Buenos Dias!

Que tal? I just finished my first week of classes here at UPF and I already know I am going to love these four day weeks! I am very spoiled over here, but I count each day as a blessing.

I had to bust into my peanut butter yesterday. It was a bittersweet moment. The peanut butter was fantastic, but I know it will be gone soon. Life is pretty different over here. I can already feel myself creating new Spanish habits that I will have to readjust once I return home. One of the good ones though that I need to try to keep is the "taking faster showers" one.  Probably a little too much info for everyone, but there you have it. Also, I can feel my English proficiency slipping away trying to learn all of this Spanish, and that is really scaring me! But, despite all of the worries and the roller coaster of emotions, I am getting to live a peaceful life and it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

I really wish I had brought my painting supplies with me. I would love to just go to a nearby park and paint on Tuesdays because I only have one class. I found a small art store near my apartment, and it would cost about 100 euros for supplies, but I think I am going to try to get some. I don't know, still deciding.

I am also going through withdrawals for American television. Luckily, I have a new show here in Spain that I am obsessed with...all of my friends and loved ones will tell you that because I can;t seem to shut up about it. What can I say, I don't do anything half-heartedly! But, then again, you all already knew that.

So, the latest news is that I have my travel plans mostly figured out. This weekend I am off the Bilbao and San Sebastian, the following weekend I am going to Lisbon, the weekend after that I am going to Carnaval in Sevilla (maybe Cadiz as well) and the weekend after that I am going to Granada!!!!!! I cannot believe I get to do all of this Paz y suerte-peace and luck- the two words that define my Spanish life. March brings another host of surprises...ISA is taking us to Valencia, and then I am off for Spring Break with my friend Lauren to Edinburgh, Dublin, Kilkenny, Liverpool, Stratford, Warwick, and London...ahh!!! It blows my mind! Oh, and of course my MOM is coming to Spain and we are going to spend my 21st birthday at the Alcazar de Segovia!!! So excited, I do not have enough words to convey my happiness!

Right now I have to go, I have to book everything for Spring Break with Lauren then I am off to practice my Spanish with my ISA mentor Jane. I love you all, I am so glad you survived the apocalyptic California weather and I miss you! Hasta luego!

Sunday in Barcelona

Ciao! Well, since I last updated the blog, we celebrated my friend Kelly's 21st birthday (as you can see by the last picture) We went to Park Guell on Friday and Montjuic yesterday. Then, today, we went to mass at the Barcelona Cathedral. I have to say, for three days, that is pretty decent.

Park Guell was not what I expected...in a good way. Unlike a normal park, or the Parque del Retiro in Madrid, Park Guell is a vertical park. I found that very interesting. To get there I had to take the bus, and that was an interesting experience. It astounds me what the bus drivers do here. I truly think they are defying physics or something the way they maneuver a huge bus down tiny streets. But it was fun! So, when I got there I saw this bridge that looks like something out of The Little Mermaid (see the first photo). Then, I walked past a pink house out to the famous plaza with the snake bench that winds itself (like a snake) around the plaza. The view of Barcelona was fantastic. Then, once you look down, you feel as if you are in a garden of gingerbread houses. This plaza is supported by rows of columns underneath. Out in front of them are three fountains and two rather large brown houses with sparkling, frost colored roofs and gumdrop details on the edges of the roofs. And, although it probably sounds like something out of a Dr Suess book, it fit. I could sense as I was walking there that that space was meant for just such a park.

On Saturday, my friends and I went to Montjuic, one of the mountains that surrounds Barcelona. I want you to feel what it was like so I am going to try to be a good writer and paint the picture for you rather than tell you straight out. So here it goes:

You step off the metro and onto the platform. As you walk towards the exit you here what sounds like an airplane taking off and realize that it is the metro speeding off into the black tunnel towards its next destination. Following the sign that says "Sortida" you walk up the stairs into a rather dull looking circle...with the exception of the large statue in the middle. You look around for the friends you are suppossed to be meeting there only to realize that there are five metros. Luckily, you , as a directionally challenged person, pull out your cell phone and call your friends to find out which station they are at. It takes a few tries because the word "theater" means something different to you, rather than the person you are talking too, but eventually you all find each other. You start walking towards two giant brick towers and peer out from behind them to discover you are walking towards a giant palace. Perhap one of the largest you have ever seen in your life. It has an H-shape, crowned with a giant cupola in the very center of the building. You can feel it start to pull you towards its splendor. Once you reach the main plaza, you climb fifty or so stairs to get to the courtyard. After admiring the building and taking an unspecified amount of photos, you turn to your right and begin the circuit you have planned to walk for a few hours. What your wonderful map neglects to tell you in its 2D form is the number of stairs it will take to reach your many destinations on the mountain. Regardless, you embrace it because you are in a foreign country and that is what you do. So, you climb the seventy stairs crowned on each side with sculpted fountains to a back street and over to another small circle. It too has a fountain, and after viewing the other side of the city normally hid by the mountain, you head up the hill towards the Olympic Stadium. You realize how peaceful it is here. There are no honking horns of cars or sounds of tires against the pavement, only the sound of your footsteps plodding along up the sidewalk and the occasional sound of a friend's laughter.

Now, if I am any kind of writer at all I hope I have wet your appetite for the rest of my story. I can give you another one for the mass we went to today in the church from the pictures up above. But, I am going to let the power of that church speak for itself. All I will tell you is that I like it better at night. It feels as if it was built for that, for its true beauty is in the way it uses the light. It is brilliant because it is dark. When walking inside of it, you can see the deep rich hues of truffle and sepia. It had every vibrant tone of brown one could possibly think of, and the contrast with the sparse, tranquil greys of the stone in Sagrada Familia made this even more startling.

I feel truly blessed to be here. I wish all of you could be with me, but I hope little things like this give you a taste of what I am living in. It is starting to feel that way now- like I live here rather than vacation here. Today was a prime example. After church, we came out to music and rings of dancing people in the square. They were dancing the sardana. Most of the shops are closed on Sundays, and it is a day dedicated to spending time with friends and family. So, in the Barcelona spirit, I am going to say adieu because I am meeting friends at a cafe to drink coffee and discuss all of the places we want to go while we are here. Ciao!

End to Photo Problem

Hey everyone!

Ok, one final note on pictures. Since it takes forever to put pictures up on this site, I am just going to post a few keys photos and put the rest on Facebook. Otherwise, you guys would just have to listen to me blab the entire time and I know no one wants that. If that doesn't work for anybody, I can try to email you some but otherwise I will just have to show you all of them when I get home. I have been here ten days and taken over 300 pictures. It is very hard to put a camera down here. I am torn between trying to experience the city and taking pictures of everything so I can remember it later after these four months, and somehow both actions can't occur at the same time.

I miss you all so much, but I am having a great time here with the exception of yesterday. Yesterday was a really rough day, and it felt like the first day of freshman year all over again. Everything is new but it feels like it should be the same. I also went to the doctor to make sure I did not have strep throat and instead of delving into that whole nightmare, I will just say I do not have strep throat and that I did not understand the doctor because she was speaking Catalan. Anyway, it is a little frustrating (and no one really tells you this) when you go from being able to understand everything to being able to understand barely anything. It makes it very easy to be overwhelmed, and, after a little meltdown yesterday I realized that I have survived all of it and that I will continue to do so. Besides, for all of the problems I am having here, the fun cancels it out for sure, and I know that my life could be so much worse. So, I am thanking God instead for the wonderful life full of loved ones and adventure and safety that I get to lead instead of one of sorrow and hardship.

And this isn't a disclaimer for a cure for all of the things I miss. I am still going to get homesick. Right now, I miss my family, my boyfriend, my dogs, cold American milk, cheeseburgers, and the Wii.

So, let me get to the good part. I have been in Barcelona now for six days now, and it is fantastic!!! I have mastered the metro already, and I am experiencing the city. I had a super fun weekend. We all went out as a group (there were probably thirty of us) to a bar and a club around eleven. That is the earliest you can go out here. And, to prove the old cliche "you learn something new everyday" I learned that I can stay up partying for more an entire night. I did not get back to my apartment until 6 AM!!!! I could not believe it. But that is normal here. Breakfast is pretty much whenever you get up, but lunch is not until 2 or 3 in the afternoon and dinner does not start until 9:30 pm. Needless to say, my roommate Catharine and I slept most of the day. I only slept until noon (didn't think that was possible either) but Catharine slept until 3. So, we met friends around five to go shopping because there are sales this entire month and I found an awesome lilac jacket at Zara for thirty euro! Not bad for the brand or the type of jacket. It makes me feel sophisticated. Sunday we met up with our friends again and we visited Sagrada Familia, the amazing Modernisme cathedral designed by Barcelona's famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. It was phenomenal! They started building it in 1886, so it is relatively new, but it still isn't finished. All of the building must be built using donations alone, according to Gaudi, and so no state funds can be used to finish construction. It is an astonishing building. There are suppossed to be eighteen towers in all when it is finished, dedicated to the apostles, a few patron saints of spain I think, Mary, Joseph, and the tallest tower when it is built is dedicated to Jesus. It is designed in the style of a medieval church, in the shape of a cross, and each facade has a different theme to Jesus' life. (It follows the tradition of the rosary). Each facade also has a certain style to it as well. Now, two of the sides are not finished, but the Nativity and Passion sides are. The style of each facade corresponds to the emotions and atmosphere of the scenes. The Nativity side looks like a traditional church, and the scenes are joyous, but when you look at the Passion side, the sculptures are bare and rough to match the sadness and the suffering of Jesus. It just amazes me that a person could capture such scope with one building. Gaudi designed the inside of the church to look and feel like a forest. It is amazing what he does with the natural light through the windows of the cathedral to attain that effect. Anyway, each of the columns looks like a tree, and it did feel like I was walking through a forest while I was there. Gaudi said that a forest was the most serene place, and he wanted to replicate that in order to allow the churchgoers to commune with God easier.

Now, enough facts, and I apologize for sounding like a tourguide. We got these awesome audioguides that told us all of this information, and I wanted to ensure that you got the whole effect when you looked at the pictures. And, congratulations to all of you who have made it through this blog post!!! I know it was super long and I apologize, but I have not written in a while and there has been so much the past few days. Today I went down to the port area and walked with my roommate Catharine for about three hours after class. It was just the kind of soothing day I needed after the horrible one yesterday. After we explored the port, we met some friends for a hot chocolate and that put this day in the book of perfect days. I do not know if such a book exists, but maybe I should start one. Well, I think I have rambled enough for one day. Again, congratulations to those of you who made it to the end of this. I love all of you and leave some comments about your days because I want to hear about them too! Enjoy the photos! Any questions let me know!

Photos of Madrid

So here are pictures from my first day of walking around. The first picture is me drinking my first Spanish hot choclate! The entrance to plaza mayor is after the photo of Plaza Mayor. The last photo is El Rastro (the market they have on Sunday). Unfortuneately this is all I was able to load. It took me about half an hour so I will post more later. Right now I have to get ready to go out with a few of my friends to get a glass of Spanish wine! Yeah, so excited. Hope everything is good at home. I love you and miss you all!

Hey there! So I went out and partied for the first time here in Spain. Really the first time anywhere which I guess is lame but oh well. My roommate and I left around 11 pm and met the other ISA people. We went out to a bar first because the club didn't open until one. Then we got to the club Razzmatazz around 2 and partied until 5 am!! I can't believe I did it! It was pretty fun, we could definitely find a better club- no one was really dancing at this one and there were a lot of sleezy guys-but that is for another weekend. I woke up at 12 and probably won't get going until about 3 which I don't like too much but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Ok, so as promised...here are photos of Madrid and some of Toledo. My camera was dead at the beginning of Toledo so I need to get pictures off of Facebook from my friends pages but it is not working right now. So, without further ado: go figure. I have time to put pictures on and its not working. So sorry everybody! I will try again tonight.

Barcelona: Day One

Hey everyone,

Well, I made it to Barcelona! I survived the nine hour busride and I discovered that I have an awesome, very friendly and helpful host family. Juan Antonio is our dad away from home and Josephina is our mom away from home. Not that they can replace my parents, of course, but they are going to make this so much easier. Josephina is a cook at a retirement home and Juan Antonio is a guide for their trips. They have two daughters, but we only met Sandra. She works at a gallery here in Barcelona. They also have a cat Lolo. He's cool, very fiesty, but he's already warmed up to my roommate Catharine and I. We watched a super scary movie with Josephina called El Orfanato, like the remake the Orphan in the US. I didn't see it, but this one was really good. Lolo sat on my lap for most of the movie while I pet him. Oh, and we jumped right into speaking Spanish. Although I don't quite understand everything, I feel like I understand what they are talking about, and I know I have learned more in a day than I have in two weeks worth of classes. It was a great start to a what I now truly believe will be a great trip. The other great thing is I have internet in the apartment. I say apartment because houses do not really exist here, and even though everything is pretty small, it is still really comfortable. I will take pictures in the coming days and post them later. I also have to recap on the rest of my adventures in Madrid and Toledo, plus show you all some of the hundred plus pictures I have of the two cities.
Spain is truly a magnificent country. Barcelona, what I have seen of it in the dark seems pretty awesome too! Well, we have an exam in the morning for placement into a language level, so I will say Buenos Noches for now, but updates and photos are soon to come. I love you and miss you all!

First Two Days

Here are a few pictures of what I did today. The first one is bathroom, and then my room, and then me messing around with the giant man on the wall.

Well, these first two days have not exactly been easy, but they did go by very quickly. I left the house at 6:30 am yesterday and arrived at 10:15 am this morning. It is all one big blur in my mind. I spent twelve hours on a plane, and it really wasn't too bad. The only thing was I got this 24 hour stomach flu (at least I hope it is twenty four hours) on the second flight and that sucked. I took Nyquil but I could not really sleep on the plane so I was just drugged out, could not see a thing and somehow managed to play a game of Bejewled on my ipod to get the best score I have ever had. Maybe that is why it is a blur. :) But, once I got off the plane, the 40 degree weather felt really good on my fever! My trepidations about freezing are not quite as bad as they were before. But it has only been a day, so we will see.

So, my first day in Spain was not quite ideal. As any of us travelers know, our high expecations for the first day never quite can be reached. I landed at the airport, tried to get in a taxi to get to my hotel, but he told me there was a shuttle and then he kicked me out. So, I went and waited for the shuttle for twenty minutes before I went and got into another taxi. That taxi ripped me off for a five to ten minute cab ride. But, it is a good thing because now I know how to avoid that.

I also know now that I am certifiably insane for doing this. First of all, there is so much Spanish-everywhere! I mean, yes, hello stupid me, what did you think it was going to be? But, not having a Spanish class for three years and a subsequent full on immersion is quite overwhelming! Today is proof that nothing is ever quite what you imagine it to be. Instead of going to the Royal Palace and finding my chocolateria, I spent the day in bed, fighting nausea and this fever so that I can go explore with a few of my fellow students before we meet the entire group at 2pm. I watched a little Spanish television, and then I tried to figure out the shower. The shower head was attached to the side of the wall, and there is only one panel of glass so I had to be careful where I sprayed water after I spent five minutes trying to figure out how to turn it on. It has truly been a crazy day, one of many to come I am sure.

Oh, and one last thing. My hotel room has a giant face of David I think on the wall. So, sorry Cory I am spending the night in a room with a man. But don't worry, you're still my man.

I love you all and I miss you terribly.
Let me just quote something from e.e. cummings because I think her poem sums up what I am feeling. Here is her poem "I Carry Your Heart With Me":

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) ee cummings