A Very Eventful Afternoon

Today I was feeling so tired all through class, with the heat, sore muscles from walking everywhere, and lack of sleep. I was planning on just coming back to the Colegio after classes to take a nap and relax, but as soon as I got to my room I checked my e-mail and realized I had several housing appointments to go to. From the University bulletin board I had written down several phone numbers from people looking to rent out rooms to students, and one residence had three numbers. I made an appointment with some lady over the phone to check it out, and headed off by metro across town to check it out. It was over one stop from La Sagrada Familia, the amazing cathedral and popular spectacle of Barcelona which I have yet to explore or even see from a distance. I get off at the metro and walk over towards the piso (apartment). I was thinking to myself that for only 180 euro a month it was a very nice neighborhood, in fact I turned the corner and was surprised to see a beautiful cathedral situated right among the residential neighborhood, with a line of outdoor cafes. (pictured)

I was about 15 minutes early so I sat down on the bench to soak it all up. As I got up to continue, I turned the other direction, and La Sagrada Familia was right in front of me! Well not right in front, it was a ways away, but it still towered above, and it was the first time I had seen it after reading so much about it, that I was so overcome with excitement that I had accidently found this beautiful landmark! So here is where the adventure comes in....I got to the base of the apartment building and called the phone number. The lady had one of those annoying answering machines that trick you to think you are talking to them by recording themselves saying "Hola....Hola??? Hola???....hahaha dame un mensaje!" So I was really confused and left a message on her machine saying "Hola....soy Meghan.....estoy aqui, enfrente del edificio....hola?....hola?????" It wasn't until I called back 5 minutes later to receive the same message that I realized I had left a really long and confused message for her. Well, I never heard back and I am still confused about the situation, but continued on my housing hunt. Next, I called this lady who was the most difficult person to talk on the phone to I have ever experienced. She spoke in a high-pitched baby voice and sounded like she was in a wind-tunnel. We spent about 20 minutes repeating ourselves over and over not getting anywhere, trying to figure out where the other one was located. At one point she said that she would pass me to a man with her who speaks French, at which point I hear "Eh...hhhhello?...eh.....eh....you speak French....eh....ehhh" Anyways it resolved in her telling me to go to the University and then calling and she would come find me. So I did just that, but then we fell into another 10 minutes of useless chatter, her saying "I am wearing a black dress, what are you wearing" and me saying "I have a red shirt on and a red back back." Then she said again "okay great, I have a black dress. So where are you? Where? That's not right.....What?" Well she eventually found me, and I was very surprised when I actually saw who I had been talking with all day. She was at least 85 years old, long stringy grey hair and a rather mal-fitting set of dentures. Although we got off to a rough beginning, this lady turned out to be one of the neatest people I have ever met. She took me up to the 7th piso, and although the rooms were ancient and the size of a small bathroom, the balcony and the view were astonishing.

Literally, the apartment was directly in front of the university, this is the view to the right, towards La Plaza Catalunya, but to the left you see the the school spitting distance away. After seeing this room, she took my up a floor to another available room. This one was a little bigger, and also with a balcony.

This is where I met the current tenant and the one who had tried to speak French to me over the phone. He was a really tall recently graduated traveler from the Ivory Coast. I also met her, well, husband would be my best guess, but who knows.....who only spoke Catalan. I tried out my new and very minimal Catalan skills with him, and somehow that turned into a two and half hour visit with the landlady, guys from Africa, and old Catalan man sitting around the kitchen table laughing and talking about all sorts of things.  The old man was intent on teaching me to be a proper Catalan speaker and took my around the house pointing to objects and telling me to repeat after him. All the while the guys from I.C. with a name I speak 5 minutes trying to pronounce but could never in a million years spell, was trying to teach me French, and asking me all kinds of questions about California, and the old lady telling me endless stories about all of her crazy tennant stories from the last 20 years. They were all so chatty that they often we trying to tell me different things (In 3 different languages mind you) all at once. It was hilarious and so much fun, and I feel like that experience was one in a million, and the odd combination of people made for a great afternoon!

After I parted ways with them, I met another person named Arantxa who is renting out a room. She came and found me at the University and took me 2 blocks away to a beautiful building directly behind the school. The apartment was on the 6th floor, no elevator, and was a sort of bohemian palace. It had a balcony over a courtyard by the kitchen with a great place to sit and eat breakfast, a small but charming kitchen, medium sized salon and 3 bed 2 bath. My (possible) room is a perfect size, comes with a closet, desk and small table, and has a large window over a center between buildings (i don't know what they are called) that you hang laundry up in, and it seemed like I really good fit. We are meeting again in the next two days so I can meet the other lady, and that everyone agrees on the terms and situation, but I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed, it would be a great spot for a year, and the lady seemed really easygoing and good to live with. Tomorrow we are taking a break from classes to go on an excursion to Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia, and Montjiuc. I think we are riding in one of those open-air doubledecker tourist busses around town, but either way I will get some great photos!

First day of the ILP

Today we started up with the Intensive Language Program at the University of Barcelona. The campus is so beautiful. The main building is so old, it feels like you are in a museum, and the courtyard is beautiful. We had classes in a newer building just through a corridor from this courtyard. Each day we have one hour of culture, one hour of grammar, one hour of catalan, and one hours of conversation. All of the professors are really personable and helpful. The classes are offered at this time exclusively for our group, so one we are split up into different groups for the different classes, there were only 5-7 students per section, which is really nice. Catalan is crazy, but step by step, I think I will get the hang of it. The professor is quite a character, and these classes are taught in a very informal and unthreatening setting. We have take home work right away, in my culture class we are comparing the four languages of Spain by reading various poems written in each. We are also learning about Spain's history from the Civil War onwards, Franco, and modern day. The grammar teacher is really young and asked us to find a popular Spanish musical group to share tomorrow, while in conversation we are responsible for leading a discussion about some topic of debate within the next few days.
I am getting used to walking everywhere, today we bought cheap cell phones for the year, and little things we forgot to pack. We went to THREE giant Corte Ingles stores today, which for those who have never heard of it, it is THE Spanish mega store, with like 10 floors, selling anything and everything you can possibly imagine. We went to two in the Plaza Catalunya which we totally bombarded with tourists coming from La Rambla, and it was miserable trying to get around anywhere. Although at this point I am still a tourist, I can't wait for tourist season to be over, and get a real feel for the city minus the craze and chaos that accompanies any regular task around town. We are starting to look for apartments now, and I had an appointment to look at one today, but after a long metro ride to the correct stop, I got out and really wasn't attracted to the neighborhood at all, and it was far from the University, so I decided to cancel instead. There are a few though that I have contacted the owners, and am planning to go check out. One is really close to the Arc de Triunfo and has a rooftop terrace with a table and chairs and trees on top, it looks so cool, and has an amazing view, so I think I will se it on Thursday. All in all, I am trying to get settled with school and the living situation, and feeling like I have a much better idea of the city everyday.

La Rambla and Plaza Cataluna and the University of Barcelona....oh my!

Today, the second day in Barcelona, was just as amazing as the first. My roomate Claire and I slept in until right before our orientation at 11am. During the presentation we learned about living, safety, and the different barrios of Barcelona. Afterwards we met up with another group of University of Illinois students and did our best to figure out the metro system as we made it down to the port of Barcelona. The port is at the bottom of La Rambla and loaded with tourists. The weather was just as hot today, but walking by the sea there was some breeze.

We got lunch at a really touristy cafe right by the port, only because we had slept through breakfast and didn't have the energy to find anything a little more...authentic. I got a croissant and watched our pissed off waiter trying to deal with travelers refusing to speak Spanish. Although it was boiling hot I refrained from getting water because we have yet to find a place that will serve tap water, everywhere you have to buy it bottled, and for 3 or 4 euro at some places. After grabbing something to eat we walked down the Rambla, which is soooo cool!

It is packed full of vendors, tourists and very sneaky con artists. We saw several of the tricks taking place that our orientation leaders repeatedly warned us of. Most of the pick-pocketing guys all work together, and one scheme is they wave over the unsuspecting tourist to come play a betting game. First of all, the player will lose every time, but in the meantime, as they bend down to place there bet...there goes their wallet and anything else in their back pockets. I wanted to run over to the fools playing to warm them, but I guess they will learn soon enough. I probably looked like I was protecting a new born baby in my purse the way that I held it so tightly the whole way down La Rambla. Then we continued to La Plaza Cataluna, which is a large circle round-a-bout with a fountain and plaza in the center. From one of the side streets (pictured below) you can see the mountains of Tibidabo in the background.

From there we decided to walk to the University of Barcelona, and get an idea of the neighborhood. That's where our classes for the Intensive Language Program begin tomorrow. The University is smack-dab in the middle of everything. It looks so cool, just as I had pictured it. With a cute cafe right across the street too.

 

We just got back and now its a little after 6:30pm. After lots and lots of walking, coming back to our air-conditioned room and just relaxing is so nice. We will go to dinner downstairs at 8:30 and then probably go to bed early so we are ready to leave for class tomorrow at 8:00am! I am absolutely in love with Barcelona and I can't believe that I get an entire year here, every minute has been so fun with so many new things!

I love Barcelona!!

I just got the code to use my internet at the colegio. I will be here for 20 days until the semester starts.  It's now almost 1:30 am and we are just back in the dorms. I LOVE BARCELONA!!! It is seriously unlike any city I have ever seen in my life. My flights were really easy, I was on American and slept most of the way. When I finally woke up as we were descending into Barcelona I spoke to a man next to me who is from there and he told me of all the great places to visit. I got my luggage easily, thanks goodness and grabbed a taxi right away. As soon as I got to the Colegio, 3 other taxis had just pulled up and I met lots of the other students right away. I met a really nice girl named Claire in the lobby and we chose to be roommates, so now we share a room! We are on the 4th floor, and have a beautiful view of the neighborhood. We immediately got settled in, checked out the building, took a little walk around (there are 3 or 4 public parks around us that are so pretty) and got lunch at a little outdoor cafe (we both got sandwiches with mozzarella, tomato, basil and olives) and then came back to our room for a much needed nap. The rooms (thank god) have air-conditioning because it is SO hot! At 5pm we went downstairs for the meeting and met the coordinators, and other students. Everyone is really really nice and equally excited! After that we went back to sleep and then to dinner (the don't start serving it at the cafeteria until 8:30!) The food was typical cafeteria food, but I had pasta with red sauce and bread with oil and vinegar. Then we joined a group of University of  Illinois students and got ready and walked about 3 miles through town to the district of La Gracia, because today was the last night of the week-long Fiesta de Gracia. IT WAS SO COOL!!! Hundreds, probably thousands of people crowded every inch of every little street. It was a maze of people of all ages celebrating and having a great time. There were concerts every block, giant dragon costumes shooting flames, and little booths of people selling everything from jewelry to sangria! It is such an amazing city and instantly enchanting! Tomorrow we have orientation at 11am for a few hours, then more sightseeing. On Monday we start classes for the ILP which are taught at the University of Barcelona, so we will take the metro every morning into the city central and class if from 9 am-1pm Monday through Friday, and Wednesday we go on organized excursions. I am definitely on stimulation overload, but loving every second of it!!

The first picture is inside my room. Then at the outdoor cafe, then the view from our room. I didn't take my camera out to the festival because I was kind of worried about losing it or someone taking it, but I will definitely take lots more pictures this week to post! 

Last night in Davis

After many days of counting down, I have reached the night before heading out to Spain. It is almost 11pm and I am trying to stay up until my plane leaves at 7am, so that I can sleep the whole way and be totally rested for a full first day in Barcelona. However I have a feeling that is easier said than done, and the heavy yawning is already taking over. I just had a great evening with my Mom, Dad, brother, and sister eating "spanish tapas" at a restaurant in town and coming home to sit and chat and relax for a while. With all of the excitement and hurry of the last few weeks and especially recent days, this was the perfect send off. And although goodbyes are never easy, I am very much looking forward to waking up in a beautiful new place, and starting the next chapter, the next adventure.

My First Blog

So, as I am preparing for a year studying abroad in Barcelona, I was trying to think of a way to keep up with people at home, as well as find an easy way to document my trip. I found lots of cool blogs of people abroad right now which inspired me, so here I begin!! This is my only blog for a while, since it's kind of a mellow point of the whole process, but once I am living in Spain, I will try to keep up as much as I can with photos and entries! Thanks for reading and I will write again in a bit!