Bear with me - this is a longer post because I was too tired to blog last night. I got back home at 1 am. Read below for details!
WEDNESDAY
A lazy afternooon
Since I no longer have Spanish language classes, I had no class today. Also, the area studies classes (my 2 econ classes and Mediterranean Oceanography class) start on Thursday.
I woke up a little bit groggy, I think I'm still adjusting to the schedule here. I find that I have a really hard time falling asleep. I think it may be because its so hot here at nights and our senora has a fan (but I feel bad using it since electricity is so expensive).
Be A Gourmet Tour
At 3:30 pm, Bianca and I met other IES students for a "Be A Gourmet" Tour. This is one of the tours Santa Clara paid for (worth about 16 Euros), so that was nice!
I thought this was a tour of La Boqueria (a large public market off Las Ramblas in Barcelona) and opportunity to sample food. But , boy was I wrong! First, we walked around the world-famous La Boqueria. Think of La Boqueria as a super big and diverse Farmers' Market but packed with locals and tourists. I asked my homestay mom and she explained that it's mostly a tourist destination (thus the expensive prices) but there are some rare/unique foods to find here. As a foodie, I was in absolute heaven because I was drooling over the gourmet chocolates, ripe fruit, freshly squeezed juices, and mouth watering jamon (even as a wanna be vegetarian, the smell of ham was enticing!) Check out the photos below!
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| La Boqueria Sign |
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| Yummy Chocolates... |
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| Freshly squeezed juices...delish! |
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| Nuts! |
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| My lovely friend Alysse enjoying her jugo natural |
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| Fresh fruit...mmm |
Dinner with RA
For Dinner, we met up with our Resident Advisor (RA), who is the intermediary between our housing assignments (either homestay or apartment) and IES. So, if we have any problems with our homestay, we go to him first then IES if it's a bigger problem. Our RA is named Alberto and he organized a group dinner for us at a restaurant called Tasca i Vins. For about 15 euros per person (and 32 person dinner!), we had a variety of courses served to us. It was very good, not my favorite, but I figured it was a good opportunity to meet other students (not from Santa Clara) and discover a new part of town. However, because we started eating dinner at 10:30 pm and left at 11:30ish pm, Bianca and I missed the metro home. So, from Placa Catalunya, we learned how to take the Night bus. We got home around 1 am, got into our jammies, and went straight to bed!
THURSDAY
Back to school!
Today, was my first *official* day of area studies class with IES. My first class is European Regional Economies and is from 12:25 pm to 1:55 pm. My professor is named Nestor Duch and he was born and raised in Mexico, but to a Catalan family. He later on moved to Spain to pursue his masters and doctorate. It sounds like a really great class - we'll be learning about how certain regions within the EU have emerged as important economic and political actors, especially as Europe forges an increasingly closer union. We got out 20 minutes early, so I caught up with my friend Alysse and chatted about our plans for Friday.
My first Tortilla de Patata!
Since I was feeling really tired and not up for hunting for lunch, I went back home and had a DELICIOUS tortilla de patata (potato and egg omelette), sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, vinegar, and a pinch of salt, and strawberry flavored Greek yogurt. It was scrumptious delicious (but then again, I haven't had a bad meal at all while I've been here)! Fortunately, I took a picture of my meal before I ate it. I must ask senora for the recipe! As soon as I get it, I'll post it on this blog for readers who are adventurous cooks!
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| Tortilla de Patata, Tomatoes, and greek yogurt! |
At 3:15, I packed my bags and was on the metro for my afternoon class: Mediterranean Oceanography. This class will fulfill my Natural Science requirement and it sounds really interesting! During the first part of the course, we'll be learning about Mediterranean eco-systems then in the second part, learn about the impact human activity has on those eco-systems. I'm excited for our next class - we'll be visiting the Aquarium! I feel like I'm 8 years old all over again - yay for field trips!
A Little Chocolate Fix...
The past two days, I've felt like my energy level has been very low. So, what better way to pump it up with a dose of chocolate! After class, I headed down Las Ramblas to an old restaurant called La Granja and bought a Cacaolat (or chocolate milk from Barcelona). I drank it too quickly to take a picture, but here's one I found off the internet. It was absolutely delicious! Let's just say I'll be making a few more trips to buy these, especially when I need a little study break.
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| Cacaolat |
Another delicious dinner
For dinner, Pilar (Isabel's friend) prepared for us a cold lentil salad, pan amb tomaquet, and tortilla de patata. It was scrumptious! Here's a picture:
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| Pilar's Lentil Salad with tomatoes, tuna, and olives! |
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