barcelonaa!

17.octubre.2007

Once again, I have been slacking with these blog posts – it has been over a week since my last post. When I left you last week, I was supposed to teach English classes to these two little girls. However, my class got out late, I had to buy a book, and by the time I got to the Metro, I was going to be late so my senora’s daughter called the mother of the girl and decided that we would just start next week (aka today!). Wednesday night, a bunch of us went out to a club, decided that it wasn’t that much fun that night and we went our separate ways. A few of us went to a different bar and ordered HUGE glasses of sangria and mojitos. A little bit tipsy, less that 8 euros spent and a Metro ride home… a good night.

Thursday I had two classes – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. After my first class, I came home for lunch, watched some Gilmore Girls, packed for Barcelona, and then went back to UCM. After my theatre class, a bunch of us sat in the office, using the internet, talking and watching YouTube videos – something that we all agreed would not happen if we were at BC. Después, volví a mi casa, hablé con mi señora sobre mi día y mi viaje, comí y miré la tele hasta 22 cuando salí para la estación de autobuses. Me senté con Teddy, un amigo de BC, en el autobús y hablamos mucho antes de dormir. El viaje duró siete horas – ¡sin embargo, cuando paramos, una chica se fue y quedaron 5 asientos libres en la parte de atras el autobús! Por eso, dormí muy bien durante la segunda parte del viaje.

Llegamos a Barcelona a las 6:30 y Dori y yo esperamos en la estación porque Albert todavía estaba trabajando. When Albert arrived at the station, I was so happy! Not only was tt nice to see him again, but he had churros! Haha After “hellos”, the three of us ate churros while we walked to the bus stop. We went back to Albert’s, napped, and then our day of tourism began! Primero, fuimos al Hospital de la. Sta. Creu i Sant Pau. It is probably the most beautiful hospital a person could ever see. Afterwards, we walked down Avenida Gaudí to the Sagrada Familia – a beautiful work still in progress, started by Gaudí. It was absolutely amazing – it’s hard to believe that something this big and this beautiful is being built in the middle of the city. After la Sagrada Familia, the three of us hopped on the Metro to Passeig/Paseo de Grácia, which is full of beautiful buildings, many done by Gaudí and many other talented architects. We first walked past La Pedrera – an apartment building, designed and built by Gaudí, that does not have any straight walls. Every wall in the house is curved. After walking a little more, we saw another house built by Gaudí – Casa Battló. Once again, absolutely beautiful and full of color – it gives off the impression that you are underwater. La Casa Batlló está en la manzana de la discordia porque muchos arquitecos modernistas construyeron casas ahí. By this time, we were absolutely starving – as usual – so the three of us went and ate at La Vaca Paca – it was an amazing buffet. At some point during the day, I can’t exactly place it, but we went to la Catedral de Barcelona and Dori and I went to the top and took gorgeous pictures of Barcelona. Every view I have seen from the top of a church in Europe has been absolutely astonishing. Después de la Catedral, Dori, Albert y yo anduvimos por las Ramblas – Dori tomó una foto con Edward Scissor Hands (Eduardo Manos Tijeras) y nos sentamos en una fuente en Plaza Real. When we encountered a fountain (se llama La Font de Canaletes), we tried to drink out of it because there is the belief that if you drink from the fountain, you will return to Barcelona. However, no water came out of the fountain… Después, nos reunimos con Beto – otro chico que estudiaba en BC el año pasado. Fuimos a un bar, donde hay arboles y se parece como un bosque (se llama El Bosc de les Fades). Era muy bonito. Caminamos hasta Estatua de Colón, los chicos tomaron fotos en los leones, y después fuimos a la Estación de Francia y a la universidad de Albert y Beto (se llama Universitat Pompeu Fabra). A las 8, volvimos a la casa de Albert, dormimos un poco, y a las 10, nos levantamos y comemos mucho pizza! Albert went to work, while Dori, Beto and I got ready to go out. First, the three of us went to a bar across the street to meet up with some of Albert’s friends and have a few drinks. Then, we went to the club where Albert works (La discoteca Up & Down) – It was a good time, drinking and dancing all night. When Albert got off work at around 6:30am, we walked to the Metro with one of Albert’s friend, Carles, and tried to get churros near Albert’s house. However, it wasn’t going to open for another 30 minutes so we went home to sleep instead.

At around 13:30, the four of us woke up and went out to lunch with some of Albert’s friends for his birthday at El Flamant. Dori and I ate paella and some sort of chicken salad – they were both really good. Después del almuerzo, Albert, Dori, Carles y yo pasamos por el barrio de la Barcelonesa, la playa de la Barceloneta, el Paseo Maritimo, comemos helado (crema catalana) en Farggi y La Vila Oimpica. Después fuimos a la Plaza Espanta y Fonts de Montjuic, donde hay espectáculos de música, luces y agua. ¡Que bonita! Volvimos a la casa, donde Albert durmió y Dori y yo comemos toda la comida en la cocina. J Albert se fue a trabajar y Dori y yo decidimos a quedarnos en casa y tuvimos “girl talk”. Tarde, Beto vino a la casa y él habló con nosotras y después, dormimos. Fue una noche muy tranquilla.

El domingo, nuestro día último, Albert, Dori y yo comemos al Pizzería la Piazzenza. No recuerdo todo de que comemos, ensaladas, pizza, calzone y crema catalana, pero fueron muy rica. Fuimos al parque Guell. El es muy, muy bonita. En el parque, hay la casa donde Gaudí vivió cuando él estaba construyendo el parque y muchas de sus obras con muchos colores. Otra vez, ¡que bonita! No puedo describir el parque porque no hay palabras que pueden capturar la belleza. Conocí una chica a Bar Ara Vinc, se llama Andrea, que asiste la misma universidad de Albert, que va a estudiar en BC el próximo semestre. Es posible que ella vaya a ser mi compañera de piso. A las ocho, los tres volvimos a la casa de Albert, donde Dori y yo conocimos los padres de Albert y vimos fotos de “skydiving” y la ultima fiesta en la casa de Albert en BC. A las 21:45, nos fuimos la casa para la estación de autobuses (se llama Estació del Nord), dijimos “adiós”, y comenzamos nuestro viaje a Madrid. ¡Que triste! Sin embargo, pase un tiempo muy divertido en Barcelona y pienso que voy a volver a Barcelona otra vez, antes de regresar a los Estados Unidos.

Monday = hell! We arrived at the bus station in Madrid at about 6, took the Metro home, unpacked, ate breakfast and went to class at 8:30. Afterwards, I had class at 11:30, 14, and 16. Good thing the only classes I ended up keeping in my schedule were the 11:30 and 16. I finally came home, spoke with my senora about my trip to Barcelona, ate dinner, got ice cream with the boys, and went to bed. Tuesday I was supposed to visit the 8:30 class again but I turned off my alarm and went back to bed. I woke up around 10, ate breakfast, and went to school to use the internet since I do not have class on Tuesdays! Tuesday afternoon, Dori and I went shopping at Alcampo, and Tuesday night, I went out to dinner with some of the girls – Michelle, Hannah, Katie and Jess.

Wednesday (Today) was a full day of class – 4 classes and then I had to teach English to two 8-year-old girls. They both seem very nice – I can tell that one of them is going to cause many problems. Ella escribió cartas pequeñas sobre mí y trató de darlas a su amiga debajo de la mesa. Oh well – it’s some money (something that is disappearing very fast!) As I sit and write this, I’m contemplating going out… we’ll see what happens!