Taragonna

Hello everyone!!

Molly and I just got back from a small town about 2 hours away from Barcelona called Tarragona with all of the other IES students. I am trying to upload pictures on facebook as you read (or I type) but facebook is being annoying. Anyways, we arrived early on thursday morning and toured the Roman ruins that were there - Agustus Caesar lived there for a couple of years. They were really neat, but honestly - it got a little old. But it was good to soak up some ancient history! We then all split up for lunch and the group I was with ended up going to this great place where you could get a 3 course meal and a ton of wine for only 12.50 euros. Needless to say, we were a little out of it for the rest of the tour - but I think everyone else was too! Then we got to the hotel, took naps and ate dinner. For dinner we had these veal tortillas and catfish, which was pretty good, but the catfish was super salty! We then went to a bar called Highlands after. The bartenders were SO overwhelmed - there were so many IES students and of course people were being so obnoxious. But I think it was the biggest crowd that bar has ever seen - they were opening up boxes of new glasses!

On Friday, we got a wake up call at 8 AM, semi-painful, and started off the day seeing more Roman ruins. We actually just went to a quarry which was in the middle of nowhere and it was literally a big piece of stone. I understand the importance of it, but it was a little pointless. Then we visted a place called El Medol where we hung out on the beach for a while then went to go see an ancient Roman villa that was really cool but people were getting restless because it was lunchtime! So for lunch, we ate some seafood paella. Paella is a mixture of rice with vegetables and some type of meat. THEY EAT SO MUCH SEAFOOD HERE! Honestly, I haven't found a Catalan dish that I am obsessed with, but I'm sure the day will come. They served the paella with a huge shrimp on top with the head still on and the poor shrimp's eyes were staring at me when they put the plate in front of me. I let some guy eat the shrimp. After lunch, I actually laid on the beach for a while and took a 20 minute nap, haha it was very peaceful. But then we went to the Bodega, to the Torres vineyard where we took a tour of the vineyard and then finished up with a wine tasting! I bought a bottle of wine called Vina Esmeralda and a Catalan cookbook for my mom! We then went back to the hotel and I took another nap before dinner. For dinner, we ate beef with mushrooms and some potatoes au gratin which were SO GOOD! I loved them! Molly and I, along with some other girls, decided to stay in last night since our wake up call this morning was at 7 AM! So, we got up at 7 this morning and went to a tiny town outside of Tarragona called Montblanc. It was really quaint, but very pretty. We visited some medieval churches and had a really funny tour guide. He reminded me exactly of Angel Batista from the show Dexter. Then for lunch, we had seafood paella, again. But for the 2nd course we had some roasted chicken with these really mushy french fries. They were okay. But the ice cream for desert was yummy! We then headed out to the town Poblet where we visted a Cistercian monastery founded by Saint Benedictine. I actually really liked visiting the monastery since i just learned about them in my medieval art class. And it was neat to see a couple of monks - but apparently they don't want to see us because they want "nothing to do with the outside world." Makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. Well, Elena just got home and is about to serve dinner (hopefully it won't be pasta - I am carb'ed out!) But I will blog in a couple of days! Adios everyone, thanks for reading!

Moo

Mondays...

Hello everyone!

Well I just finished up a 2 page paper about my eating habits for my Food and Cultures class. I found it a little difficult to write 2 pages on the subject, so I may have cut it a little short. My eating habits are pretty normal, now that I think about it - however, I still haven't found a restaurant where I can order a poached egg. I'm sure the day will come though. Today i had class from12:30 to 7:00...LONG DAY! Although my classes are based on really interesting subjects, it is really hard to sit through three 1 1/2 hour classes. I am learning that I do not have a very long attention span.

I bet some of you will find it amusing that I am listening to "Good Day" by Nappy Roots right now, it always puts me in a good mood. "We gonna have a good day, and all my homies gonna ride today..." My friends and I made good use of the weekend. On Friday after class, we hiked up to Park Guell, the famous Gaudi Park. I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Barcelona! However, I'm sure the tour books will inform you on that one too. I can't wait to go there with my family! I know you will love it! You too, John! When we got back from Park Guell, Molly and I took small naps, ate dinner (No puedo recordar lo que comí) My itunes just switched to Taylor Swift - quite a transformation. Anyways, after dinner Molly and I went and met some of our friends at the Black Sheep where they sell liter beers for 2.50 Euros and 2 liter Sangria for 8.50 Euros (Don't worry, Mumsey -- I didn't drink 2 whole liters of Sangria!) After that, went walked to a really fun bar called Kennedy's where they had a live band who played music like Johnny Cash and other varieties. I was up dancing at the band, when suddenly I turned around and realized I was the only one and that I was NOT at Wofford! Molly and I shared a cab with a couple of our friends and got in around 4 -- pretty early for Barca! On Saturday, Molly and I just wondered around the city and got a little lost -- didn't see anything historical or art historical, but we just like to roam around, get lost, and find our way back from time to time. On Saturday night, we went to Sarah J's house - which is WAY BIGGER than my homestay! I was jealous to say the least, but Mols and I got pretty lucky with our two Senora's! We went to a bar called George Payne but literally stayed for 45 minutes, 2 beers worth and hit a wall. We came back early and slept in on Sunday. Sunday -- we went to the Sagrada Familia - SO COOL but SO much construction going on! I guess thats what happened when the famous architect Gaudi passes away when creating a masterpeice.

Well, I still have some European Union homework to do and I am going to try and keep up with Molly and go work out with her in the AM! Sarah wants me to go out - decisions, decisions! I'll blog tomorrow, thanks for reading!!

Sorry so Late!

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

I am sorry I started this blog 2 1/2 weeks late -- (especially Tess!) I didn't realize how much I would want to go back and read this someday until this morning when I was reading Amy's. So far, Barcelona has been great, minus my anxiety attack. Molly and I live with two Senora's - Elena and Cecilia. They are mother and daughter. Elena is the mother who only speaks Spanish and Cecilia is the daughter who speaks Spanish, but also English, Catalan, and is currently taking French lessons. Elena is a nurse and Cecilia is some type of political consultant - I never fully grasped the details of her job. I will find the right time to take a picture with them soon and post them! So far, Molly and I have really just been trying to find our way around the city. Our school is about a 20 minute commute from our homestay. We usually take the bus in the morning and the metro on the way back. Our school is in a great location! It is in the Plaza Catalunya right off Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a strip that runs through part of Barcelona, which always has street entertainment going on such as mimes and vendors.
My classes are great so far! My teachers are all from different countries. My European Union teacher is Turkish, my Architecture and Food teachers are both American, my Picasso;Miro;Dali teacher is British and my Spanish teacher is in fact, Spanish. In my free time so far, I have been shopping, to Park Guell (the famous Gaudi park) and to the beach. This weekend we are going to Taragonna with the IES group, which will help us to meet more people! Barcelona is so big and there are so many places to go out at night and it's a little hard to meet up with people -- not to mention the regular time to come home at night is 6 in the AM!
Well I don't want to stay on my computer all day -- so Molly and I are going to go find something to eat and explore a little more. Blog tomorrow!

Love,
Mimi