3° C

At the start of the week, I went exploring in Les Corts to search for the charming fountains and gardens I had heard about.  I was running out of time to discover the neighborhood's charm, since the homestay part of the trip finished at the end of January.  On Sunday night, we found the gardens, but they were closed.  However, we stumbled upon this pretty awesome dragon-guarded gate, designed by Gaudí.

Monday morning I actually made it to the gardens, specifically the ones situated around el Palacio Real de Pedralbes.  Apparently, the palace belonged to the royal family and King Alfonso XII before Franco took over.

Core classes at the UB also started this week.  These classes are taught by UB professors, but the classes consist only of EAP/Univ. of Illinois students.  I am thinking of taking a Contemporary Spanish Art class and either a Contemporary Spanish Film class or a class about Don Quijote.  The Art teacher is this adorable elderly man who reminds me of a mix of Gandalf and Dumbledore, white beard and all.  I am also signed up for an intro. to Catalán class, which meets for one month from 5-7 p.m.  I think it will be useful for understanding Barcelona better, both in terms of practicality (reading street signs, menus) and in terms of the culture (catching terms people throw out in the streets, becoming more integrated in Catalonia, etc).  Plus, the fact that I will be done with one class in March is pretty exciting.

On Tuesday, we made the trip to IKEA (about 20 min. away from the University by bus/train) to buy apartment essentials.  I bought sheets and a nice purple bath towel.  On Tuesday night, my señora was very nice and drove my suitcases and me to my new piso.  I dropped them off, said hi to my Peruvian roommate, met my Barcelonian roommate, learned that my Italian roommate is currently in Italy, and then returned to my homestay for my last night in Les Corts.  After dinner, I showed my señora pictures of my family, and she showed me pictures/videos of hers.  I will definitely miss her, and I hope we can grab coffee or lunch before I leave Barcelona!

Wednesday, I left my homestay, went to class, and returned to my new piso.  Of course I had packed my umbrella in my moving frenzy and this was the first day it rained since I got to Barcelona.  I am renting from an Italian lady who is an interior designer (I am actually taking her room because she had to go back to Italy), and her friend, a Portuguese artist, painted the walls of the bedroom.

I love it!  All the colors give the room a very upbeat, happy vibe, and my blue IKEA sheets actually match the blue streaks on the walls.  I still couldn't find my umbrella at night (I would later discover I had it all along...at the bottom of my backpack pocket), but one of my roommate's girlfriends was really sweet and 1) let me borrow her umbrella and 2) directed me towards the closest supermarket, literally around the corner.

Let's see...on Thursday, Jackie and I decided to be adventurous and order something spontaneous off of a tapas menu.  Never again.  We asked the waiter what things were, and he said he didn't know - this was probably not a good sign.  Anyways, I pointed at a random dish, called "berberechos."  Jackie described them perfectly - they looked like the poor unfortunate souls stuck in Ursula's garden in The Little Mermaid.  They tasted like poor unfortunate souls as well...I chewed and swallowed one, and Jackie chewed one and removed it from her mouth..haha.

Anyways, we also ordered some sort of pita wrap, and that was delicious.  

That night, Heidy and I made pasta - my first dinner at my new apartment!  I added in some basil...which  I mistook for spinach when I bought it.

TODAY (Friday).  I had to be at school at 8:45 a.m. to leave for a field trip to el Monasterio de Poblet, founded in 1151 by Cistercian monks from France on lands conquered from by the Moors (thanks Wikipedia!).  It was so cold.  So cold that some of the water in one of the fountains had frozen over to form icicles.  We got bread with tomato and meat for breakfast, walked around the monastery with our Art professor guiding the way, and returned to the same restaurant for a delicious lunch.  The appetizer was very messy - charred/grilled leeks that had to be peeled and then dipped in red sauce, and red wine in a porron that you drink by holding it up above and funneling it into your mouth.  Good thing we got bibs!  The main course was soup and then a lot of meat, followed by creme brulee and coffee.

   

Another successful week! :)