Post for July 2, 2012

Yesterday was such an amazing day! It all started with a morning talk during breakfast with my host family. I asked them what they recommended I should go out and do because I pretty much had a free day. My host mom generously sat down to make a list of things to go out and see in Barcelona when she remembered that the first Sunday of every month is when most museums have free admission to everyone who goes. I made a few calls and less than two hours later Yianni, Lauren, Arti, Michelle, Kelli, and I were meeting up near the Cosmo Caixa museum of science. Others met up with us later because we spent like three and a half hours there looking at all the exhibits and animals. I definitely had a great time, but that was only the beginning to the “amazing day”. After the visit to the museum most of us were hungry so we went back to Michelle, and Arti’s apartment to get some food and rest a little bit before going out again for Spain’s soccer game against Italy. It was the final game for the Euro Cup between Italy and Spain, and our plan was to go to a sports bar and watch it with several other people from our program. We had a very difficult time finding a place where we’d all fit to watch the game and we even missed a part of it but eventually we found one with two floors and huge projector screens where everyone could watch the game. It was an incredibly fun game to watch because Spain won four to zero against Italy and everyone went nuts after every goal. After the game we went outside into this small plaza filled with cheering people singing and waving flags everywhere. Some people were jumping in and climbing on the fountain in the center and it looked like so much fun that we decided to join in. As we continued to move on to “Las Ramblas” (Barcelona’s main streets) we encountered even bigger masses of people climbing everything in sight and making lots of noise. Everyone was celebrating Spain’s victory. After a while of watching all of that craziness we decided to go into a bar to get a few drinks and “dance” but the place was quite lonely when we first arrived. Eventually there were a few other groups that we tried to mingle with. This was one of my favorite parts of the night because I met people from Australia, Holland, Switzerland, Mexico, and southern Spain. I got to practice some French and have a good time with random people who’s names I do not remember already. We also had quite the adventure trying to find our ways back home after leaving the bar and tried to watch over a few of the girls with us who had more to drink than they could handle.

I think I finally made it back home around four in the morning and got a few hours of sleep before waking up this morning at 8:30am and leaving for my first day of school here at 9am. I made it through the whole day without ever falling asleep! It was an easy day anyways since we just went over the syllabus and introduced ourselves to the professors. After school I went back home and rested for a little bit and then went to the beach with Christal. I swam in the ocean for a bit while Christal and Taylor laid in the sun. Now I’m home and ready for dinner. I also hope to meet my new host brother who I may be sharing a room with. He arrived yesterday and is temporarily living in the other spare room but eventually there will be two girls coming from India who will be living in that room. I can’t wait to meet them.

Sincerely,

Jose

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson