da weeeek

Another amazing week in Barca. It is so much fun just walking around and discovering new places and new areas of the city. On monday I wanted to explore the Bari Gotic by myself. I walked around trying to find a square called Placa Reil that I heard from a girl who came here last year was her favorite place to sit and people watch. I cam across really cute shops and restaurants, but couldnt find the square. I ate at a tapas restaurant called Taller de Tapas. It was in a small square and there was a man playing guitar right outside and Ive really been wanting to hear live music. I ordered a cafe con leche and patatas bravas, which was like french fries with an amazing garlic sauce and some other sauce on top== super healthy. I watched a couple near my eat the weirdest things like little fish, literally look like straight from the ocean, and blood sausage. People sit at restaurants for a long time, there is no rush to go anywhere, and lunch usually happens at like 2-4. My waiter explained how to get to the square in spanish and I understood! I didnt realize I was so close to las ramblas, but I walked there and found the square that is right off of it. Its really pretty with a fountain in the middle and palm trees. Then I went to El Corte Ingles, the department store in spain that sells everythingggg. Everything was on sale, I got a cute shirt for 13 euro. That night was Loco Lunes!! Went out with our roommates to a club called Otto Zutes. When we came home we all literally ransacked the kitchen and ate everything. It was soo much fun. We had grilled cheese and then eggs, then I  got in Grace's bed and we had a heart to heart, haha. On tuesday Sam and Grace wanted bagels so we went to this really cool smoothie shop that also has bagels. The whole shop is covered in fake fruit on the walls, its soo cool looking. The bagels were not that good. That night Katie and I met the berkeley crew at a bar called El Gato Negro in Eixample. It was two girls Katrina and Alesia, from DG, 21st birthdays at midnight. We hung out for a while but then went home. On Wednesday I woke up and met Katie after her class and our friend from Berkeley Gailen. We went shopping at El Corte Ingles again, because I didnt get to go to all 6 floors the first time. Got a cute scarf for 8 euro. Then we went to this famous local sandwhich and champagne place called La Champaneria in Barceloneta, by the beach. You stand the whole time and order sandwhiches, surrounded by all this hanging meat. It was all locals which was really cool. We ordered a ham, cheese, pepper, and onion sandwhich and it was amazing! I dont like ham but its everywhere here so i decided to try it and it was so good. And we got a bottle of champagne. At night we metro-ed over to Katrina's residencia called mellon district, which is like a dorm instead of living in apartments, and its gorgeous, brand new, and very modern-- but some are really shitty so its all luck. Each girl on the floor has a single with their own bathroom and then one room thats a nice kitchen and hang out room. We had a party in there for the birthdays and I met a lot of really nice girls. I hung out all night was a girl named Krista who goes to school in norcal right near berk. Then we went to raz. On the way home i was speaking spanish with the cab drive the entire time. I fell asleep in sams bed talking to coley which is hilarious. Tomorrow we are going to Lisbon!!!!! Im soooooo excited.

Weekend

Fun weekend in Barcelona! Saturday we all slept in, finally caught up on some sleep. Then my friend Teddi from CT texted me that she was in Barca! She's going abroad in Florence but was here with family before florence. They were staying at the W which is RIGHT on the beach! It was soooooo nice. There is a roof top bar that is goon on sunday nights so we will go there eventually, but it was fun to see a room and to see Teddi. The bed faces the the window which overlooks the whole beach of Barcelona. It would be amazing to be there in the summer. People were surfing still, but it was really cold out. Although I havent seen Teddi in I think 2 years, it felt like no time had passed which was really cool. I saw her mom too who is so sweet. Then Katie and I walked along the beach and got on the metro to meet our roommates at a pub called George Payne, to drink before the futbol game!! Its the coolest atmosphere- there are bookcases and gold and wood everywhere, it reminded me of Harry Potter. It was mostly americans who were going to the game, and we all were wearing Barca scarves, which was really cool. We got a pitcher of Amstell then went to the game. There were thousands of people walking to the stadium, which is HUGE and fits 100,000 people. We picked up our tickets from cea people, but when we were going in I got separated from everyone because my ticket was for a different section. I thought ide be able to find everyone once I was inside, but you couldnt. Luckily, as I was walking up the stairs to my seat I randomly met a guy from my program who happened to go to Buckly for hs and is best friends with my friend Tommy and and knows Auri and Aric VH. So I sat with him and his friends for the whole game and it was so fun. It was freeeezing out though. I swear it felt like it was 20 degrees. It was cool to be there but im not a huge soccer fan. Barca won 3-0! The metro on the way home was PACKED which was interesting. After going home and eating we went out to a club called Catwalk with our roommates. It wasnt that fun, but than katie and I snuck into the VIP section and skeemed drinks (skeem= midwest word for using or getting things free from others). We hung out with Kike the infamous promoter the whole night. Hes really nice, and he loves me and Katie haha. We got home at 5am, took the metro home. So nice we didnt pay for a thing all night. Today was a lazy day. We stayed in our apartment and relaxed. Im doing laundry. Tonight we are going to go to George Paynes again to watch NFL playoffs. It will be all americans but hopefully ill meet cool people from my program.

random commentary

It is so expensive to be abroad. It costs so much to eat out, buy food for our apartment, buy metro passes, bedding and towels, buying drinks and cabs, and then traveling- flights, hostels, food, and events. I dont really understand how people say they traveled every weekend. Also, Cea makes you give deposits when you sign up for events, and yeah they give it back, but still sucks. Thank god I saved up money all semester from babysitting. Im staying in tonight and Im sooo excited! I need to do laundry but im scared-- there is no dryer, you dry your clothes by hanging them. Our area to hang stuff is really sketchy i think its the back of the elevator shoot, and if it falls its gone forever. Also, everywhere I go people borrow my clothes. I guess its a compliment but its so annoying. I am too nice to say no. All 4 roommates come to my closest first when getting ready...COOL.

Me and Katie at our table.

Eating Paella! 

La Boqueria. 

At Patagonia Bar with Berkeley girls, and the guys are from our program. 

The bar tenders put this wig on Katie

Pipperments with Berkeley girls. 

Me and Weino at Fahrenheight.  

thursday friday

Went to Las Ramblas before class. Ate pizza for lunch and died. Class is getting better, I really like my photo teacher and my spanish teacher. Met up with a group of berkeley kids on CEA and went out to a bar called Pipperments, which serves drinks that are 13 liters! We got a 13 liter lemonade and vodka and it comes with 10 huge straws so everyone can drink. Then me, Danielle, and Katie went to McDonalds instead of to the club. It was the best decision ever. American food tasted sooo good and we got home early and got a good night sleep! But when we got home, our indiana roommates were basically having a party at our place. They didnt even say hi when we walked in or introduce us to the random boys they had at our apartment. Then the glass of our door to the laundry room broke!!! They had opened all the windows because it was hot but the air shut the door really hard and a huge chunk of the door broke- at least that is what they are saying. I thought I really liked them but it sucks, they are just pretty selfish party girls. They didnt even clean it up. I had to ask them today to clean up the glass and the bottles from our table. Coley went to Milan for the weekend and Katie wont say anything, so I look like the bitch which sucks, but whatever.

Today the three of us went the big park down the street and saw the fountain Cituadella. It was so pretty! There are gold statues and white stone and trees around it. There are stairs that go through it so you can walk. I took really cool pictures, but I cant put them on the computer yet because I cant find the cord for my Nikon!!! Im going to try to find one tomorrow or ask my photo teacher where I can get one. There is also a huge elephant/mammoth statue at the park. You can climb on its trunk. I think its sooo cool! We all took turns taking pictures on the trunk. Then we walked to the water- trying to go to this really cool restaurant for lunch called La Champagnaria- had 2 euro bottles of champagne and amazing sandwhiches. We got kind of lost, but the area was really cute with small ally ways and cute shops. When we finally found it, it was closed, which sucked. So instead we went to a tapas restaurants and had amazing tapas! We got chicken skewers, shrimp, salad, and another crispy chicken dish. Then we metroed to Top Shop, but they didnt have anything. I made myself a bomb salad and risotto for dinner!

tuesday wednesday 1/19/11

Danielle came yesterday. We went to dinner with Katie and two berkeley DGs that are here at an ourdoor cafe on Passeig Catalunya. On the way home we stopped in a bar right near our apartment and made friends with these really old guys from Barca. One spoke english but i was speaking spanish to them and they told me I spoke well! They bought us two shots haha, and now we are friends with the bar tender. Then we went out with the berkeley girls to the famous bar Chupitos which means "shots." They literally have 5000 shots with funny names, and most light on fire. Danielle ate it on has a huge bump on her head and has had a bad of frozen peas on here head all day hahahaha. I love our two new roommates Cole and Preston, theyve been living on our couch because they got evicted from their apartment. They go to Indiana with Grace and Sam. We book our first trip today!! Katie and I are going to Lisbon, Portugal next weekend!!!!!!! Im so excited! Ive been walking everyday to and from school which is so nice. Tonight were going to a mexican food place. Spanish food is not that great. But today I got a sandwhich and ate it on the way to class and it was on an amazing baguette. yay carbs....

1/17/11

Today was mellow but fun. I woke up at 12pm and me and Coley walked to Passeig de Gracia, the rodeo drive of Barca, and walked down it. Gaudi's two houses are on that street and we took the tour of his famous house Casa Batllo. It is so interesting- the architecture has no straight lines, its all curved. He was inspired by "living things in nature" so some things look like the ocean, and one room looks like a rib cage. It has a great view of the street. One friday, we went to parc guell which I forgot to mention in my last post. It is soooo beautiful. We walked around the mosaic benches and went inside Gaudi's house. Then me Katie, Coley, and Maggie got a pitcher of sangria and sat and talked overlooking the beautiful architecture. A lot of people from our program and others were there, so we ended up having a bug group all drinking sangria. It was sunny and beautiful. The we hiked up to the cross that is on top of a big hill. You can see an amazing view of the city. There was a crazy guy singing american rock songs right there, so funny. After we tried our first paella at a random restaurant. Then I went shopping at Zara, they are having a huge sale, and now is the only sale until june, so I heard to shop now. I got a rain trench coat ive been wanting for 29 euro, and a pair of pants. Then I went to class. My Photojournalism class is really interesting. My sports class is insanely boring. I walked home from class with Sam and Grace and then ate at home. Now were about to get ready to go out, because in Barcelona it's "Loco Lunes."

Our room! My bed is the orange one. Got bedding at Zara. Mattresses are sooo hard. 

Kitchen. 

Razzmatazz

Me and Coley at Guadi's house at Parc Guell

The roomies!! Sam, Grace, Me, Coley, Katie. 

Tibidado with Berkeley girls. 

Arch de Triumph

First week!

What a week. It is truly incredible here. It defiantly took some adjusting but I am finally getting to know the city better and settling in.

Hotel Gran Catalunya- the hotel we stayed in on the first two nights.
When we got there we had lunch at the hotel with our roommates, who are great. Grace is from Long Island and goes to Indiana with Sam who is from Westcester, ny. Funniest people ever. They are so much fun. Coley is from Minnesota and is a kappa at Wisconsin. Shes the nicest person ever, hilarious, and has the biggest accents its amazing. We have all gotten along so great. The first night we met a lot of girls. Went to a club called Shoko which is on the beach. It was really fun. Katie had two dfmo's (east coast word for Dance Floor Make Out....hahahhaah) and I made a spanish friend, not sure how I talked to him but we hung out for a while.

The apartment is actually pretty nice. We were upset originally because other ones are really, really nice, but now that we have settled in its really big and nice. Our landlord, Marta is the most adorable lady and speaks no english. Our rooms are big and the shower and bathroom is nice.

We live in Eixample which is a really cute and safe neighborhood. There are so many little kids running around a lot of old people. It is right in the center of the city and is a great location. We can walk to our classes, its about a 20 minute walk, or metro- we have two metro lines right here and its sooo easy to get around. We are close to Passeig de Gracia, the street with all the really nice designer shops and a lot of out door cafes. I ate at a cafe and ordered a spanish dish of fries with eggs and ham on top. The food is not that great, its all sea food and ham which I dont like, so ive been eating all carbs. We havent been to a good tapas place yet, but have had some good sangria. We went food shopping at this tiny local market right near our apartment, which was so much fun. The guy who worked there walked our groceries home with us. Food is cheap, the fruit is really good. There is an amazing peach juice we bought. And its so cool I can buy alcohol!

The clubs and bars are crazy. There is a promoter named "kike (key-kay) who hosts big parties at different clubs each night, and all the Americans abroad follow. Its really weird. Our roommates know a lot of Indiana kids on the program and are want to party with them so we have been going, and its fun, but just all americans from our progam, and mostly kids from new york and midwest. It was fun for the first week but I want to branch out and go to places with more locals. But the clubs are insane, they are really nice and so many people are there dancing until 5am. We have been leaving at around 4am, which is early. The clubs we have gone to are Shoko, Catwalk, Opium, Oshum, Otto Zuts, and Razmatazz. We have had people over at our apartment to pregame before the clubs which has been really fun. We have a big living room and its a good setting. Other kids on the program have already been evicted from their housing because of noise, but we are lucky were not above anyone.

Classes are fine. The are really boring but really easy. I am taking two photo classes, photography and photojournalism, with the same teacher so so far they have been almost exactly the same but hopefully they'll be more different. I was in Catalan, the language they speak in Catalunya and Barcelona, but i switched to spanish because everyone here speaks spanish. It was interesting but its pointless.



1/15/11
Went to tibidado in the Gracia barrio. It is a really wealthy part of down and it is known for this little amusment park at the top of the hill and a beautiful church overlooking the whole city. We went with a crew from Berkeley. We took a cute trolly up the hill past beautiful houses, but once we got to the top we heard the park was closed which was a bummer, but we walked around and saw the amazing views. There were a lot of spaniards there working out/hiking, and it reminded me of the spanish version of fryman canyon. Then we ate at a cute restaurant up there. After we metroed back to la rambla and shopped a little, but it was packed because it was saturday and every store is having sales. I havent bought anything yet. Off La rambla is an incredible outdoor market called La Boqueria. It was rows and rows of fresh fruit, produce, candy, chocolcate, smoothies, meat, and fish. The colors are incredible to look at the food is so good. We have been cooking some dinner at our apartment. My roommate Coley, whos from Minnesota and is a kappa at wisconsin knows how to cook, but the rest of us not so much. Weve been making pasta, eggs, salad, and microwaved things haha. We had all the berkeley people over to pregame, then went to some random apartment with them, then to the bar La Ovella Negra, which was really cool. Then we got these INCREDIBLE churros from a stand near the metro. Best thing ever.


1/16/11
Today, Katie and I walked to the beach from our apartment. It was a pretty long walk, maybe about two miles but it was beautiful. Waking down our street, Passeig Sant Joan, you hit Barcelona's Arch Di Triumph which is beautiful. There was a man playing great spanish music on his guitar. So many people were out and about the city. We then walked through a huge park called Citudadella which is very green and pretty. Once we got to the water we went to a restaurant on the pier. There was a long row of restaurants that were all packed with spanish people in large groups at 4pm. We have been having huge lunches and small dinners. I ordered Paella, a famous spanish dish which is rice and seafood, but I got it with chicken. And we had sangria which was AMAZING. Then we went to Santa Maria del mar in El Born and went to the Picasso museum. We came home, made din with the roomies and stayed in because we are all exhausted.