The Story So Far...

Hello! Its Saturday afternoon here in beautiful Barcelona and I'm sick. Go figure, lol. Things have been so busy and so fun so far that i havnt gotten a chance to start this yet so i thought now would be the perfect time.

first of all, some background on why im here-
summer school. kinda. there is a group of 15 of us including the professor and his wife and daughter. it is threw the political science department and everyone is taking basic governement 1 and 2. i have already taken those classes of course since that is my major but i still wanted to come so i talked to the prof and he said that i could do 2 independent studies instead. each one was a 25 page research paper. 25 pages. a lot. but i opted for that cause hey, its a discounted trip to spain for 5 weeks, cant really pass that up. so i did one on the European Union which came to 29 pages and the other on the supreme court that came to 34 pages. a lot. i got them both done before i came casue i know myself well enough that i wouldnt do them once i got here and if i did theyd be 1000 times harder. turns out im the only one to ever have accompliched that in all the years hes done this trip. pat on the back for me. so like i said, 5 weeks (july 12 - aug 13), in barcelona, with nothing to do but explore. : )

Sunday: woke up early, got ready and waited for Gabe to take me to the airport. He was a bit late but nothing major, i got there in time and started to wait. we flew to newark first. i swear, ive never been on a flight with so many screaming babies. we got to newark and tina, phillip and i ventured off to eat. we notices that on the screen our gate had changed to literally the farthest away it could get so we walked aaaaallllllll the way over there just to find out that the screen was wrong and we have to walk all the way back. lame. but it did kill some time durring our 3.5 hour layover and we got to know eachother so i guess it was ok. we took the loooong flight over to barcelona and sort of slept. they have these new things on contenintal that show you exactally where you are durrning the flight, how far youve come, how much longer to have to get there, the temp outside the plane, all sorts of cool stuff. its a channel on the touch screen tv on the ack on the seat infront of you, so no longer do you have to watch the basic movie picked for everyone, no you can watch anymoive you like in thier catalouge of about 50. there are also tv shows to watch and games to play. i was pretty impressed. technoligy has gotten amazing.

Monday: 15 hours of travel later it was 2am in austin and 9 am in barcelona and we were in the airport. when we landed the professor asked if anyone wanted to ride to the university of barcelona where we were staying with his wife in a cab. no one said anything so i jumped on that. turned out to be a great move on my part becasue they had to take like 3 different trains to get here (its about 35 mins from downtown in a car) and ended up going the worng way on 1 and missing another, all while carrying all of their luggage. it took them almost 3 hours to get here. we all rested and unpacked for a bit after that. we are staying in the dorms at the universtiy and they are very nice. kitchen, bedroom for 2, desks, bathroom and closets. and a maid service every monday. nice. at 6 we all took the train 2 stops to el campo, which is pretty much just like walmart. it has everything. we all got a few things and then came back. i got my favorite eropean ice cream bars (magnums), my favorite european cookies (petit ecolier) and some other little things but not my favorite european beer (desperados) bcasue apparently they dont sell it in spain. looks like im gonna have to hop the border to france andd by a few cases hahaha. the walk back from our train stop to our dorm is probably 3/4 of a mile threw woods and hills so carrying grocerys wasnt too fun. some of the group wanted to go into town and go to a club the first night and i figured why not. they took a long time to get ready so we missed the last train and had to take the bus into town. we had a lot of time to kill so we went to the little bar thats near our dorm on campus and got some beerrs to go and then waited. once the bus came and we took the almost 45 mins ride down to the placa catalunya (the city center pretty much) and headed down la rambla which is a big street with a walkway down the middle where people try to sell you stuff and or rob you. we got to a club, dance, met some italian boys who bought us drinks, and then left. one person got a bit too drunk so i got a cab and we took her back, it was 50 euros, i paid it all. oh well. we got back about 5 am.

Tuesday: first day of class for everyone. i had to come for the first few minutes while he talked about so basic stuff about the trip then i got to leave and come and go back to sleep. i woke up a little later with a migraine, took some stuff and went back to sleep and pretty much slept the whole day. that night we went to dinner down on la rambla at this really really amazing italian place. i had a pizza and some of my friends little bread and dipping sauce stuff. everything was great. then we just wondered down the street looking for a bar, not a club, to try to have a little more of a chill night. no one could agree on where to go so we just walked around. we saw this girl like running and screaming and this guy chasing after her. then suddenly he just straight up tackeled her. turns out she had pick-pocketed him. he got his money back and then we talked to him and he became our friend and followed us around. he was from manchester. we never found a place to go so we decided to turn around and go catch the bus back. the bus comes at :05 after. it was about 2:40 so we hurried back and waited. in the worng spot. we missed the 3:05 and couldnt figure out where our bus came to pick us up becasue everyone we asked said something different. so again, cab. this time it was only 30 euros (from the same place at the night before when it was 50?) and i paid again and we all came back. it was about 4:30am.

Wednesday: i went sightseeing with my roomate and 2 others pretty much all afternoon after they got out of class. we went to la pedrera, one of gaudi's bulidings. it was beautiful. the roof was covered with scluptures and was just amazing. it had origionally been built as an apartment complex so we got to tour and apartement. then we walked along and i found my shopping area! valentino, channel, d&g, LV, everything. cant wait to go back and wonder around. then we went to another gaudi building but didnt go inside. saving that for later. we came back to the dorm and rested for a bit, and then just went to the cafe/bar thats right by our dorm for dinner. my throat started to hurt when we got back so i just went to bed.

Thursday: i woke up and felt horrible. my throat, my head, my nose, everything, horrible. i had planned to go to sant cugat, a high class neighboorhood near by where apparently most of the FC barcelona players live to have lunch and walk around then head into town to go shopping but i was feeling too yucky. my roomate came back and was nice enough to go get me some halls with vC in them and that seemed to help for a bit. everyone was talking about going to the icebar that night. its a bar on the beach that is made completely out of ice. they give you coats and gloves when you get there. seems fun but i looked online and it wsa 15 euros for 45 misn inside and wed need a reservation casue there was over 5 going. that plus hanging out in 17 degree weather and not feeling well, i opted out. appaerently so did everyone else. well save it for later. me and 3 others decided to go back to that amazing italian place for dinner and then to go see the magic fountian. its a fountian that every night, every half hour it puts on a show thats has lights and music. it was massive and beautiful and it kinda took your breathe away. im definately going back. by the time we got back i wasnt feeling too hot so i just went to bed.

Friday: i woke up and felt like dirt but our professor got us a 2 day pass for those double decker bus tours. we decided to take the intown route and see other parts of the city that we havnt ventured to yet. barcelona is beautiful. we stoped at the coast and got out and went to the aquarium. it was so fun, i love aquariums. they had the biggest and best tunnle thing, you know when you walk threw and the water is alla round you and the fish and sharks siwm above you. super cool. then i got my first look at the mediterranean which is the most beautiful water ive ever seen. i cant wait to get in it. we got back on the bus and finished the tour and then headed back. on the way back on the train i started to feel really bad. i could tell i had a fever and i was shaking the whole time. there is a pharmacy right by our stop so i went in there and talked to the lady and she gave me some stuff you put in water and drink. i just came back and went to sleep. i felt awful. that was the end of my day.

Saturday: today. im just here by myself. everyone went out for day 2 of the bus tour up to tibidabo and parc guell. tibidabo is the highest point in the whole city and apparently the view is amazing, ill have to see it later. i opted to stay in today and just focus on getting better. weve got over 4 more weeks left and i dont even have class to go to so ive got plently of time to see stuff. i'm going to go down the the grocery store that is right by my dorm and get a few things here in a bit when they re-open from siesta at 6. oh another thing i forgot to say is that every cultural thing we do that we have to pay for, if we give our reciepts to our professor, the school pays us back. amazing? yes. sorry texas state but you have no idea how much im going to take advantage of that. i tink ill just stay in again tonight and get 100% so this is it for today. ill try my best to keep up with this day by day now. adios!