Good news!!! I'm going to officially register for classes sometime next week AND FINALLY get my financial aid and scholarship money so I can start spending without having any guilt. Can't wait to eat at nice fancy restaurants and buy all the sangria I want and book my mini trips that Vicky and I are planning to take (Paris, London, maybe Ibiza and Rome??) Classes have been okay, still not used to waking up at 6 in the morning every Monday-Thursday, but it's nice that we're done by the afternoon.
Last week, there was a huge festival throughout Barcelona called La Merce. I think it was a festival in honor of Barcelona's patron saint. Anyway, it was the first time since I've been here where I felt "Spanish." Vicky and I had some trouble figuring out what was going on because there are stages set up all around the city and the description of what was going on at each stage were in Catalan! But thanks to Google Translate, we had a good idea of what was going down and where throughout the weekend. We were able to see the Giants Parade, which is similar to what you see on the Macy´s Thanksgiving Day parade with the huge blow up balloons, but instead of seeing balloons, we saw huuuge giants. They were maybe 15-20 feet tall, and a real person would be under it, but because it was probably reallyyy heavy, there would be other people around the giant, ready to switch with the person if they needed a break.
The next day, we saw the Castellers. They were a group of people of all ages who would climb up on top of each other and make "castles." The stronger men would always be at the bottom, then the women would be in the middle, then the teenagers and the little 5 year old kid would climb over everyone else and go to the top. I wish I was that brave when I was 5 years old! Then in the evening, we checked out the Correfoc. But before that, we found this bakery that had really pretty displays so we thought we'd check it out. I'm so glad we did because now, when we're craving for a macaroon fix, this is the place we're going to. They were about 35 cents for one (it goes by weight), which is only like 50 cents!!! Crazy right?! I know back home, macaroons are freaking expensive and they aren't even as good as the ones I had at this place. Definitely going to buy me a box when I get back. Anyone want to put some orders down?? =P So back to he Correfoc. Vicky told me that this thing was pretty dangerous because the brochure advised people to cover their entire bodies, and wear a hate or scarf over their heads, and I just thought, no way can this thing be that dangerous, I'm just going to wear my dress. I should've listened to Vicky (sorry Vicky haha) because this thing was scaryyy but at the same time so much fun because only in Spain would I be able to see people walking down the streets, shooting sparklers at everyone with the beating of louuud dreams for that extra effect. It was just insanity, thousands and thousands of people running around the streets, people cheering and yelling, and in that moment, I wasn't sure how to react. I was excited, but scared as fuck, but also really happy. The happiest I've ever been since being here. I was still feeling a little down with not having classes or money, but I just thought, if nothing was going to work out, and I would have to go home, this weekend alone would have been worth it. I was that happy.
The fun wasn't going to end from there because the fireworks finale to mark the end of the festival was going to be at the Magic Fountains, right by the flat! Vicky and I saw postcards of what it looked like, but we were excited to actually see what it was going to be like in real time. I'm going to say that it was one of the most magical things I have ever seen. The music from the fountains went along with the fireworks and everyone around us had their own little sparklers that they waved throughout the show. I was a little sad that I didn't have my own sparkler, but it was okay because I still really enjoyed it. It was so much better than the 4th of July fireworks and the New Year's Eve fireworks combined! The show lasted about 35 minutes, and we were so glad that we lived only a few minutes walk away because there were tons of people scrambling to get on buses and the metro.
I forgot to mention that while we were hanging out by the pier, we saw some real pick-pocketers in action! I almost had my camera stolen because I just left it sitting right next to me and wasn't really paying much attention to it. But Vicky noticed from behind that some guy was approaching us and looked like he was ready to grab my camera and run, and when she took my camera, she noticed that he turned around and walked away. Scary shit!! He was hanging around the pier and we kept our eye on him. We noticed that he had a partner, and they were acting kind of weird, so we decided to sit somewhere else. As we were walking past them, one of them was talking to two old ladies, asking if they wanted him to take a picture of them, and they said no. Good for them because he would've just taken their camera and make a run for it. But then I would've chased and tackled him down haha!
This past weekend, Vicky and I didn't really get to do anything fun. We knew we were behind with readings and some assignments, so we decided to dedicate the weekend to catch up on all our work. We decided to go to a park and do it because we had already spent all day yesterday at home and I was going nuts. I really enjoyed being out in the open and it was nice seeing families out having picnics and taking their dogs out for walks. It made me miss my little Bear soooo much. I swear, EVERYONE here owns a dog. Everywhere I go, I see little tiny puppies and huuge dogs with their owners and it makes me so sad that I don't have my little guy with me. Anywayyy, the parks here are so beautiful, clean and safe. And there's wifi!! Back home, the closest park I live by is Colina or the one behind the Rite Aid on El Cajon Blvd., and I would NEVER go there to do homework, or read a book or just to hang out. So that's one thing I'll really miss when I go back home.
Later that night, we went to the mall near our flat because there's this really amazing gelato shop I'm really addicted to. My favorite flavor is the strawberry tart. Sounds kind of plain but trust me, it's ohhh soooo goooood. I think it's just vanilla with strawberry glaze and crushed graham crackers or something. Best thing about is that it's only 2.80 euro for 2 scoops which is like $4!! Back home at Chocolat, two scoops costs me like 5 something!! When we got there, I didn't see my flavor so I was really bummed!! So I decided to try chocolate and churros because I saw some lady eat it and I almost drooled, so I just had to have it. It was pure hot melted chocolate in a teacup with 2 churros. They churros here are really different. It's not cinnamon-y at all. It's just fried and sprinkled with some sugar, and not even brown sugar, but it was okay because the chocolate made up for it.
Then on Sunday, we went to the museum near our flat because all museums are free every first Sundays and sometimes every Sunday after 3 p.m. We take advantage of this because we would never pay to go in museums. It was a nice hike up all those steps to the museum, but so worth it because we got some great views of the city. Although our flat isn't the best, it's situated in THE best location because we're so close to everything--bus/metro station, grocery store, bakery, fruit and vegetable shop, restaurants, the mall, police and fire department, everything!
This Thursday, Vicky and I are going out for dinner and drinks with some new friends we made! They're locals so we're soooo excited to get to know them better and hopefully they can show us around the city some more because it's just way too big with too much to see. Even though we've been here for a month, we've only seen maybe half of the city. But we're here until the end of January, so by then, we'll probably have seen everything. Also on Sunday, one of our other classmates (also a local) is going to take us to another town called Montserrat. I google imaged it and it's a really beautiful mountain city so I cannot wait to see it with my own eyes!! Things are getting a little better here...all we have to do now is wait until next week when we can finally register for our classes and hooope and prayyy to the heavens above that we get our financial aid and scholarship money. And then everything will be perfect!
No comments:
Post a Comment