Barcelona/Madrid

---

Hi all...
sorry I haven't updated in awhile (I am really bad about doing this blog), but anyways...

A few weekends ago the group traveled to Barcelona and made the typical tourist trek around the city: stopping at Gaudi's Parque Guell, the harbor for dinner, a Palace that now holds a collection of famous tapestries (and also a beautiful show with a fountain and music outside), the 1992 Summer Olympic Stadium, the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona's Cathedral, and the Picasso Museum. I would say out of everything la Sagrada Familia was by far my favorite, and I am excited to return to Barcelona someday when it is complete.

While I enjoyed my time in Barcelona, just a few days was way too short of a time in which to really understand and appreciate a city so rich in culture and history. I loved the food while staying there (I was much more impressed with it than I have been in Madrid), and the nightlife looked like a lot of fun. Although there were some crazy stories that weekend of what happened to members of our group, I'd have to say that I was fortunate enough to stumble on Ice-BARcelona, and enjoy some expensive drinks in a bar that boasted a
-5C temp, followed by a trip to the Mediterranean Sea that the bar overlooked. Overall I have few complaints about Barcelona- it was a beautiful city.

I started my internship with the courts here in Madrid, and it basically consists of listening to cases and sitting there...boring but more on that later

This past weekend in the home-stay was horrible. From the best of my knowledge (since I am relaying conversations that have been told to me) this is what happened (in short because it is seriously confusing me and making me upset all over again to continue to talk about it): this past Thursday a group of us decided to go to a club but we wanted to pregame before going out due to the expensive prices of drinks...my senora has not only seen the alcohol bottles in our room but has joked about drinking to us all the time (and has taken a shot with us during lunch)...so my roommate asked to borrow cups and asked if we can have friends over to drink and my senora said yes...the people came, she saw them and said goodbye and went to take her dog for a walk while we were left drinking in her kitchen with her son...for some reason when she returned she was super pissed we were drinking and kept saying she didn't deserve it and we broke her trust (although we asked)...at that point the night was ruined so I just went to bed while others went out...the next morning (and in the following days) we discovered she called the program director complaining about us, and she tried to tell us over and over that we are a disappointment and that we would become alcoholics..apparently she also lied and claimed that we spilt vodka on clean laundry although we were drinking in the kitchen and there was no clothes in there??? and today I found out that she claims that I was throwing up in her bathroom...although I wasn't and just went to bed???? I don't know it is just a massive mess and I just continue to be disheartened by this entire experience

Anyways that's all...spring break is planned for Ireland, and Morocco on Sunday

Take care all...

---