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Published: January 27th 2008
Hi!
I don´t exactly remember what I wrote about last, but hopefully I don´t repeat myself too much. All of my classes start tomorrow and I´m a bit nervous just because I´ve never taken an actual class in spanish except for language and grammer courses, so we´ll see how it goes. I start at 9:30 in the morning and go until 7 o´clock at night, which is also kinda a drag, but on Tues and Thurs I only have class for an hour and a half, so it´s worth it to struggle through mon and wed. Hopefully with the breaks inbetween my classes, I´ll have a chance to meet some locals and get to know some students.
Today my friends and I hiked Montserrat that is about an hour away from here. It is the most religious spot of Catalonia and many spainards make a pilgrimage to see it. I have pictures up on facebook and will add them on here eventually, but the internet in my room isn´t working and i´m too lazy to put them on a jump drive. Anyway, this mountain was the most beautiful view I have ever seen and so refreshing. Barcelona reminds me a lot of NY (even though I have yet to visit there), just more slow paced, so it felt good to take in some fresh air, wear sweats and tennis shoes (instead of dressing up) and break a sweat. The story of the mountain is that these shepard boys saw a bright light descend on the mountain and heard the singing of angels coming from a cave. When they entered they found a shrine of the virgin mary, which can be seen today in the cathedral at the top of the mountain. They also have an ammmazing boys choir that sings everyday, which we made it in time to see! I think that today was the best day here so far- amazing group of girls, fresh air, CALMNESS, and great food! I´m exhausted right now, but it was well worth it. There is so much history in Europe, I still can´t get over it.
To recap what I´ve been doing for the past week or so. Last weekend we went to the most well known winery in Catalonia- which was really sweet. It´s called Torres and we were able to get a tour and then do some wine tasting. Don´t worry, I bought plenty of wine for ppl to try when I get back. 😉 After Torres we had an authentic Catalan meal, which actually tasted alright. Different, but not bad at all. Then we loaded up on the bus again and headed for Sitges, which is a small coastal town about an hour from Spain. GORGEOUS city! We´re going back next Tuesday to celebrate Carnaval there and I´m also dragging my family when they come to visit because it´s so dang cute! The days fly by here- but I´ve been trying to get all of the touristy stuff out of the way so that once classes really start up and I´m traveling every weekend, I can just enjoy life here and not feel like I need to go see everything. This week I went to La Sagrada Familia along with the Chocolate Museum! Yes, they have a museum of chocolate here. Yes, I believe that that is a sign that I was meant to be in this city. The Barcelona Port is the port that chocolate first crossed through in order to get into Europe. Pretty sweet, huh? I decided that I´m going to be a chocolate entreprenuer because there are just WAYYYY too many different types of choco that I haven´t tried yet. Many of you are probably thinking that I already fall into that category, but I´m thinking it probably needs to be taken globally in order to get the full effect, right? haha I tried this AMAZZZINGGGG drink there called Suzio. It´s like a thick hot chocolate with REAL whip on top and you dunk churros in it. SOOO GOOD. And then I bought a bunch of chocolate because why wouldn´t i? and one of them was this sugar coated orange slice covered in dark chocolate. mmmm. another one had salt on top- kinda weird, but really dang good. Okay, my rant about chocolate is over now. had to get that out. haha
One thing that I´m struggling with is the price of everything here! Food is so dang expensive and to think I have to keep feeding myself until June is a bit scary. I´ve definitely been learning to eat only when I´m hungry and smalllllllllllll portions. Mom, you´d be happy to hear that they have 1 euro stores here. We´ll have to check it out when you visit... haha Another random thing is that I signed up to volunteer in the city once a week playing and tutoring kids... I have to interview still, but it might be a fun experience. I´m also doing this thing called language exchange, where I get together with a spanish native and speak english for half the time and spanish for half the time, helping eachother to improve. I´m kinda nervous for that, but I´ll let you know how it goes...
I should probably stop hogging this computer in the comp lab though and let you guys get on with your busy lives. Thanks for reading and I really do miss you all. This weekend it hit me that I am here until June and won´t be seeing any of your smiling faces until then and it made me sad. 😞 I wish that I could be sharing this experience with you here, especially things like today on the mountain. I know that all of you would have absolutely loved it. Please keep me updated on lives (**cough cough**this means everyone just so you guys are aware... because only a select few of you seem to understand this)... Anyway, I´m heading off to Portugal this weekend, so thoughts and prayers for travel and safety would be great.
Love you all... besos!
Vanessa
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Trinette
non-member comment
I miss you
First to note is my new e-mail address (above) since I don't want to miss out on any of your adventure! Second to note is: why would we bore you with our lives when your living it up for all of us :) I'm so proud and jealous at the same time. What you've experienced in the last month is more than some of us have experienced in our entire lives. So live it up, and keep us updated!!