eek

I am a little bit homesick for the second time today. I think it's just because I can't fall asleep. It is passing, or it has passed, but either way acknowledging it will make it go away faster.

At any rate, Justin sent me this picture of a retarded tiger, which cheered me up:

Hope it does the same for you!

(Also, I usually treat internet communications pretty casually, hence my neglect to use proper capitalization/punctuation, but I recently noticed that my "casual" style led to an inconsistency in my use of apostrophes/neglect to use apostrophes and decided to institute a new policy of proper written English -- although I can't always promise perfect grammar.)

my tour w/ <3marga<3

pictures from our walking/metro tour with our spanish language/cultural orientation teacher marga, who might be my new best friend:


the really famous gaudi house on la manzana de la discordia, or the "block of discord." there are 3 famous architects who built beautiful houses on this block and the "discord" is over which house is best.


a more close-up version of the gaudi house. its 13 euros for student passes to get inside. i've heard it's amazing, so i'll have to check it out.


inside another one of the houses in la manzana de la discordia. i think there used to be a chocolatier in this house, but i'm not sure. marga was un poco difficult to understand w/the echoey acoustics.


you can see some of the towers of la sagrada familia (superfamous gaudi church/cathedral) down the avenida.


Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (in catalan). marga is in the green and megan's in the blue. marga said, "en serio, hay enfermos aqui," which, if i may be trusted to translate for you, means "seriously, there /are/ sick people here." it is the most amazing hospital ever! tons of beautiful buildings that are all connected by an underground network of tunnels. so much green space and fountains outside!


a more unobstructed view of the front of the hospital.


'inside' the open-air courtyard of the first hospital building.


another hospital building.


there are a ton of orange trees at the hospital! i wanted to pick one so badly, but i didn't know if it was allowed. the oranges here are THE BEST.


another hospital building. why do i cut everything off? aye.


...and another hospital building. there were so many more that i didn't take pictures of, but all beautiful. i also really wanted to take pictures of all the patients in robes and doctors in coats who were smoking. it's just /funny/ that everyone smokes here.


la sagrada familia, finally! superfamous gaudi church/cathedral that isn't going to be finished until approx. 2050. the most amazing thing about it was the texture, and the detail.


again.


people, to give you an idea of scale.


some of the towers. i think there are 12 total, for the 12 apostles. also, check out that guy that's sitting on the bit of stone that spans the 2 center towers.


the guy furthest the left is meant to be gaudi, according to marga. and she seems to be a pretty big fan of gaudi. here are things marga likes to tell people (as in, i have heard them from her on more than one occasion): 1. when she was looking for apartments to move into w/ her husband after they were (recently) married, she saw one by la sagrada familia and became obsessed with la sagrada familia and subsequently insisted that they move into the apartment so that she could see la sagrada every day; 2. a year ago, she never would have even THOUGHT about getting married (she's 39, but looks damn good.). also she apparently loves americans, which is super, super rare in a spaniard.


i leave you with this. the green stuff is construction, as im sure you can see.

more pictures

candy @ la boqueria.


again.


i took this picture so that i can get a free pass into 6 of barcelona's best museums. and also for you guys. it's kind of @ port olympic.


port olympic, definitely.


an avenue to the beach. this is what it's like to walk around barce.


otra vez.


I MADE IT TO THE BEACH!


and there were waves! but no sun.


this spanish couple totally ruined my shot of port olympic. it's ok because i love it when old people hold hands.


more palm trees and montjuic in the background. lauren and kerry live at the base of montjuic, i think? but i wouldn't know, because we haven't hung out yet.


plaza catalunya (half in spanish, half in catalan), where i go to school. they park vespas on the sidewalk. it's really confusing if you're a walker.


kkkk lovebye

tuesday update

my language/cultural orientation classes have been going well so far. mostly we just speak in spanish about how pickpocketers (or carteristas) operate, where they operate, why they operate, etc., etc., etc. ad nauseum. i guess the good thing about there being so much pickpocketing is that there allegedly isn't much violent crime in barcelona ("no hay armas," my teacher keeps repeating). anyway, my mom would be happy that they are beating us all over the head with the 'watch out for pickpocketers' speeches.

so far, i havent seen many of the great sights in barcelona other than touristy places like las ramblas. sometimes i get anxious about it and feel like i should've already seen and done so much, but then i remind myself that i'm here for 4 months and i might as well pace myself. more than anything, i've been trying to acclimate myself to the culture and daily life in barcelona, and i think i've been very successful on that front. i can go grocery shopping, i can buy a metro pass, i can order at restaurants and bars, i can ask for directions, i can cross the street, i can light the stove with a match, i can take 6 minute showers. i haven't done laundry yet, which might be a debacle, but i'll power through it.

i still havent eaten churros or seen the mediterranean, and i plan on accomplishing at least one of those goals tonight.

i ate my first spanish paella on saturday night! paella is basically rice seasoned with saffron (and probably lots of other things) with lots of different seafood and sometimes beef in it. our paella had shrimp, mussels, clams, and beef. it was a bit difficult to eat because you had to constantly take things out of shells or pick bones out of the beef, but my first plate was SO, SO delicious. then my second plate started to make me a little nauseous because the rice tasted overwhelimingly of seafood. so i recommend paella in small portions. really awesome, though. and expensive.

i am kind of annoyed that we have to go to valencia this weekend because it's going to be a lot of waking up early and being herded like sheep. thats ungrateful of me, i know. but traveling is just such a pain and id rather spend the weekend seeing the sights of barcelona. valencia is supposed to be beautiful, though, and we get to go to an aquarium! great. ill sice myself up about it.

FIRST PICTURE POST YAY

bienvenidos a mi apartamento! 29 la avenida sarria, el segundo piso, numero 1.


hallway. four bedrooms: 2 singles, 2 doubles. hana and megan have the singles, courtney and heather room together and i room with lee.


lee in our kitchen.


cooking rice.


bathroom number 1.


me in bathroom number 2!


...which has a bidet!


our bedroom. lee is on the right and i'm on the left.


desk. i hung my pictures up right after i took these photos, so maybe i'll do a reshoot later.


my half of l'armoire.


sitting room and window. there is a couch that you can't see.


our little balcony.


loud children. acutally, the babies are the really annoying ones, but these guys aren't anything close to quiet, either.


panoramic view from my balcony. my building backs up to the backs of lots of other apartment buildings. there isn't really a courtyard, though.


panorama 2.


panorama 3. some of these are blurry. tsorry.


las ramblas, aka pickpocket central.


the entrance to la boqueria.


la boqueria.


fruta.


meat.


fresh meat.


cute, right?


an alley.


megan and i at la boqueria. she looks different in photographs than in person. she is REALLY FUNNY.


olives at la boqueria!


heaven.


chocolate.


chocolate teacups.


part of the cathedral.


at port olympic. it looked like these men were flying a big kite full of light, but then we realized that there was road construction going on and they used this floating high intensity light to light the road at night time. sweet, though.


lee and megan at BB+.


colleen, heather, and i at BB+.

hopefully better pictures later, but i know that aisling and stephen are growing impatient.