The One With Patrick's Visit

This weekend has been pretty great with Patrick visiting for a few days, considering it is the only time all year we will see each other. It just so happened to work out perfectly that he had a free weekend before having to return to the cold and miserable Champaign. We went and saw so many great places this weekend including Park Guell, Camp Nou, Barceloneta, the Olympic Stadium, Montjuic, and the club Opium. Patrick's friend that also lives here in Catalonia joined us and helped show us the city through the eyes of a local which was awesome.

The Weekend In Pictures

The One With La Rambla

The first week in Barcelona has come to an end. I can't believe that it has only been a little over a week so far because it feels like I left a month ago. Getting ourselves situated has been a big stress relief. We now have an apartment, working cell phones, and know how to use the train system.

This semester I will be living with three girls, which will be quite interesting. One is from Canada which is really cool, one is from University of Minnesota, and the other is from Illinois as well. I am hoping that they will be able to improve my sense of style this semester in addition to helping me learn how to cook and dance. Speaking of cooking, we had a family dinner with our friends in the apartment above us where we all made tacos.

We did some shopping these last few days and since our apartment on La Rambla is right in the middle of everything, we have a lot of options close by. The Apple Store of Barcelona is actually right next to us which is a pretty awesome store. The largest department store in Barcelona called Corte Inglés is also right near us and it has every single thing you can think of, we even went food shopping there. Two things that I wanted to get so far were a FC Barcelona Messi jersey and a FC Barcelona flag. After exploring a bunch of local shops, I had fun negotiating prices in Spanish with each of the shop owners and was able to get a really good deal on both.

Freshly made candy at La Boqueria

There is also a great fresh food market right off our street called La Boqueria. It was really fun walking through it looking at all of the local fresh food options. Last night we went out for tapas and to a couple bars that were a lot of fun as well. We did not get home until after 4am again which still takes some getting used to. Late at night you can't walk 25 feet without being approached by someone selling beer on the street. Today we went to the Pablo Picasso Museum which was great to see as well. It actually houses the most complete collection of Pablo Picasso's works. All in all it was a pretty great week.

The One With The Apartment

It finally happened, we found our apartment for the semester! After a few days of searching all over Barcelona for the perfect apartment, we were able to find a great one. Our apartment is in the center of the center of the f***ing center according to our realtor. We live right off of La Rambla in downtown Barcelona right next to Plaza Catalunya, which is the heart of Barcelona. We are walking distance from nearly everything in Barcelona. The funny thing is that I will actually be paying more for my apartment next year in Champaign than for this one in the heart of Barcelona.

Olympic Stadium - Host site of the 1992 Olympic Games

After classes this week we have had a different exchange student event each day. Yesterday we got to take a free bus tour all over the city of Barcelona. It was pretty helpful in trying to learn the city and where everything is situated geographically. It was the first time that we were able to see some of the great museums, parks, views, and tourist attractions.

For dinner last night we went to a restaurant called Cien Monteditos based off of the fact that they have 100 different little sandwiches on their menu. Every Sunday and Wednesday every item on the menu is only one euro. That even includes the giant mugs of cervesa and sangria. Pretty cool place overall.





Here are pictures of our apartment from Altiro 2000. They are a great agency that I would highly recommend if you are a student looking for an apartment in Barcelona.

Here is my Bedroom:

Address: 

Bonsucces 10, Principal 2a

Barcelona, Spain 08001

The One With Shoko

These McDonalds are high class

It is now the third full day here in Barcelona. Last night we went to McDonalds for dinner to see what it was like. It was definitely a lot more expensive than in the United States but it also gives the appearance of being a higher quality establishment. People that are decently wealthy still eat at McDonalds it seems like. The menu also had some slight variations but for the most part it was pretty similar. One thing that I dislike about all the restaurants so far is that you have to pay for water.

We also went out for the first time last night and it was quite the experience. We started off at a bar that was pretty nice. The drinks are super expensive here though. A mixed drink was $9.00, which made us realize even more the importance of pregaming a good amount. After the bar we went to our first club of the semester called Shoko. It was right on the beach which was really cool. You could step outside of the bar and walk right onto the sand. On the beach there are guys walking around with cases of beer for sale. Since the drinks in the club are so expensive a lot of the younger crowd will go out and haggle for beer. We met some local students as well that were really cool and showed us around. I have really enjoyed attempting to speak Spanish so far. It has been a struggle but I feel like I have learned a lot already in just a couple of days. We ended up getting back to our hostel at 4:30am but it did not even feel that late. However we did end up sleeping past 1pm today. These Barcelona party nights are really going to mess with your sleep schedule.

Thus far we are still looking for an apartment. The search has not been easy but it has definitely gotten better. Living in a hostel is not the most fun, especially when we are in a room smaller than a dorm room and there are 6 people living in it with all of our luggage. We are hoping to move in to an apartment in the next few days.

The Pilot

And today it all begins and seemingly does not end. I have now been up for about 36 straight hours and I am definitely feeling it. Probably not the best idea for someone that is attempting to recover from mono...

The flight was not as bad as I thought it would be. We managed to get from New York to Barcelona in approximately 6 hours. Tried to sleep during the overnight flight but I had no success. Once we got off the plane in Barcelona getting through customs was a very simply process. We just had to show our VISA and we were on our way. Getting five of us into one van with our baggage was quite the puzzle however. Our driver somehow managed to squeeze us all in though and we were on our way.

Our hostel that we are staying at is called the Sant Jordi Alberg. It was not what I was expecting at all because it was completely hidden in the middle of the city. Also an observation that I had was that the elevators here are much much smaller than in the United States.

We spent the first day walking all around Barcelona. I am not quite sure how many miles we walked but it was definitely a very high number. Today we attempted to find an apartment for the semester and had moderate success. We found two options that we are putting on hold for the weekend in hopes of finding something else even better. This process really is not as easy as it seems. We have spoken with multiple agencies and have sifted through a ton of different options. On a side note, I thought more people would speak English here. Most people do not, but it has made it even more of a challenge.

We went to one shop looking for sim cards for our phones and in the process had a great conversation with the two workers. They did not really speak English and likewise us with Spanish which made it quite entertaining. There was a lot of Spanglish going on which was pretty funny as well. It is obvious that we are not strong Spanish speakers yet.

For dinner we went to an awesome restaurant called Tapa Tapa. Together we shared different types of tapas and most of them were delicious. I specifically enjoyed the fried shrimp, patatas bravas, and the spanish ham. We also got a pitcher of Sangria which was pretty good as well. After walking around some more and getting some churros con chocolate we decided to call it a night. I don't think any of us could stay awake any longer.