weekend

Since we don't have classes on Fridays my weekend begins at 3:30PM on Thursdays. Thursday night we went out to a club down by Port Olimpic. The club was fun, there were a lot of Americans there from our program as well as the other programs studying in Barcelona. I actually ran into a girl I went to high school with who is studying in Madrid. Since we didn't get to the club until around 2:00AM, we didn't get home until late, so Friday was the day I got to sleep in as well as catch up on the sleep I missed from the first week of classes.

Saturday we were supposed to have a day trip; however, due to the strong winds, the trip was canceled. We were supposed to go to a winery called Torres and there we would have gotten a tour and then had a wine tasting. After that, we were supposed to go to a beach town called Stiges where we would have gone on a tour of the city. Walking to the meeting place that morning was enough of a sign that cancelling the trip was the right move; we were barely able to walk on the sidewalks, every motorcycle we passed was knocked over, people were losing their hats, and branches from trees were falling. Later on, we actually heard that a sports center collapsed and killed children and numerous other people throughout the city were injured or killed as well (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/24/europe-storm.html?ref=rss).

Luckily, today the wind had passed for the most part so we were able to go on a cable car ride to the top of Montjuic (a famous hill in Barcelona that overlooks the city and the harbour). We took the cable car ride to the Castell de Montjuic which is a fortress that was used throughout the history of Barcelona for various reasons. Because it was a Sunday, a lot of the rooms were closed, but we were able to see the amazing views of the city from the top of it which was good.

After the cable car ride back down from Montjuic, we came back to our apartment and have just been hanging out. I'm going out to dinner with my friends from Miami tonight and then we all have school tomorrow. I'll write again soon.

classes

We started all of our classes on Monday. I have Cross-Cultural Management and Barcelona City: Past and Present (a history course) on Mondays and Wednesdays. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have Spanish for Business and International Marketing. Luckily, I have friends in all of my classes so I'm happy about that.

Monday started off a little rocky because the Management class that I have starts at 11:00 AM but I had never been to that campus because it was at one of the Business School Campuses a half hour away. First, I made sure to leave extra early because I didn't know exactly how to get there; Second, I missed my stop (which is shocking because I am usually good with train and subway stops) on the train so I had to get off, wait for a different one to come, and then take it back to the correct stop; and Third, I had no idea where I was when I got off the train and I had to take a cab (who didn't know where he was going either) to the campus.

The second half of the day went a little smoother, I had my history class and my roommate Jessica is in my class so that's good. After that class, at 3:45, I went back to my apartment and waited for my roommates to come back so we could go to dinner. We went to a really good restaurant right by La Rambla with good food and cheap prices. Like I said earlier, people don't eat until late here so we didn't get home until about 12:30 AM so we just hung out before going to sleep.

Tuesday was a better day because both of the campuses I have class on are really easy to get to. My Spanish class is a 5 minute walk from my apartment which is very convenient. I'm in the Advanced Spanish for Business class with only about 8 people, which scares me a little, but I have my friend in it so it will be fine.

My International Marketing class is at a different Business School Campus and that class I have with two of my good friends which is going to be good for all of our group assignments we have.

I'm done by 3:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays so today, my friend and I decided to be productive and get a gym membership. The gym is gorgeous and it's about 10 minutes from my apartment. There are a lot of treadmills, ellipticals, and weight machines, as well as classes, a steam room, and pool that we are allowed to use. I will probably be utilizing the showers there because they are a lot bigger and nicer than the shower in my apartment.

Tonight we are going to go out to either a bar or club, and since we don't have classes on Friday, we will definitely be going out tomorrow night also. This weekend we have a day trip to a winery and beach town so I will definitely be writing about them if I don't write before that.

chupitos, sagrada familia, arc de triomf

Saturday night we ended up going to a different bar called Chupitos which is a shot bar with over 500 different shots (grandma, I'll spare you the details). But it was actually really cool, they lit the shots on fire and used different colors and everything. The bar was also full of people so it was a fun night.

(Harry Potter Shot)














Sunday we decided that we were going to go make sure we knew how to get to the two campuses we would be having class at so we took a walk over to them. Our metro stop is the same as the main CEA campus so it only takes 5 minutes to get there, the other CEA campus was about a 15 minute walk from the main campus. Because I am in the business program, I am also taking two business classes at different campuses, so each one of my four classes is in a different building.

Sundays here are strictly a day of rest, very different than the US. NOTHING was opened, it was like a ghost town walking around. After we found the campuses, we walked over to Gaudí's last project he worked on before he passed away, The Sagrada Familia.















Still under construction, the Sagrada Familia is a church with hundreds of biblical references; one could be there for hours and still not get through all the symbols. Gaudí dedicated the last forty years of his life to the construction of this church. At the beginning of it's construction, Gaudí made it clear that the only funding for the church would be from the peoples donations; no government money would be used to create the church. In the end, Gaudí had given up his whole fortune to its construction. Visitors are also able to take an elevator all the way to the top of the temple for amazing views of the city; however, we didn't go up because the line was very long. I'm sure I'll get up there sometime this semester and share the pictures I take.

After the Sagrada Familia we walked back to our apartment, making one more stop at the Arc de Triomf (obviously not the same as the one in Paris). Once we walked through the arc there was a widened sidewalk that happened to be full of life on the otherwise dead Sunday.














After the Arc, we walked home, made dinner, and relaxed before our first day of classes.

la rambla, parc guell

Now that I am all settled into my apartment, my roommates and I have been wasting no time sightseeing. Yesterday morning we walked down La Rambla, the main road in Barcelona, to the Port of Barcelona and took a boat tour of the coastline. We got to see a lot of the city; however, it was freezing outside and the waves made the boat rock a lot so maybe it would have been smarter if we went once the weather was warmer.

After the tour we walked up La Rambla again. La Rambla is like Lincoln Road in South Beach; no cars are allowed on it and all along the sides are restaurants, hotels, and stores. Also on La Rambla is a famous market called La Boqueria and it has fruit, candy, meat, and vegetable stands as well as little bars where people can sit and order food.



We also went out to a bar right next to La Rambla last night called La Oveja Negra (The Black Sheep). It was down a small side street and it was very crowded, I met up with a few girls from Miami and their roommates there which was nice.


Today we went Gaudí's Parc Guell. Parc Guell is a huge park with amazing views of the city. The land was originally supposed to be a garden city but after no houses were built the area turned into a giant park with numerous paths, Gaudí's old home filled with furniture designed by Gaudí, and amazing mosaics on stairs and benches. The views throughout the park of the city were amazing, hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures of them soon.


































Classes start on Monday, so I'll update everyone on how my classes go then.

barca beginning

Today we moved into our apartments. I'm living in the center of the city in El Barri Gótic which I'm very happy about. I'm living with three girls: Jaime, Jessica, and Laura who are all from the U.S. Me and Laura have the single rooms and Jaime and Jess have a double. I was really nervous about the apartments because I heard how small all the single rooms are; however, I must have been lucky because I have a big room with a queen size bed, desk, dresser, and balcony. The kitchen is a little small and instead of a dishwasher, there is the washer machine. In Spain, no one dries their laundry, they hang them on clotheslines over their balconies so we have a little balcony by our front door with a clothesline.

We are right by El Placa de Catalunya and Las Ramblas. We are also surrounded by clothes stores and restaurants so I will have to try and ignore them instead of shopping because everything here is sooooo expensive. I had to buy my own linens and the price of cheap linens here in Barcelona is nothing like the price of cheap linens in the U.S.

For the past few days we have been living in hotels because we have been going through orientation for the program as a whole and for the liberal arts classes we are taking. I still have my orientation for the business classes tomorrow and then all of our classes start on Monday. My schedule is pretty good, my earliest class is at 10:45 and the latest I have class until is 3:30 in the afternoon. Hopefully since I'm done so early with my classes I will be able to tour around Barcelona as much as possible. We have already gone on a bus tour of the city and got to see the Sagrada Familia by Gaudí as well as a few other buildings of his. Here they have great rates at museums for students so I will be able to see a lot around here and also when I travel around Europe. Once I'm settled in I will start planning trips around Europe because I want to be able to get everything in while I'm here and it's going to fly by.

I will update everyone soon!