HIking and looking for ocupados

Megan and I stayed put this weekend and used our time to soak up the Barcelona culture. On Friday afternoon after class we went to our newest discovery near our apartment! One day while running I came across Palau Reial, which is a beautiful park that even has a couple of statues by Gaudi. The park is always teeming with little green parrots and tons of PDA. Surprisingly, while in Spain, I have come to accept PDA. I was never adamantly against it, but the spirit of love in this city is just so overwhelming that after a while you come to enjoy the PDA. I don't know what I would do if I got on the metro in the morning and there weren't at least 3 couples that had decided to MO. Megan and I love to people watch here because often enough you will be watching a couple that is simply walking down the street and then all of a sudden Bam, they've decided its time to MO. HAhahahaha.

On Saturday, we went to the top of Tibidabo and discovered really cool hiking trails. In the woods, we even came across "Land of the Hidden Temple." We swung around on trees and watched a very pretty sunset from the top of the mountain.

The towns at the top of Tibidabo look as if they are from a different time period. They are very quaint, and there are many houses that actually do not even have roads that go to the houses. Megan was sure that these were the houses that ocupados were living in! Ocupados are people who have decided to rebel against the high taxes in Barcelona and instead inhabit vacant vacation homes. Everytime we see an "ocupado" (our madre Elisabet says dreads+tattoos=ocupado) we kinda shudder inside. lol.

Paris

This was and is going to be the only trip that Megan and I took completely alone! We succeeded and are back in Barcelona alive! --

I love Paris. It is one of my most favorite cities, and everything there is so Parisian! Meg and I couldn't help but sing along chords from Beauty and the Beast while we frolicked down the Champs Elysess. We may or may not have gone into a certain jewelry store by the name of Cartier and asked to try on diamonds. I don't know what type of girls would be crazy enough to convince a French saleswoman that they would be capable of purchasing such jewelry, but it certainly would not be us.

Later, we stopped at Notre Dame and asked the bird man for some time with his pets. He graciously allowed us his sweet treats for the birds but became very upset after I screamed. The large pigeon pecking at my hand (instead of the sweet small birds) was somewhat scary.

We went to the

Louvre for free during the evening and then returned to our lovely abode,

HOTEL CHEAP BEDS! We loved Hotel Cheap Beds and felt that it became home over the next several days. The highway underpasses that surrounded Hotel Cheap Beds and the 1 towel that we were allotted were so charming! In truth though, we were so happy to not be sharing a room with other traveling people, and you can't beat 16 euros a night in a hotel!

The metro in Paris is SO frustrating.

Megan fully grasped the concept that I have no spatial intelligence and that I am incapable of navigating using a map. However, because of my spatial incompetence, we were able to see every acre of the gardens surrounding the Palace of Versailles, and now we have seen the Palace from all sorts of angles and distances.

We ate crepes and creme brulee and quiche and tried to warm our cold little bodies with hot coffee. It was definitely parka weather in Paris, and we were definitely equipped with warm, fall weather. We were very, very cold!

At the Rodin museum, we were able to convince the ticket lady that we were Spanish citizens. ha. We handed her our Spanish university cards, and when she asked if we were citizens, we were like "YES." Megan with her blonde hair and blue eyes might have even said Yes in a country accent, Im not sure but the woman just rolled her eyes and gave us the EU citizen ticket. For about half an hour in the Rodidn museum, Megan and I were true Europeans!

After seeing all that we possibly could within a 3 day time span, we returned Sunday evening to Barcelona via RyanAir. Thanks to RyanAir we were able to see an additional 2 cities, including Beauvais and Reuss. When people say RyanAir flies you from nowhere to nowhere, you should believe them!

Thank you Mr. Police Man

After having mentioned to my RA here in Barcelona that I was a dancer, she set me up with this really cool dance studio right near mi casa. Registration was somewhat of a challenge, considering NO ONE spoke English and the dance studio was filled with about 100 mothers and their little ballerinas all trying to register.

The class I’m in though is awesome. It’s all college students from nearby, and since I am the “American” of the class, they all use me for practicing English. Communicating is still surprisingly difficult because no one grasps the concept that I need to hear Spanish very slowly! For example, my friend Marta got very confused when I said I would see her on Tuesday (which is Martes in Spanish). At the end of the conversation, I felt really bad because I’m not sure she had ever realized how close her name sounded to the day of the week…but now she knows! Im not sure if she was happy with this new realization that I forced upon her. Haha. The class is a pretty challenging level and no air conditioning or fans just ups the level even more!

On Saturday morning at 4:30am, Megan and I departed for Faro, Portugal!!! We made a pit stop in Seville on the way and got to see bull ring and the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Only problem was that when the bus dropped us off in Seville, I had a day of touring ahead of me, yet my rolling suitcase was not liking the cobblestone of Seville. After kilometer #2 or so, I and the bag knew that something had to be done. I was so desperate that I found a hostel and begged the lady at the front desk to let me put my bag in luggage check. In the future, I have decided this was not a safe option…More on Seville….it is said to be a picture of stereotypical Spain. The people there have a distinct accent and are said to shorten a lot of their words when they talk.

As we were leaving to catch another bus to Faro, Meg and I saw a wedding coming out of the Cathedral! We stood and watched the pictures being taken and the people for about 45 minutes. The women were dressed in outfits that would have fit in at the Golden Globes! We stood gawking at their beautiful outfits, matching shoes, and head pieces! Our favorite outfits were – Jasmine woman and silver girl.

Finally, we arrived in Faro on Saturday night and were greeted by the lovely Johnny! Then we proceeded to have the most wonderfully relaxing weekend ever! Megan and I shared the “butterfly” room and enjoyed amenities such as: the steam room, swimming pool, bicycles, movie library, magazines, English television, etc.

It was very fun to spend time with familiar friends from Wake and lounge around at the beach! Faro is a hot spot for Irish and British people, so we got to see Johnny in somewhat of his natural environment. The weather was really hot everyday and in regards to the weather, Alex’s words say it best “Have you seen any clouds in the sky? Tell me, have you seen any clouds in the sky?? Well I haven’t!” Very profound words Alex!

The only down point of the trip was when I took the bike out for a little stroll and suddenly found myself very lost. “Very lost” is synonymous with I had ABSOLUTELY no idea where I was. Since I had only planned on maybe a 10 minute bike ride down the street and back, I had set myself up for disaster in many ways.

(1) I was wearing a bathing suit

(2) I had no phone & knew no phone numbers

(3) I speak no Portuguese

(4) I didn’t know my address, the name of Johnny’s parents, the name of his smaller neighborhood within the bigger one, whether his house was considered “old” or “new,” the color of the house, or what it was near

All of these details did not help my interactions with the neighborhood security guard. After driving around the HUGE beach complex, the tears dwelling up in my eyes brought a little sympathy to Mr. Police man. After going to every street that began with an “M” (that was the only piece of information I had) we finally found the house. Moral of the story: the next time I left the house alone, Kristen drew a map of the neighborhood on my arm, wrote down the street address, and the phone number all in permanent ink on my body. Mission accomplished!

El fin de semana

This weekend was SUPER! So many friends were here, and we got to do so many things. I am like a little kid and love doing things over and over again, so this weekend gave me an excuse to go to the same touristy things one more time. Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and Mont Juic x2! It was fabulous. Megan and I acted like little tour guides the whole weekend, and it made me feel like I was almost back at home / aka @Wake giving tours. It's a little different though when I'm motioning to Gaudi's masterpiece instead of Scales fine arts center. On Thursday before our friends arrived, Megan and I went to a wine tasting. It was quite sophisticated, and I know now that to achieve the best flavor of your wine you should slurp in air while drinking. This is very fun to do. I think that our table of college-aged kids appalled the wine tasting teacher.

At the beach on Saturday and Sunday, there was a big air show. We all got to swim in the Mediterranean and watch airplanes above us. Airplanes and helicopters can do some very cool things.

The house was a little quieter this weekend because Aleix and Marc were on a boy scouts trip. When I think that they can not get any cuter, they somehow manage. Pau on the other hand who manages to put his sticky little hands all over my and Megan's empanadas seems to be losing cuteness points. haha. It gets really awkward at the dinner table when the little boys get possessive of their food, and they start limiting Megan and I. We have been told numerous times that we are only allowed 1 little empanada. The parents have to over compensate and say "No, no, no, they mean you have to take much more than 1." Yep, this is a total lie.

Also, more funny events at the dinner table... Last night I was laughing so hard because we started imitating infomercials. The "snuggie" via YouTube has now been introduced to Spain. Elizabet, our madre, thought the commercial was hilarious. She especially loved it when people went camping in their Snuggies. Apparently, the amazing Turbo Cooker also has not made it's way over here. I assured Elizabet that the Turbo Cooker would change her life, probably in under 15 minutes.

I'm gonna go read at the park now and lie in the Barcelona sun! Adios!

La Merce

The LA MERCE festival..... La Merce is bigger than anything I could have ever imagined. It is like a combo mix of Mardi Gras + 4th of July. On Saturday night, a bunch of us went to the Hives concert. I experienced my first big, bad, super hard metal rock concert. Yeah, I think I'm gonna continue to stick to country music... The next morning, there were dance performances with people of all ages participating. Little old men and women would join in on their dancing. It was very cute. And that evening, to close the festival, there was a 45 minute fireworks show! One would not think European fireworks were different than American fireworks, but somehow they were very superior. The fireworks were so beautiful and the festival so great, I almost found myself brought to tears by the sadness that La Merce was over. I somehow was able to keep it together though, no pasa nada! (no pasa nada is our madre's FAVORITE term. i hear it at least 20 times a day)

According to Meg and my cultural psychology professor though, these intense feelings, such as the ones felt at the end of the fireworks, are only a result of our "cultural transitioning." Our class is so much of a therapy session, I feel like I should either pay her when I leave or start giving her hugs. My other classes at UPF are in full swing! I had my first time in the Spanish library, which actually turned out to be a tramatic experience. I didn't realize that you had to sign into the computers with an access code and apparently, I am very capable of stealing someone's computer, aka an angry Spaniard's computer. He scared me so badly that he came up to apologize later and told me he had overreacted, and I am free to use his computer whenever. I often use my inability at speaking Spanish to my advantage. Not understanding is just such a simple excuse....

My other class at UPF is awesome! Out of about 50 kids, 3 are American and the rest are from literally ALL over the world. Countries represented include: Iceland, Sweden, France, Germany, Portugal, India, Mexico, Germany, Holland, UK! It was a very impressive cultural experience.

We have gotten to enjoy our first soccer games with our host family. The family lives very close to the stadium, and they keep telling me that you can actually hear the crowd yelling and cheering.

So far I have not heard these supposed noises, but every time they all ask me excitedly I just kinda nod my head in agreement. It is really fun to watch the soccer games with them, because I get to sit on the couch with the 3 little boys and their dad. It is so cute to watch all of these little boys yell and cheer at the television. They totally mimic whatever their dad does. The funny thing is I also mimic the dad because I too want to pretend I have some idea what's going on.

There's lots to look forward to here in Barcelona! This weekend our friends are visiting, which is so so great. I love seeing people from home abroad. It is the greatest feeling. And next weekend, we are going to Portugal to see more friends from Wake!