excited to have us in her home. Ella and I tried to help her clean up after dinner but she said our job is to have fun, be happy, go to las discotecas (clubs), study and enjoy life. Safe to say I love her attitude. She has 3 kids and some grandkids and made sure to show us all their pictures throughout the house. She might also be the most popular woman in Spain. Her phone rang about 6 six times within the first 45 minutes of us being there. It's nice to be around someone so happy and she's patient with our spanish which is good.

Ella and I have a little room with two twin beds and plenty of armoires for our clothes. After we unpacked, Mariana took us to get go phones (which feels prehistoric in my hands but I love it) and then took us on the subway over to our school. We went all the way in the building up to where we will have orientation tomorrow. Then we walked around some because our school is right next to Las Ramblas (a market place with lots of shops and touristy things), Plaza Catalunya, lots of clothing stores, and cafes. We saw two works of Gaudi in that area and found out we can go back to tour them later. Then Ella and I were exhausted (at that point we had pulled an all nighter) so we rode the subway home and took naps. Mariana prepared a delicious dinner of soup, ham and cheese croquettes, vegetables, sangria, and flan for dessert. She loves to cook which is great! 

Now Ella and I are looking up places to go on mapquest- happy to have discovered that many of the recommended bars and clubs are only 9 blocks away from us. We want to meet up with other friends, but communication is hard right now because not everyone has bought a go phone yet. Oh well, we'll probably go walk around later anyways. More to come later, including pictures and better stories, but I wanted to remember my first full day in Spain! So far so good and fingers crossed it stays that way! Adios for now! 

Lauren