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.