My Internet did not work until Saturday and everything has been so busy since my arrival. The first week in Barcelona has been so amazing: great sights, people, nightlife, and clearly most importantly delicious food. So much has happened in the past week that I actually don't even know how to summarize it, but I will try my best.
Part One: Getting Here
When I travel, everything that can go wrong usually does and if something doesn't, I usually just end up embarrassing myself to the extreme. Why should traveling to Europe be any different? The day began with one of my bags being about a casual 25 pounds over. It was honestly a joke, but I managed to take some stuff out and make it under the maximum limit. I really deserve a pat on the back. However, in order to do this, my carry on bag was overstuffed making it look like it was literally about to explode, which it almost did on our flight to Newark. I couldn't get it to fit and was struggling beyond belief to shove it into the small overhead compartments, causing a scene and what seemed like the entire plane watch in disbelief. Somehow, we got it to fit and arrived safely in Newark. Our flight from Newark to Barcelona was really long and the plane was really small. In addition, the man next to Rachel was hacking up a lung. Success. After a long night of not being able to sleep, we arrived in Barcelona to find out of my suitcases missing. Following two days of calling, making my mom call, and worry, I finally got my luggage and was ready to relax and enjoy the beautiful city.
Part Two: Our Homestay
Although I was apprehensive at first, my homestay is a blessing. Conchita, our homestay mom, is amazing. She only speaks Spanish, which is improving my extreme lack of fluency. Conchita is really sweet, caring, funny, and works as a manicurist/pedicurist/facialist/etc. from our home, which is an added bonus! She cooks us dinner every night and allows us to prepare our own breakfast, which is usually muesli with yogurt, fruit, and toast. I have my own room and it definitely is starting to feel like home. We met Conchita's family last Saturday for a Spanish feast in honor of her 29-year-old daughter's birthday, which was also a really unique and fun experience. We ate and talked for almost five hours and I really enjoyed it. In addition, our apartment is in a really cool neighborhood in Barcelona called Gracia that is filled with many bars, cafes, famous plazas, and more. We live about a two minute walk from Casa Vicens, which is the first house built by Gaudi for a family.
Tonight, I went to get wine and gelato in Gracia (well actually just gelato, but we ended up caving and buying wine as well) in Gracia. We sat outside in the famous Plaza de Revolucion until midnight when they made us come inside. This neighborhood is great to explore and I look forward to doing so.
Part Three: The City and the Experience
So far while here, I have had the chance to explore many areas of the city and go to many attractions such as La Boqueria(a huge outdoor market), Museu Picasso de Barcelona, Museu de la Xocolata, Port Olympic, and many additional neighborhoods. During the day, we have a lot of time to explore, eat, drink coffee, enjoy sangria, and really soak in the city. The nightlife is Barcelona is also great, but my favorite place so far is Chupitos, which is a really cool shot bar. They light basically every shot on fire and each is really unique, such as the "Bob Marley" which is yellow, green, and red layered or my personal favorite, the "Willy Wonka" that has a piece of chocolate in it and is delicious.
I have met amazing people so far and I am really excited for this semester. Classes started today and they are fine so far. Although I am taking all electives, my first two classes seemed highly reminiscent of Journalism and Poli Sci. Guess I can't escape GW even when I am across an ocean....typical.
Anyway, I will try to actually blog as often as possible from now on.
Buenas Noche,
Lauren
PS: Its 1:30 and I am really tired so if this has any grammatical errors, ignore them and they'll be gone by tomorrow once I can keep my eyes open.
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