Stressful Monday

Hi Everyone,
I updated the previous post about my first weekend in Barcelona with the video (forgot to upload it and the correct link for the photos)

For more pictures, please check out my Barcelona 2011 Album. 

Today has been a very long and stressful day for me. Hopefully the last, if not, one of few during my stay here in Barcelona.

I had a nightmare last night and couldn't go to bed after 3:30 am, so I've been awake since then. Then, I had to sit in on the Advanced Business Spanish class I was put in and it was terribly tedious and boring. This class is obviously for students who Spanish is their second language and have a very limited vocabulary. But I had to sit through it to make sure it was below my level. Then, I waited around in the lobby area of IES and walked around the city with some friends before my appointment at 2 with the Director of Academics.  We walked around La Ribera District and El Born Disrict (where I went to previously on my scavenger hunt). Here are some great pics of the Santa Maria del Mar church, which is absolutely stunning!

Afterwards, this is where the trouble started, I was on my way back to IES Center for my appointment at 2 pm when my sandal broke! I could no longer walk without looking as if I was limping. It happened to break right in front of a shoe store. I walked in and to my dismay, they had a) overpriced shoes and b) ugly shoes and c) shoes not in my size. So I hobbled over another block with my broken sandal till I found another store. I had 10 minutes before the appointment, grabbed a pair of leather moccassins on sale, and walked out of the store with them. They seemed comfortable at first then I felt as if my feet were being squeezed very tightly and rubbing against the side of the shoe. Before I knew it, I got blisters and my feet were swollen.  So, I got the wrong size. I went back to see if I could exchange it but they said that since I'd walked outside with it, I couldn't return it. I'll try cleaning it up and seeing if I can exchange it or something tomorrow.

I went to IES for my meeting and met with the wrong Maria. I was told by another woman at the Center to ask for Maria (but I did not know or was informed that there were 2 Marias!) The first Maria referred me to another woman named Jane, then Jane referred me to the original Maria, but the original Maria wasn't available, so I spoke with a Spanish professor.  I wont' go into the dirty details because its complicated but essentially a ) I can't drop the Spanish class unless Santa Clara says I can (so an advisor has to contact them directly) and b) even when I do drop the Spanish class, I have to enroll in a Spanish class (the only options left are silly ones like "history of the gypsies") and c) the one class I would get credit for in Santa Clara is in English.

It's been a very long and stressful day (I swear my blood pressure rose a ton from all this stress and I loss my appetite at dinner). I hope I can get this class thing sorted out. It's stressful enough being in a new country and dealing with jetlag, but now this?!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day...