¡Gooool!

Tonight I am going to a Barça game. My first European football game! Should be very fun as long as we avoid the drunk rabble rousers. They are playing Espanyol. I just wish I had a Thierry Henry jersey.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Paris. I am traveling with one other friend named Meredith and we have quite the itinerary planned out. I have also made plans to go to Dublin with a big group of friends, and I am looking at Amsterdam with another girl named Patty. (In addition to the current plans for England, Sevilla, Valencia, Belgium, and Greece.)

This week the classes I will be taking the rest of the semester started. A little about each...

Arte y Artistas (Art and Artists): My favorite class so far because it is well organized, easy to follow and really interesting. It is an art history classes focusing on the main artists of Barcelona, such as Gaudí, Tapeis, and Picasso. The teacher is really nice. Actually all the teachers are really nice. In every single class we went around the first day saying our names and majors and various other tidbits about ourselves. Quite different from the US.

Sociedad y Política in España Contemporánea (Society and Politics in Contemporary Spain): Looks like it is going to be very interesting. The teacher is great and everything is discussion based, so it is almost like a seminar, albeit with a big group of people. We are going to cover the twentieth century from the "segunda república" to Franquismo to today.

Imágenes de España en el Cine Contemporáneo (Images of Spain in Contemporary Film): The teacher is really artsy and knowledgeable, but I had trouble understanding what was going on. He changed topics really abruptly and talked fast. In addition the movie we watched (by Salvador Dalí) was weeeeird. All those extra e´s show just how weird it was.

Español: Nothing too different here, but I LOVE the professor. It is like we are all just hanging out and chit chatting, but in Spanish with her correcting us.

Right now I am in the library because I had a little bit of time to kill before class. I am finally declaring the mullet the official hairdo of Spanish youth. I see multiple mullets every day at UPF. Why, oh why? And I hardly need mention this, but it is not restricted to the men. And they are often dreadlocked mullets. And really terrible looking on every single person.

Yesterday I went with my señora to the movies. I saw Revolutionary Road all in Spanish. They dub all movies and TV here because during Franco´s time no one ever watched foreign movies or had contact with the rest of the world, so nobody speaks English and everyone got used to dubbed films. Anyway, to my satisfaction, I was able to basically understand the movie. However, I do not know what most of the fights are about, and if you have seen the movie, the fights are pretty important. In fact they are the majority of the movie. Oh well.

Adios until Monday, when I return from Paris!

Madrid y Toledo

This weekend I went with five other buddies (April, Michelle, Michael, Alex, and Marjahn) to Madrid. We left Friday night, taking the bus to the airport in Girona and just barely making it to our flight. After arriving in Madrid fairly late, around 10 p.m. or so, we made our way to our hostel. It was my first time staying in a hostel and the one we got was very nice. It was off of Gran Via near the Puerta del Sol. We ended up getting a private room with six beds in it and a sink for 11 euro a night per person. By the time we had gone from the airport to the metro to the hostel and had settled in, it was very late (like midnight) and I was really hungry. Four of the six wanted to go out to a club, but I had been sick all week and my friend April was getting sick, so we didn't go. Instead, we ate dinner at the only restaurant that was open: McDonald's. It was more or less the same as in America, except that I got patatas deluxe instead of fries, which were more like new potatoes that have been quartered and fried with slightly different seasonings. Because we were so hungry it tasted wonderful.

The hostel was very cold, so after a restless night of not sleeping from being freezing and being woken up by amigos borrachos, we got up late and went out to breakfast. We found a place called El Jamonal nearby. I had a really, really good tortilla española (the best I have had so far in Spain) and we once again tried the patatas bravas. They were pan fried potatoes but this time with only the chili sauce, no mayonnaise. Afterwards we set off for the Palacio Real, the royal palace. I had walked around the palace two years ago with Ba and Evelyn, but we had not gone inside. The inside was really incredible. It was more luxe than Versailles even, or maybe just better preserved. 

After that we headed to Parque Retiro, a pretty park with a man made lake and nice architecture. They had row boats available, so we divided into two groups of three and paddled around the lake. It was super fun and also very beautiful, although it was cold. I was a fairly incompetent rower and ended up rowing too near a fountain that streamed water into our boat. 

We were extremely cold and a little wet after our boating adventure ended, so we went to a nearby cafetería (coffee shop) and got a little snack. We then went to the Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid's modern art museum. (I had been to El Prado during my previous two day trip to Madrid.) I saw Picasso's Guernica and a lot of Dalí, including some of his non-surreal paintings, which was interesting. I also saw a lot of Miró and other Spanish artists. We didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked because it was closing. We then went back to the hostel and changed for dinner. Cake at the bakery:

We found a small restaurant nearby where we shared some tapas and wine. We had sautéed mushrooms, ham croquettes (very good), mini hamburguesas with arugula and a puréed tomato sauce (also good), and bread with tomato and garlic. We went back to the hostel for a little while after and met some friends of Marjahn's who were studying in Madrid for this semester. Then we went to Joy, where we were supposed to get in free because we knew a promoter through a friend at CIEE, Patty. Although the girls got in free, the boys still had to pay 15 euro. On top of that, April forgot her ID and had to go home, then pay 15 euro when she came back with the boys. I did not really care for the club. The dance floor was small and it was really smoky. The worst thing though was the crowd. It was over 50% old people, as in people in their forties or late thirties. There was even a really old guy who was bald with white hair! I was really surprised. 

The smoke made my throat hurt a lot, so I was ready to leave by about 3:30. I went home with Michelle and April, but of course we were woken up when the same amigos borrachos came in at six. We slept for a bit longer, then checked out the next morning. After breakfast of churros and gofres (waffles), we went to the train station to head for Toledo. It was about 30 minutes on the train. 

Toledo was beautiful and we got lucky because it had stopped raining. (It rained a little that morning in Madrid.) It is a medieval town and all the buildings are old and the streets and narrow and twisty-turny. We tried to go to the Alcázar, a fortress thing, but it was closed. We then went to the Cathedral, which was beautiful but cost 7 euro. By this time we were all very low on money and we did not go in. We then wandered, and Alex, April, Michelle and I stumbled upon a little park on top of a hill. It was incredibly windy but the views of the town, the river, the countryside, and the mountains was great. The picture below is from a different lookout point but it has a castle in it, and the sky was a little El Greco-ish. 

We met back up with the others at a small chapel called Santo Tomé, in which lies one of El Greco's most famous paintings, the Burial of Count Orgaz. El Greco is one of my favorite Spanish artists and it was a treat to get to see this painting. It is really well preserved for being from the 1500s. The chapel itself was fun to walk through as well, although they had a bunch of anti-abortion posters. Actual El Greco View of Toledo:

Afterwards we headed to a cafe and had pasta dinner, then headed back to Madrid on the train. Once in Madrid we just went straight to the train station from which we would catch the train back to Barcelona. It was a very fun train ride. We had our own car, although it had seats and not bunks. We brought with us some bread, wine, cheese, olive oil and salchicha and had snacks. I slept for the second half of the nearly 10 hour ride. We got back to Barcelona before 8 and I headed for home.

Madrileña.

I will be in Madrid over the weekend and will update again early next week. 

Más Montserrat

Necesito escribir más en castellano. (En España, hablamos castellano. Español es lo que los latinoamericanos hablan.) En Catalunya, donde podéis encontrar Barcelona, la gente habla catalán y castellano, pero estudio español en los Estados Unidos y todos mis clases aquí son en castellano. Además estoy hablando con un accente español, pronunciando mi c y z como "the".

Anyway, I did not talk enough about Montserrat, the wonderful mountain monastery we visited on Saturday. First of all, I woke up late Saturday morning, nearly missing (and causing 6 or so other people to miss) the 10:40 train. We got to the Montserrat train station about an hour later, from which we took a cable car (no more than 5 minutes long) to the actual "village," if it can even be called that. 

Basically it is a monastery (although I did not see any monks) and a beautiful church with some tourist amenities (gift shops, hotel, restaurant). We hoped to see a very famous boys choir perform but apparently they didn't sing on Saturdays. We first got coffee/snacks (snack time as its own meal is called in Spain "merienda"). Hence my suizo. We then all went to see the church. The story of Montserrat, which means "jagged mountain," is that a church was built there 1025 to commemorate someone's vision there of the Virgin Mary. Everything was destroyed by Napoleon in the 19th century, but later rebuilt. The thing they are famous for is the 'blackened Madonna,' a wooden statue from the 1100s of Mary and Jesus that has turned black after years of candle smoke. 

The church is very pretty but not very old, having been built in the 1800s. It is a weird mix of architectural styles, but I would say leans mostly toward Romanticism. There is a really beautiful hallway with incredible mosaic tiling. There is also a lovely courtyard. The blackened Madonna ("La Moreneta") is holding an orb that you are supposed to touch for good luck. The rest of the statue is encased in glass. I don't think it worked for me because I had a really bad cold the next day. Maybe it was my lack of piety though.

After seeing the church we decided to hike up the mountain. It was very cold since it was on a mountain. Plus it wasn't really a hike, it was going up stairs. Endless, endless stairs. But we made it up pretty far. (Some hiker guy told us that further up there was ice, and some people were wearing boots and other such unsuitable footwear.) But up at the top I ate the little sandwich my señora had made for me and was happy enough going back down. Here I am after reaching the furthest place we went. By the way, behind that wall is a drop of like thousands of feet. Ok, maybe more like hundreds, but it still means certain death. Which is why sitting on there even for 2 seconds to get my picture taken required extreme will power.

We spent the last part of our time there looking out over a vista and taking pictures. The views from the mountain were incredible. And one more thing. The rocks had some 'interesting' shapes. See for yourself.

Enferma.

Hola a todos,

 

This is a view of part of the courtyard of my university, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. The courtyard of one of the buildings has a cafeteria on the ground level and classrooms on the upper levels. I actually spend quite a lot of time in the cafeteria there, and especially in the queue for coffee (bottom, on the left).  

On Friday morning I went with my friend April to Park Guell. This is a park designed by Gaudi that has the house he lived in for several years. To get there, you have to walk up a really giant hill. There are actually some escalators on the hill as well but they stop before you reach the top. But the good thing is that the view from the top of the hill is amazing. You can see all of the city plus the ocean. It was beautiful. In the picture the gherkin-like building (the same one that is in London) is near my head. Further to the right is Sagrada Familia. Further still are two buildings that are near the beach/clubs, as well as fairly close to the university. 

On Saturday a big group of us went to a place called Montserrat. This is a monastery/church/tourist area up in the mountains. It was about an hour-long train ride outside the city, plus a trip by cable car. Then from there we went on a hike up the mountain. I just about collapsed. But the views were beautiful!

Yum. This is a suizo, or hot chocolate with whip cream. The chocolate is not actually all that sweet so I added some sugar. This has inadvertently become a bit of a food blog, so in that vein I will tell you about our trip to an all-cheese restaurant called (in English) CheeseMe.

We shared a Spanish cheese platter, but they didn't tell us exactly what cheeses were there. I know manchego, goat cheese, and blue cheese were there, but I'm not sure what else.

Another shared appetizer of bacon-wrapped goat cheese.  A little heavy on the cheese but good with bread.

Patatas bravas. Supposedly a Spanish delicacy, but as one person put it...fried potatoes with mayo and hot sauce. 

My entree of beef carpaccio and lots of parmiggiano. Needed salt. 

Overall the night was very fun and the restaurant was pretty tasty, although not 'authentic Spanish.' 

Two more reviews: 

We went to a club Thursday night called Opium. The music wasn't that great (some of the beats were slow and I didn't recognize a lot of the songs). However I liked the free champagne drink we got. I also liked that it was small and had a really nice terrace on the beach. 

The club we went to Friday night was called Catwalk. It was much larger (multiple stories) and much more crowded, but I liked the music and the energy better. The free drink was a blue koolaid-ish thing. 

I have felt crappy today because I have a cold. After eating dinner I felt better, but my throat still hurts and I can't really breathe through my nose. This weekend I'm going to Madrid with five other people. We're flying there and taking the train back. Should be very fun!

El mar.

On Sunday I went walking around my neighborhood. I went down Diputacio to Passeig Sant Joan and walked to the Arc de Triomf (in Catalan). It is a very beautiful reddish-colored arch quite different from the Parisian Arc de Triomphe in terms of its artistic style. From there I walked through Parc de la Ciutadella to port area, Port Vell. 

It was a really beautiful sunny day, not too cold at all. The whole area is very nice. There are lots of shops selling gofres (waffles with chocolate or other toppings) as well as a big mall, movie theatre, aquarium, carousel, and IMAX. 

Monday was a pretty normal day. Classes and home again. Today I've gotten home from class already and I am planning to maybe go out with some friends after dinner, around 9. 

Here is a sort of boardwalk leading to the mall out on the water. 

Here is a famous statue of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus). He is supposed to be pointing to America, but he is actually pointing to Italy. You can see some mountains there in the background.

Just your friendly lobster statue.

Nunca, nunca.

I forgot to talk about going out Friday night. My guardian angel group went out with Carlota to a tapas restaurant, where we had many things to eat. Some good, some not to my liking. We had tortilla con papas, bacon-wrapped dates, sliced fuet and chorizo, bread, croquettes, cheese and olives, hot sausage, and sangria. Here is the group photo.

After tapas we went to a bar, El Aguello, and had lots of Spanish beer. As I don't love the taste of beer I did not drink that much, but it was still good times. Some people went clubbing afterward but I went home at 2, just as the Metro (subway) was closing. 

This is just the castillo by the Plaza Ramon Berenguer El Gran where we met today to go to the calcotada, but I thought it and the nearby statue were cool. 

Calçotada!

Hola a todos,

Today we went on an "excursion" to a nearby town, Cerdanyola del Valles, to have a calcotada. This is a Catalonian traditional meal where one eats calcots, or mild onion bulbs, grilled with romesco sauce. Like this:

They were delicious. You peel off all of the charred bits and just eat the onion inside. The sauce was great too. After being served the calcots we were also given cannelloni beans with pork belly (as near as I could tell), papas fritas (fries), grilled bread slices with tomatoes and garlic to rub on them, and lots of very good grilled meats. As soon as it arrived I exclaimed, "Blood sausage! I've been wanting to try this!" All the American girls around me were entirely horrified. The sausage was excellent. 

Then after this incident (while by the way I'm sitting next to the one vegan in the group who has only recently become the less restrictive vegetarian) I realized that the piece of rabbit I am eating is not the hindleg. Can you tell from this picture what it was? (Blood sausage to the left.)

Yes, it is the rabbit head. Note the teeth and tongue lolling out. Of course I was quite delighted as well as a little disturbed, and I immediately flipped it over to try the brains. 

By now the other girls realized what was going on and had looks on their faces beyond horror. It was like I was eating a seared kitten. One girl started talking about her pet bunny. Now that I think about it though, I'm not sure it was a rabbit. I mean, do rabbits have beaks like that? Weird. Our dessert was a very standard, overly large portion of crema catalana. 

It was an interesting and tasty experience, to be sure. The huge coach bus had to careen down super wet mountain paths to get to this place. It was a random restaurant at the top of a hill. Before we ate we went on an hour-long trek through the nearby mountain area. The weather was wonderful and the scenery was super pretty. Barcelona has this California-esque mix of pine forests and beachy palm trees. 

There was also a random "zoo" with one pen with a herd of deer, an emu, a peacock, and a bunch of goats and donkeys. All just chilling together.

A note on slang. I have been exposed to the world of abbreviations. Obnox people make me naus (nosh) when they make socially unpleasant situations awks. I will never be the same. 

Vale, vale.

It is now Friday. My last post has had technical difficulties that will be remedied later. 

On Wednesday I took my first and last Spanish university class. It was extremely similar to university classes in the States despite what they told us at orientation. I was signed up to take Historia Medieval (medieval history) with other Spanish students. There turned out to be a lot of English-speaking students in the class as well. Basically the format was going to be half lecture by the professor (for one hour), then a break, then student presentations, debate, and discussion. I would have stayed in the class if it were just listening to him speak (although even that took 100% of my concentration), but I really couldn't understand most of what the other students were saying because they talked quietly, or mumbled, or--most commonly--superfast. Since that was half the class I realized there was no way I could do well. 

After my history class Wednesday I had my first intensive Spanish language class, which is at the university and taught by university professors but is with all American students from CIEE. I take this class for three weeks until my regular classes (now all university classes with international students) start. 

Then on Wednesday I tried going to the major department store here, El Corte Ingles, to buy a SIM card. They had them but it turns out you have to present your passport when buying SIM cards. So I had to leave empty-handed. That night for dinner I had a very good soup with chicken, sausage, and pasta as well as some fried fish. 

On Thursday I had a meeting with my academic advisor here. There is this very confusing thing where they have changed offices but still have the old office on all of the written materials. So basically I went to the wrong office but eventually made it to the new one 15 minutes late (10:45). However I was supposed to meet a tour at 11:00, so I got there 10 minutes late and they had already left. I did some shopping since I was in the area and got a new coat and shirt. Then I was walking back the way I had come and saw a big group of CIEE people with a tour guide. There was a second group at 11:30 and I just joined that one.

The tour was of El Barrio Gotico, or the Gothic quarter, which is where the Cathedral and all sorts of old Roman and Medieval buildings are. The tour was great except that it was one of the coldest days they've had on record in years. Seriously, we came on the global warming year and they have had insanely cold weather. It actually snowed during our tour! Very little, but still. It was truly miserable. 

After that I went to Spanish class, then went back home to get my passport, then to the department store. I bought the SIM card and my phone works now, but all the directions are in Spanish and I don't know what my phone number is. Argh. At dinner yesterday I had some really good potatoes and long beans with a little bacon, and I had the first thing I found unpleasant. It was an omelet that I thought had ham in it, but tasted a little off. It turned out to be tuna.

There was a joke one of our first days here that we would get haircuts like the Spanish so we could blend in, but this would require getting a mullet, a dreaded mullet, shaved at the front and dyed lots of colors. Since yesterday I saw someone with a dreadlocked mullet, this is not too far from the truth. 

 

No eres mi chica!

Building on Passeig de Gracia.

Gaudi's House of Bones, Casa Battlò.

Gaudi's La Pedrera. 

Famous turn-of-the-century farmacia on Roger de Lluria. Lady with mono (monkey). 

Fundacio Antoni Tapeis (an art museum).

It has been raining nonstop since noon today and as I look out my window now, as it nears midnight, it is still pouring. 

On Sunday I got up to eat breakfast and then walked around l'Eixample (lay-shom-pluh) for about two hours taking lots of pictures. I will post them soon. The orientation started pretty late in the day, at 4:00, so I spent a lot of time waiting around for things to get going. After meeting the pople from CIEE (the company running my program here) I met my "guardian angel," a name that none of us will be using, called Carlota. She is a 22-year-old Spanish student who helps me and like 8 other American students with finding where to buy things, getting around town, practicing Spanish, etc. 

With my GA and new group, I walked around the city for 2 1/2 hours. We went to the Barcelona Catedral, which was very beautiful and an excellent example of Gothic architecture (a contrast to all the Modernisme of l'Eixample). We also walked to Placa de Catalunya, las Ramblas, El Raval, and some other places. We then had a banquet-style dinner at the Hotel Catalonia Berna with people from my program, Liberal Arts, as well as from one of the other programs, Language and Culture (all run by CIEE). At dinner we had a salad with tuna, which was a similar consistency to tinned sardines, not like the canned tuna in the States. Then we had some hashbrown-like potatoes with pork loin and tomatoes, and we finished with some kind of ice cream with nuts.

The next day, Monday, we got up and had several Charlas, or chats, about different topics (academics, cultural activities, housing, etc). We took a Spanish test so the teachers can gauge our level of Spanish. It was quite difficult, sort of like an SAT in Spanish. We had lunch with our GA and found out housing assignments. More on that later. The lunch was pretty bad. All the fish here has tons of bones in it.

After some more charlas we had several more hours of walking with the GA to buy phones and go to the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where we will have our classes starting tomorrow. January 6 is a holiday in Spain, called the Day of the Holy Kings or Epiphany. We saw a little of the parade going by for children, but there was such a large crowd that it was hard to see. After a long day we went back to the hotel, where we met up with our hosts for our homestays.

I had a unique experience with this when I was introduced to the wrong señora. Most of the homestays, or a least many of them, are not host families but instead just a single older woman. I had already gone to her house, gotten the keys, and started to unpack when she asked me how to pronounce my last name. She said, "Is it Mitchell?" and I said, "No, I'm Nicole." Then she looked at my housing assignment sheet and said, "No eres mi chica!" (You're not my girl!) We had to go back to the hotel and switch with the one girl and one señora who were still there. I think the confusion came because both ladies have the same first name, Angels.

My señora is very nice and my room is very cute. The first night she made me a very nice supper of broth with small pasta in it (sopa), poached fish (pescado), salad (ensalada), and bread (pan). However it was extremely, extremely cold despite my sweater and sweatpants, and I asked her this morning if I could have a warmer blanket. This morning we had a nice breakfast of tostada (toast) with marmalade (marmalada de naranja), coffee (cafe), and cheerios. I gave her the Houston calendar and gave her my Texas chocolate pecans, both of which she seemed to like quite a bit. 

Communication has been pretty hard. I only understand like 70% of what she says to me, so there is quite often total incomprehension. I express myself like a toddler. But so far we have been getting by. A lot of people were saying today that they wish they'd chosen a residencia, or dorm, but I guess living with her will force me to learn Spanish because she really does not speak a word of English.

Today I got up and had to walk back to the hotel for another charlas about the difference between the Spanish and American education systems. I got very lost and arrived 45 minutes late. However it turns out that there was another group of Liberal Arts students there who had only started a few minutes before I came, so I could join in with them, even though it meant I didn't get to see my friends in the other group. We went on a bus tour of the city down to the waterside and back, which was very interesting and informative. I also learned a lot more about la Sagrada Familia. It is covered with animals and foods because apparently Gaudi was both "supercatolico" and really into Darwin, evolution and the natural world. He spent all his money on Sagrada Familia and died by being hit by a tram because "they thought he was a homeless." Our guide was very funny; he said Gaudi was "a freaky" and like bin Laden for Catholics--quite a remark in a Catholic country!

We had a free afternoon and I went with two American girls to lunch at a pretty good place called La Mafia. All the walls were covered with pictures from The Godfather. More modern than authentic Barcelona, but it was tasty. The only thing was that it was raining hard and absolutely freezing. On the bus tour it was actually hailing. They said that wasn't really the normal weather, but it sure was miserable. I was soaked when I got back to the apartment. For supper tonight my señora made me a tortilla con cebollas and sausage. Both were really incredibly delicious. The tortilla (basically sort of a quiche) had caramelized onions and the sausage was great. I had a banana for dessert.

I am going to start two of my classes tomorrow, Historia Medieval and my intensive Spanish class. Luckily I met a girl today who is in my same class and we are planning to meet on the Metro tomorrow and make our way together. Very scary...I'm not sure that if I can't understand my señora that I will be able to understand anything in class tomorrow.

Buenas noches,

Nicole

This is my breakfast from the hotel. 

Further update on Day 2

I was the first person to arrive at breakfast this morning when I showed up at about 7:30. The breakfast buffet was excellent and had incredible variety. Some of my favorites were the dense, non-greasy croissants, small crispy-skinned pork sausages, and tortilla española. I also had a delicious buche de noel (although in this case it was a New Year's log) and a surprisingly airy glazed donut. 

After breakfast I took a nap to try to counter the effects on my sleeping schedule of waking up at 3:00. After napping, I walked around l'Eixample, the district near my hotel, for about two hours. It was drizzling but not too cold. The streets in this neighborhood are pretty uniform: beautiful stone and cast-iron apartments with shops and farmacias underneath. I walked to la Sagrada Familia, one of Barcelona's most famous monuments and Gaudi's masterpiece, but was a little underwhelmed. The cathedral is amazing but it was obscured by scaffolding--maybe they're doing renovations? It had already fallen dark by that time and the building was not at all lit up. I knew I was in a tourist area by the nearby McDonalds and Starbucks.

After Sagrada Familia, I walked back down Carrer de Mallorca toward Passeig de Gràcia, one of the busier streets. There are still lots of Christmas lights up, and most places had garland-like lights strung across between the two sides of the street. 

The streets nearest to my hotel had this square-and-triangle design, which was probably the least interesting one but still cool.

Passeig de Gràcia had these pretty snowflakes.

I also saw some really nice lights decorating Hotel Majestic. 

An example of curvy Modernista architecture on Passeig de Gràcia, although a little hard to see in this picture. (*Update: This is Casa Batllo, another Gaudi.)

The pretty painted side of Catalonia Berna. My hotel room is the second window from the left on the second floor. 

Greetings from Barcelona!

It is technically my second day in Barcelona because it is about 3:30 in the morning local time, January 3. I have not yet adjusted to the time difference! 

My parents dropped me off at IAH the evening of January 1. I was randomly selected for more thorough security screening, so it's a good thing we were early. Once I got to my gate I discovered a friend of mine from British Studies at UT, Matt Kennedy, was on my flight. We changed our tickets to sit together and had a very nice time chatting during the flight. He is going to be in London for the next two weeks researching for his thesis.

On the plane I plugged my excellent new headphones in to the entertainment system and watched an episode of Dexter and the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I also read my Spanish review materials and 501 Spanish Verbs, as well as Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card. Matt was also a science fiction fan, and we talked a lot about all kinds of sci fi topics.

I also slept for a few hours, but I was still very, very tired when we got to London. I also rued not bringing some pounds with me to buy the English chocolates and trashy magazines that I do so dearly love. I said goodbye to Matt and made my way to the bus that took me from the troubled Heathrow Terminal 5 to Terminal 1. My layover was pretty short and I boarded my flight to Barcelona, where I slept the whole time. 

We got in to Barcelona at about 5:30 (17:30) local time. It was not as cold as London; in fact it wasn't really cold at all, just a little cool. I had to walk what felt like miles to the baggage claim and got there just as the bags started coming off the belt. I then made my way to the very distinctive black and yellow cabs and proceeded for the Hotel Catalonia Berna. Check in went smoothly (in a mix of Spanish and English) and I finally made it to my room. 

I didn't go out yesterday because I wasn't hungry enough for dinner and I was still quite tired. I tried to stay up as late as possible so that I could get over any jetlag, but I succumbed at 9:30 (21:30) or so. I am thinking today I will try to walk around a bit after breakfast. I should probably get some more money and I have been instructed to use the Barclays ATMs. Luckily there appears to be one only a few blocks from here. I will also try to study more Spanish before the orientation starts tomorrow. 

Hasta pronto,

Nicole