Me Encanta Mi Clase de Espanol!

So, want to know how to make a two and a half hour Spanish class go by really, really quickly? Have the whole class meet before for lunch and each drink an entire bottle of Cava (Spanish champagne) by yourself. It makes speaking Spanish easier and so much more fun!

My whole class decided that since it was the second to last day of class, and since we have our final tomorrow we would all get lunch together and get a little happy. So we met at this really Spanish place for lunch. It is such a whole in the wall - it doesn't even have a sign on the outside to tell you its a restaurant, but the food is so good. You have to order two sandwiches and then you can get a free bottle of Cava. Perfect! So I ordered a hamburger. It was delicious, although when I go back, because I will go back before I leave, I'm going to order the chicken. Anyways so we were there for like an hour and a half, eating and drinking and reminiscing about our time in Spanish class. We decided that we should get our teacher a sandwich, because we love him so, and conveniently we got another bottle of Cava to split! Or did we get him sandwiches because we wanted more Cava.....? I can't remember...

Class was a circus, but our teacher loved it. It was the fastest class ever went and pretty sure I was fluent in Spanish... at least I thought I was. haha It was a good day for sure. Although my head is aching a little...

Tomorrow is our last day of classes! Yay! But BOO because that means that its over....

Mike and I had been talking about taking a little one night trip together before we left. We hadn't talked much about it lately and the other day he surprised me and had booked a hotel and everything for one night! So tomorrow after class were leaving to go to Tossa de Mar. Its in the Coasta Brava, like an hour and a half away from Barcelona on the coast. I'm excited, especially since we haven't been able to spend as much time together lately because of all our school work. It should be fun.

Since this is our last weekend in Barcelona we are going all out. I'm sure I'll have some crazy stories for you when I blog next. Get excited!

Class at lunch

The whole class with our teacher, Ata

What a crazy character!
Did I ever mention on here that he used to live in Fort Wayne?! For like 12 years! Crazy! He knows Middlebury and everything! Muy ridiculoso!

Spanish dinner and birthday surprise

Now that I knocked out a paper, a journal and a presentation in Spanish, I finally have some time to blog more than a sentence.

This weekend was a Zoe and I weekend. Three of our roomies were gone and the apartment was so clean and quiet - it was perfect! On Friday night we wanted to try out this restaurant, Cerveseria Catalana, we had heard about that supposedly has great tapas. Well, we heard right. Best tapas I've had here. They were delicious. When we got to the restaurant around 9:30 it was packed! (That is one thing I won't miss when I have to return home, eating dinner so late!) They said it was probably about a forty minute wait so we ordered a glass of wine from the bar and just hung out around there. We were starting to get pretty hungry so we decided to just order tapas from the bar like a true native and a spot sitting at the bar had just opened up so we hoped on it. We ordered one tapa at a time and of course ordered more wine! We started with pan con tomate (bread with tomato, Spanish brochette), then had cured ham and cheese, then moved on to some shrimp skewers, next came some asparagus, and then we finished the tapas with a Spanish omelet. We ordered dessert, of course, but it was disgusting, so we didn't eat it. We ordered homemade cake because we figured it would be delicious, well we didn't know they would pour whiskey all over it! Way to ruin a perfectly good cake!

During the course of our meal, we heard this guy behind us say "lets play a game and guess where these girls are from." Some what annoyed because I was thinking either this is a sad sad pick up line, or he's calling us out on not being Spanish, I turned around to see who this guy was. He looked decent enough so I said, ok give it a try. In two guesses he guessed that I was from Indiana! Crazy! And then he asked where, and I gave my usual response and said "Its a really small town, you won't have heard of it." He said "Try me, my mom's from Indiana." So I told him and he goes, "Yea, there's good restaurant there called the Essenhaus and its close to Goshen that has La Hacienda, good mexican." He noticed that my mouth was about to hit the floor and he told me that his mom grew up in Walkarusa (Spelling?!) and he had actually just been in Middlebury/Goshen over Christmas for a wedding, had eaten at both the Essenhaus and Hacienda. Wow! What a crazy small world! So we ended up talking with him and the girl he was with. They are around 25ish and are friends from college. She works for the government and just decided to fly both of them to Barcelona, first class, for the WEEKEND! WHAT?! Crazy! Apparently, she does this sort of thing all the time. The weekend before she was in London and in like two weeks she was going to China for like 5 days, just because she wanted to. Wow. Ridiculous. But whatever, she was loaded so she bought Zoe and I a glass of wine and then the most expensive bottle of Cava (Spanish Champagne) for us to share. They were really cool and so fun to talk to. Zoe and I had a great night and felt really native after our dinner of tapas and wine sitting/standing around the bar.

After dinner we met up with Mike, Nick and Jake. It was raining pretty hard so while they were waiting for us they went into the Burger King. We ended up hanging out there until it closed at like 3. Ridiculous but so much fun! We like to refer to it as the BK Lounge if you will.

On Saturday, Kate, Amy and Christine, two of my sorority sisters and another girl from Butler respectively, were in town from Florence, so we hooked up with them and I took them to a club near our apartment called Mary's Place. The first time I was there was when Kiki was in town and I fell in love with the place. It's so much fun! I tried not to be too out of control though because on Sunday I had a surprise for someone special....

Mike's birthday is on May 13th. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to be with him on his birthday, but I still wanted to get him a birthday present before we left. I wanted the gift to be something that would remind him of his time in Barcelona and maybe even a little of me. So I decided to get him a FC Barcelona (the futbol team) jersey and a official mug. So I sneakily figured out who he would want on the back of the jersey and what size he would want. I'm so good at being sneaky and telling little white lies! I was deciding when to give this jersey to him and how to do and then I realized that this past Sunday was the 13th- a month before his birthday - perfect!

So I began to scheme. He likes the musician, Jack Johnson, as do I and he has a song called Banana pancakes and we've talked about how sometime when we visit each other I'll make him banana pancakes..... well the banana pancakes came a little early. I got up and made them on Sunday morning and then had everything set up and ready. I put his jersey and mug with a card on the table and made a 21 out of bananas on his pancake with a candle in it. I had him come in with his eyes closed and had the song "banana pancakes" playing. He opened his eyes and his reaction was priceless! Just what I wanted! I had successfully surprised him! I was elated! So we both enjoyed some wonderful banana pancakes and the whole time he just kept thanking me and saying how good a job I did with pulling it off. It was wonderful.

Definitely a good almost last weekend.

Zoe and I eating our shrimp!

Chillin' at the BK Lounge


Birthday surprise!

heartbroken.

Less than two weeks and I can't even describe how upset this makes me.

Stupid Americanos.

It really isn't cool that just when you begin to feel like you belong in a city and even feel a little like a native, people treat you like stupid Americanos. This happened twice yesterday!

So, Thursday morning I was getting on the bus to go to school (haha sounds like I'm back in elementary school) and I was with about 8 other kids in my program. We all put our tickets in and paid for the ride but as soon as we sat down the driver tried to accuse us of not paying. It was this huge ordeal and we had to basically scream at him and tell him that we all had paid! He was trying to rip us off and figured he could since we were American.

Then last night, Zoe and I went to a club that we've been to about ten times before. We get up to the bouncer and he asks how old we are. We told him and then he asked for ID's! I've never been asked for my ID before and I don't have one anyways since my wallet got stolen. We decided to wait around for our guy friends to show up to see what they could do. The bouncer was just clearly being a jerk because when our guys even showed him their ID's he wouldn't let them in, or the 30 other Americans trying to get in. But in the meantime he was letting every Spanish person through. It was so much crap. We were all so mad.

These things don't make me want to come home though. I still am so sad I have only two weeks left! I can't believe it!

My Maid of Honor was in town!

Kiki came to visit! Yes, she will be my maid of honor, hence the name of the blog. Her and Mallory came from Rome for a visit. They also came with some other people from their program but they stayed with me and the others were in a hostel.

They got here on Friday morning and we headed first to La Sagrada Familia. They didn't really care what I showed them and wanted it to be more of a relaxing weekend. So after we went to La Sagrada and walked around the outside we headed to the center of the city, around Plaza Catalunya. They wanted to shop for some cute and cheap clothes because they were sick of all the expensive stores in Rome. So that's what we did... just spent a few hours in that area walking around. Around four or five they were getting pretty tired because they had to get up so early, so we decided to head back and take a siesta before dinner and going out.

They wanted to go to the all-you-can-eat-sushi-buffet-on-a-conveyor-belt that I had told them so much about when I was in Rome. So that's where we went for dinner. An hour later we emerged, bursting at the seams because we ate so much! It was actually disgusting... haha we had to come back and lay down for a little before we got ready to go out. They had heard about Chupitos, the crazy shot bar, so I took them there first and we got some fun shots. We tried a new one, its a melon shot and at the bottom of the shot glass they put a watermelon gum ball. Its my new favorite. After that we went to a club that I had never been to before, even though its like 10 minutes from my house! Its called Mary's Place and its soooo much fun! I don't know why I haven't gone before. We got in for free and were pretty much the only Americans in the whole club, but that made it so much more fun. So we were dancing with these Spanish guys we met and I was using my wonderful Spanish skills. Sometime in the night I gave them my number and they called me the next day! I didn't answer because I didn't know the number but then a little later I got a text message from them. The coolest thing was that it was all in Spanish! I felt like a true native. And I understood the whole thing! So proud of myself! haha

On Saturday we woke up around 11 and decided to head towards the beach and have a really lazy day. I took them to the port/beach area and we first got lunch. It was a really clear day but it was windy which made it seem so much cooler than it was, which wasn't cool. So after lunch we went to the beach to "lay out" in all of our clothes with our hoods up around our heads because the wind was so cold. We stayed out there for a few hours and then decided it was ridiculous to still be there since we were so cold. So we came back to the apartment and took a nap. We were so productive!

For dinner, I took them to get some tapas, like true Spaniards. They really enjoyed the tapas and we had a good dinner. After dinner, Kiki and Mallory wanted to meet up with the other people they came with because they hadn't hung out with them while they were here. So Zoe (my roomie who's amazing) and I decided we didn't want to go out so we just came back to the apartment and watched Across the Universe while Kiki and Mal met up with their friends.

On Sunday, I got eggs and fruit to make a big breakfast for them before they left and also, Mike was gone all weekend so they didn't get a chance to meet him but he got back early on Sunday morning so I invited him over for breakfast too. It was fun but they had to leave by 11 so they didn't get to hang out much on Sunday. The rest of the day was absolutely beautiful. It was almost 70 degrees and completely clear. Zoe and I sat out on our balcony attempting to get work done, but we were pretty unsuccessful. I did get a little tan line though! It was amazing.

The rest of the week is going to suck. I have two papers, a presentation and a journal to finish. And to top it off, I'm not in a good mood because I know the end is coming way too fast. So yea, I'm not looking forward to this week. All I want to do is hang out with my friends and not have to worry about doing anything else, but that can't happen.... Anyways, on that note... I need to get going so I can work on a paper... woo hoo!

Zoe, Mal, Kiki and I
-We're all Kappas rockin' our new Aviators

Mal, Kiki and I on the beach

I don't want this to end.

I don't want to leave. Period. I'm not coming home, all the friends I've made are staying forever and we are going to live in our happy, Barcelona world. Ok?

Obviously I know that can't happen, but every time I think about how I have three weeks and two weekends left I about ball my fricken eyes out and want to run backwards really fast in hopes that it will make time go in reverse.

I can not believe that its almost over. It seems surreal. I can't even begin to put into words what this experience has meant to me. I've gone through so many emotions, dealt with so many different issues, internal and external and it has truly changed me. I personally feel I have grown up a ton and changed as a person. For instance, I now like eating sushi, tomatoes, cucumbers, and coffee. Haha, ok bad example, but those are little things that have changed in me. I feel more mature and way more independent. I always thought I was so independent and could do anything on my own... well now I lived in a huge city, in a different continent, where they speak a different language without knowing anyone when I arrived. AND I SURVIVED!

I attribute my changes and this experience to one, myself, I spent a lot of time re-evaluating myself, (CHEESY!!!!!!) and thinking about what I wanted in life and who I was as a person. And second I attribute my changes to everyone I've met and become close with. Every single person has challenged me in a different way and opened my eyes to new ideas, thoughts and perspectives. Something I will always cherish. Also, having the chance to see all the places I ventured to has opened my eyes and I now see that there is more to the world than the beaches in Florida and the tequila in Mexico. (Seriously, why do people in Indiana think that Florida is the greatest destination? Migrate somewhere else for the winter! haha )

Ok, enough of my self-growth crap and complaining about how I don't want this to be over... but I am warning you, I will not be a happy camper when I return. Sure I'm so ready to see all of you and I miss you all! But, reverse culture shock is worse than the culture shock I experienced over here, so I was told. For instance, I'm already sad at the thought that I won't be speaking Spanish. Weird! So, a little advice, don't cross me the wrong way the first few weeks I'm home. Got it!? Oh no..... it might already be starting..... haha just kidding. I know this sounds like I never want to come home and you might take it personally... I want you all to know that I am excited to see you, I just wish I could see you for about two weeks and then return here and live happily ever after in my little, study abroad, Barcelona world.

Here are the lyrics to a song that Mike showed me. It pretty much describes how I feel about my experience here.

3 x5 - John Mayer

I'm writing you to
catch you up on places I've been
You held this letter
probably got excited, but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hopping I would see the world with both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way with words
Today skies are painted colors of a cowboy's cliche'
And strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
are next to mountains anyway
Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way
but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
just no more 3x5's Guess you had to be there
Guess you had to be with me Today I finally overcame
tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to
lose my way but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
no more 3x5's

Oh, back to school...

Monday "school" started again. Or I should really just call it the thing that makes me get up and waste time sitting in a room listening to a boring person talk. Although now that its nearing the end (huge tear rolling down my cheek) I actually have to start doing some work. Ugh.

So the week was pretty uneventful, other than the fact I had a slight touch of the flu, but it wasn't exiting via my mouth....you get the picture?

Mike's mom and brother came to visit him so since he had to meet my parents, I had to meet his. We met them at their hotel first. His mom was so sweet. She was like "Mike she's just as pretty as she is in the pictures you sent me." Which by the way I later found out are hanging on his fridge. Wow, guess his mom thinks we're dating or something. ;) I would soon find out that his brother and him are the exact same person and are so fun to be around to just observe them together. I felt really comfortable with them. We then headed to a restaurant. It was really cute inside and the food was amazing. Here's an embarrassing first-time-meeting-the-family story for ya...We all ordered this chicken dish and when it came out it was chicken on a skewer... great... how in the world are you supposed to politely eat that in front of people you are trying to impress?! So I start going at it with my knife and fork and I got half of the chicken off without a problem. Then I go to get more off.... so I'm working away at it and the whole kabob slides off my plate! SWEET! How embarrassing. His brother who was sitting across from me was the only one who saw and he kinda smiled at me and said "its ok, I didn't see anything." So I pick it back up and put it on my plate. Whew! Dodged that bullet. I attempt again. Within thirty seconds the piece of chicken flies off of the skewer and onto the floor!!! SWEETER! I, who does not get embarrassed very easily, wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. This time everyone saw what had just taken place. And the Mike, the wonderful person he is, gets up and takes a picture of my chicken lying on the floor...wow I picked a good one! They all just laughed about it and didn't seem to care, so that was good at least, but I was so embarrassed.

On Friday, I had a day trip to the place that's called The Forum. It was built in 2004 for the Universal Exhibition. It was just a huge place covered in cement where they had all their exhibitions. I have no idea why our professor thought it was appropriate to take up a Friday morning to show us cement. The only cool thing is that in one of the buildings there is a huge model of the entire city of Barcelona. So that was pretty cool to see actually. That night, Mike and I took his brother to Chupitos. A small bar that serves crazy shots. There are probably about 100-150 different shots you can choose from. My two favorites are The Harry Potter which is they take an orange, put sugar and cinnamon on top and light it on fire and then you take the shot and eat the orange. Delicious. The other favorite is the Boy Scout. This time they put alcohol on the bar and give you a marshmallow on a stick to roast over the burning alcohol and then you eat the marshmallow and take the shot. I have no idea what is in the shots but they are really good and not strong. His brother enjoyed it but it is always soooo packed, like can hardly move so we weren't there too long. We then headed to a new club that opened and it was so amazing. Probably my favorite one here. Very modern and it was a nice mix of American students and locals.

Last night I went out to dinner again with Mike and his mom and brother. I was glad they decided to take me out in public again after I threw chicken on the ground. We first went to the fountain/light show that I took my parents to and then went to a tapas bar. Dinner was great. They are so easy to get along with and his mom is so sweet. She likes when girls are around considering she raised three boys and a husband. (Yes, I know it sounds like I said she raised a husband, that's exactly what I wanted to say. I think husbands are just like children and need to be "raised". That's why I'm not getting married...) After dinner we got ice cream and then his mom and brother headed back to hotel because they had to get up early for their flight back to New Jersey.

Today, I HAVE to be a little productive and get a start on at least one of my papers that's going to be due in the next few weeks. I don't even know if I remember how to write a paper. I feel like its been so long since I did anything that I would consider to be true school work. My blog has been the closest thing to actually doing anything that requires a little bit of effort. So I'm going to stop procrastinating and get going on some of that.