"We're in SPAIN!"

This is a pretty common exclamation you'll hear from the CIEE kids. Even after two weeks, it's still not entirely real.

I haven't been as good about writing every day as I'd like to be, so again, this post will be about the past few days.

Thursday: Pretty uneventful day. Class, run, out with the friends. Typicalllll day in Barca. Oh yeah...homework too :)

Friday: For the Spanish grammar class, we have "cultural excursions" on Fridays. This week, we visited the Boqueria, the market I visited w/ Nikki last weekend. It was a fun trip, but the most eventful part was almost getting pick pocketed on Passeig de Gracia. I felt a tug on my tote bag and I turned around to see a man pulling his hand away from my bag. I wasn't sure if he was able to grab anything, so I started screaming "DA ME LA! DA ME LA!" ("give it to me!"). Luckily he hadn't been able to get his hands on anything, so I didn't lose my wallet or camera. I've been told that everyone gets at least one pick pocket attempt while they're in Barcelona. Hopefully this was mine.

Saturday: We stayed in Friday night to rest up for a trip one of the CIEE girls planned. We decided to travel to Montserrat, a mountain monastery about an hour from Barcelona. We took a train to the base of the mountain and rode a cable car up. We started on a hike up the mountain, which ended up being a surprisingly ambitious trek. The views were breathtaking and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. About halfway up the mountain, we stopped and ate a picnic lunch, then continued up to the top. Again, beautiful views, great weather, wonderful company. We trekked down the hill and decided to go peek into the monastery, not really knowing what to expect. Like everything here, it was beautiful, old, and a little overwhelming. However, it was also an interesting experience. I've done most of my traveling with choirs (Piedmont Choir or PHS A Cappella), so typically whenever we walk into a church we'd line up and sing an "Ave Maria" or something. It was strange being a "civilian" in that experience and also made me very thankful for the wonderful experiences I was able to have with my choirs. And, no. I didn't break out into a Gregorian chant at the monastery. But I'll admit that it did cross my mind. (That was a preemptive strike to Crosby's sarcasm)

Sunday (Today): I went downtown and parked myself at a cafe to do some work and people watch. After sitting and working for a few hours, I went for a fairly long walk around the old part of the city, the port, and then back to my house. I finally feel like I'm figuring Barcelona out and cant get around pretty well. I also found a shoe store that I may go buy my "Boots of Spanish Leather" (Bob Dylan song, anyone?).

Next up this week: starting work at BCN Ecologia, midterm #1 (WHAT), Rome next weekend, and more STRONG coffee.

Hasta.