My First Days in Barcelona

HOLA from Barcelona!!! A friend in my program here introduced me to this site and I have decided to use it instead of writing lots of different emails, and I can attach pictures too this way, which is much easier than doing it through email. I have attached a few pictures with the entry of the place I am staying here in Barcelona, and also some from when I was staying with the Vallcorbas (Didac´s family) before my program had started.

When I first arrived in Spain, I stayed with Didac´s family for 4 days. This gave me time to catch up on sleep, adjust to my jetlag, and relax until everything started up for my program. The Vallcorbas are very sweet and were very accomodating. They live in this really nice house in Teia, a town about 30 minutes north of Barcelona. It is on the top of a hill, so they have a wonderful view of the whole town and the Mediterraean Sea. Maria Jose calls often to check up on me and see how things are going, and Magi works in Barcelona, so I have been to his office a few times. Last Friday I met them in town for lunch, which was really fun because it is always good to see them.

When my program started, I moved in with my host family. I live with 50-55 year old woman named Rocio Osuna, who I call my señora, and her 24 year old daughter. She has had 4 or 5 other students from the same program living with her before me, so she knows the ropes pretty well. She is very nice and likes to talk to me, and she is a flamenco dancer! Flamenco is the most popular kind of dancing here in Barcelona, and she has been doing it for 22 years. She also really likes to cook, which is amazing because she always makes me these extravagant meals every night (which I never finish because I swear it is enough for at least 2 people). We live in a flat on the 4th floor, which you can see in the pictures. It is much smaller than places in the US, but that is normal here. I live right on a metro (subway) line, which is great because you have to take the metro to get almost everywhere in the city. It is a direct ride to my school, I have to go 7 stops, which takes about 20 - 30 minutes depending on the time and day. There is a market 1 block away from where I live, and it is pretty big compared to most of them. They dont have big King Soopers or Safeways or HEBs here...everything is much much smaller and compact.

I hope yall enjoy looking at this travel blog to stay updated on what I have been doing here and to check out some pictures of where I have been. I have many more pictures and much more to talk about, but I will have to wait until I have more time to upload them and write about them. ¡¡¡HASTA LUEGO!!!

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