Week of March 17-20

Hola!

Just a quick update about my week!

Monday:
     Since Monday was St. Patrick's Day so many people traveled to Dublin for the weekend.  When I had my first class at 11:00am, there were only 11 people in my class out of 24!  Most people didn't come back until Tuesday morning because they wanted to spend the day in Ireland celebrating.  Most of my teachers knew this and were flexible with all the people missing the classes (even though they did receive absences for not being there).  In Barcelona history class, we watched a short video about Antoni Gaudi and his impact on the industrial revolution in Barcelona.  After, I walked to the other building where my Spanish class is where there were only 9 people in that class! We were supposed to have an exam that day but she changed it to the previous Wednesday because she knew most people weren't going to be there.  When my class was over at 2:15, I had 2 hours until my next class at 4:15.  I walked to my favorite cafe called Pudding, the place with the giant mushrooms on the walls.  As per usual, I ordered a cafe con leche and my favorite quiche.  I'm hoping that by the time the semester ends the guy working there knows my order and recognizes me!  While sitting at the front of the cafe near the open windows so I could have some fresh air, I got some homework done for the week.  I was sad when I had to go to my Social Media class because I love sitting in Pudding.  In my class, we talked about the Digital Identity (you can look at my Storify blog to see about it).  Finally, I was able to go home.
     Later that night, we went to one of our favorite bars, George Payne's for St. Patrick's Day.  It is an Irish bar and they had the entire place decorated with green, white and orange balloons.  They were also giving out Guinness hats and serving green beer! Bridget is 100% Irish so she loved this holiday! Bridget, Alyssa and I had such a great night that we ended up staying at the bar until it closed at 2:30am.  We were very silly when we got home and by accident found our way to the top floor of our apartment building and we thought we could use our key to get up on the roof! It obviously didn't work and we totally laughed about it the next morning when we woke up.

Tuesday:
     Tuesdays are usually my sleep in, get work done and then go to my volunteering day and this Tuesday was no exception.  I slept in a little bit, made myself scrambled eggs with ham and toast, made a coffee (which is gross by the way, it like dissolves in water... ew) and sat down at our dining room table to attempt to get work done.  As usual, I was distracted by my roommates (hehe) so I didn't get that much done by the time I had to leave at 4:30 to go to my volunteer after school program.
     This week at my volunteer, I had to start to take pictures and videos of the kids in order to make my final video for my class.  I would post some of the pictures on here but because of the rules from the school I'm not allowed to publicize them.  This week, the kids' theme was spring or "la primavera." The kids read books, played with blocks and dolls and the boys threw the blocks at each other and jumped on each other until we broke off into smaller groups to read books and sing songs.  They are all so cute and I'm starting to have my little favorites in the group.  This week, there was a new boy who joined our group, I think his name was Junior or something (I'm probably very wrong).  He was so funny and sweet and fit right in.  At 7pm, I left feeling very tired because the kids had been very rowdy that day!

Wednesday:
     On Wednesday for my Spanish class, we had a field trip to Els Encants which was a 3 story outdoor flea market! It was so cool! We had to fill out a sheet as an assignment but I finished pretty early and just walked around.  They had everything from cheap jewelry, to books, clothes, power tools to kitchen sinks (literally).  It was so much fun to walk around there that I definitely want to go back and explore more!  I think I could spend hours there.
     After my field trip was over, I met Bridget for our weekly girlfriend date at Pudding (because where else would we go?).  We ordered iced teas, a salad and quiche and sat and talked like we do every week.  We are currently obsessed with the missing Malaysia flight (we look at CNN all the time for updates and even have our own theories about what happened to it) and that along with other random funny things always comes up in conversation.  I told her about the flea market where I had just come from so instead of sitting in a cafe next week we are going to go there and explore!
     After finishing my classes for the day, I came home and we decided to go to Sutton that night.  We like to go there on Wednesdays because that is one of the most popular days for that club.  We drank our 1.29 Euro favorite bottles of wine before leaving and had a great time while we were there.  There was dancing, confetti thrown around, music and everyone was having a great time.  I like that club because they play more songs that you can sing along to than the house music that other clubs play. While I was there, I ran into my friend who I went to elementary through high school with who is also in my program but I never see.  It is always fun to see a familiar face.  Bridget, Alyssa and I left the club around 4am and went straight to sleep when we got home because we had class in the morning!

(Quick shout out to Mason since it was his 21st birthday!! :) )

Thursday
     Today I only had my one class which is my International Service Learning class (my volunteer classroom time).  We watched past movies people had made about their volunteer experience in order to better prepare us for what our teacher is looking for.  I have a lot of work to do coming up for it!! After my class was finished, I had planned to walked around a little but it turned cloudy and chilly and decided to head back to my apartment to make mac and cheese (thanks Mommy and Freddy!) and I by accident fell asleep on the couch for a little bit.  My roommates came home and we made dinner together and watched Lilo and Stitch while we ate dinner.  I forgot how cute and funny that movie is!

I am currently sitting in my bed about to watch another episode of Survivor.  We didn't go out tonight because we have to be at the train station at 8am tomorrow for our weekend trip to Madrid! We are going with CEA so they are paying for the hotel and transportation which is really nice! Be sure to look at my blog by Monday to see how my weekend was! Until then...

Besos!

Week of March 10-13

Hola!

I decided I'm gonna try and be better about writing what I do during the week (it's actually not that much with school and everything).  Even though my weekdays sometimes aren't that interesting, it is going to be stuff I want to remember so I'm gonna post about it! Enjoy!

Monday:
     Nothing.  I went to class in the morning, first Barcelona Past and Present then my Spanish class.  I had a 2 hours break until my next class so I caved and went to Starbucks (it's literally right below where my school is so it's pretty convenient but not for my wallet!).  In my social media class, we had a guest speaker, Marta Alonso, who is the inventor of Instagramers Barcelona.  If you want all the information on her, you can check out my Storify blog.  She was actually very interesting to listen to and I learned a lot about her, her company and how successful she has become after thinking of a small idea.  After class, I went back to my apartment and made by typical dinner of chicken pasta (usually tortellini) and a salad.  After trying to do homework and attempting to Skype (screw you wifi), I went to bed.

Tuesday:
     Usually on Tuesdays I don't have any classes except for my volunteer time from 5-7pm.  Today, I had to meet with my teacher for my volunteer class to talk to her about my papers I've written for her. She told me I was doing a great job so I was happy! Then I had to meet with a group to make a presentation for my Barcelona class.  He had told us we could redo it because we didn't get a great grade the first time so we did a better job.  After going home for a few minutes to eat a quick lunch, I went to my volunteering after school program.
     Tuesday at my volunteer placement was one of my favorite days there.  When I first walked in, one of my favorite little girls, Nerea, introduced me to one of her friends! They are finally starting to recognize my face and remember my name.  They get so excited when I walk through the door. But sometimes I feel like I'm not contributing enough to the kids being there because they have such a set schedule in place.  Every Tuesday when I'm there, the 3 year old's instructor reads them a book that goes along with the theme for the week.  I usually just sit there and listen because they speak Catalan so I don't understand.  This week, she went to the library and got me a book in English to read to the kids and teach them animals in English!  It was so cute listening to them try to say the English words.  The first animal that came up in the book was a pig (since the book was about a farm) and every animal after that was a pig too since it was the only thing they could remember! It was so cute and I finally felt like I belonged there.
     When I got back to my apartment later, we decided to go to dinner at a new restaurant we had heard about called La Flauta.  It was tapas and we hadn't had tapas in a while.  It was really easy to get to and some of the best tapas I've had in Barcelona.  We got 2 orders of patatas bravas, calamari, little ham and mozzarella sandwiches and some potato and sunny side egg dish.  They were all so good and a very reasonable price! We have big plans to go back there.

Sandwiches

Calamari

Patatas Bravas

Potato and Eggs

Wednesday:

     My Wednesdays are the same except in between my classes during my 2 hour break, Bridget and I have a little lunch date! She comes from her volunteering placement and meets me after my class and we have lunch and coffee somewhere.  We try to go to a new place every week.  We've been to George Payne's for burgers and beer, Pudding (which has turned out to be one of my favorite little cafes, they have mushrooms all over the walls! It looks like it should be in Alice and Wonderland) and this week we went to one of the places she has discovered: Molika Cafe.  

     While Bridget and I were walking there, we walked past all the paparazzi outside a restaurant (sadly, no they weren't looking for me).  We asked them who it was they were waiting for and it ended up being the President of Manchester City, the famous soccer team.  They were in town to play FC Barcelona that night in the Championships Cup.  It was cool to see a local celebrity!

Restaurant he was at

When we got there, we sat inside and talked and had cafe con leche (our favorite), a sandwich and a chocolate croissant for desert.   It's so fun to sit and talk at a new place every week! I love our little dates.  While sitting there, we met a nice French man who is doing work in Barcelona.  He told us he had lived right around the corner from the cafe while he lived he full time.  He told us about his company that he works for Lole, which is an up and coming women's work out apparel.  His last name ended up being Cohen so we laughed at the coincidence.  He gave us some pointers about what do to around Barcelona (we actually had done a lot of what he told us so we felt accomplished) and after talking to him for a while, we got his business card and I headed back to class.

Thursday:

     Thursday was pretty boring.  I woke up, went to my International Service Learning class from 12:45-2:15 and then came back to the apartment.  Every other Thursday, our cleaning lady comes to our apartment so it is always nice to come home to a nice and clean apartment.  I took a nap, skyped then made dinner.  We decided to go to a bar that night, L'Ovella Negra, one of our favorites.  We got ready and headed out around 11:30.  We drank beers while we were there and hung out and had a really fun time.  We got back around 2:30 and went to bed.  

Overall, it was a great week! We have big plans ahead for the weekend, so stay tuned for more blog posts!

Besos!