Welcome to Espana!

So this has been an adventure so far. We left the states to come study abroad on Sunday. We took a stretch limo to JFK and the plane ride wasn't bad. Janna (my roommate) and I had row all to ourselves on the way to Madrid, and even on the connection flight to Barcelona I had a row all to myself again. I was feeling a little tired, but at the same time I was awake and excited. We got to the hotel, showered, and then ate. Janna and I went to a little bar/restaurant near the hotel. The owner was a cute old man who wanted to show us traditional foods. We had torilla de patatas and spinach, and a tapa called a bomba. We loved the tortillas but the bomba was a little too strong for us. We used the excuse that we were in a hurry to go so he wouldn't be offended that we didn't finish the bomba. Then the group for the study abroad went out on our first tour to Montserrat. I've been there before but I enjoyed it much more this time around because I got to see more. I touched the Black Madonna (a statue of Mary in the church) and then enjoyed the view. It's so high up and I'm so afraid of heights but I tried to remain calm and enjoy how beautiful it was. I even sat on the ledge for a little bit. At night Janna and I couldn't find anyone to go out with us because we didn't know what rooms everyone was in, so we went out just us two and tried to find the waterfront. We found some cute little places with street performers and places for tapas. It was all so beautiful. We also got lost a few times, but the map on my blackberry definitely helped us! We finally stopped to eat at a place by the marina that overlooked the marina and we had some good seafood. We walked like 6 miles and we were both wearing heels so our feet were in a lot of pain, so we took a cab back. It wasn't a long night but we got to know the city on our own. It was fun :)

The next day we had an early wake up to go to Figueres to the Dali Museum. It was really really interesting. I had never really looked closely at his work but it's truly amazing and ingenious. We had to rush though because we were on a tight schedule with time, so I didn't get to see the crypt where Dali is, but I did see the jewelry he made. My favorite piece was a heart made of jewels that beats. I don't know what they use to make it beat but it looked so awesome! After that we went to Girona and had lunch. The service at the restaurant was bad. The lady gave us such an attitude but the food was great. Janna and I share/split food so we get to try everything. We wanted to eat typical things so I got "botifarra" and she had steak (it was listed under the "traditional" items on the menu). Then we walked around and went to a beautiful church. After that we came back to the hotel and then went back out at night. We decided to go to La Rambla and we had a big group with us. It was a lot of fun! We were on a mission to find paella. We got caught in the rain for a few minutes and then found a restaurant that was really modern. The prices were great and in the end the food was delicious (and the service was MUCH better). Then we walked down La Rambla and we kept having club promoters coming up to us. We weren't used to it but we had fun talking to a few of them. It started raining after a few minutes when we got down to the waterfront and we kept trying to find cover. We started to head back to the hotel, but ended up getting a little lost and a 20 minute walk turned into a 40 minute walk. We walked through some sketchy areas, but we had a big group so we weren't that scared. When we saw the Arc the Triomf that's by our hotel we felt so relieved to know we were so close to the hotel.

The next day we had a tour to see the architecture of Gaudi which was really beautiful. We visited the Sagrada Familia Basilica, and in the afternoon I went to the beach with Liz, Francis, Aiyahna, Andrew, and Janna. The beach was wonderful - warm water and great weather. I can now say I swam in the Mediterranean! :p There were so many vendors on the beach offering beers, soda, water, massages, henna tattoos, dresses, etc. It was so ridiculous but after a while they stopped asking us if we were interested in anything. We had a club promoter tell us he'd put us on a list for the club called Shoko, and he gave us cards to get in. So at night we went out to dinner in a cute little restaurant where Janna and I shared some tapas (we seem to have a knack for finding good food), and then we headed down to Shoko. The line was pretty long, so we waited 20 minutes to get in. We were pretty mad that we weren't VIP the way the promoter had actually made it sound. We stayed for an hour and left at 1:30. Then we just walked around for a bit and headed back to the hotel. It was alright, can't complain.

The next morning (being yesterday) we came to Madrid! We were so tired for the night before that we really appreciated being able to sleep on the bus ride from Barcelona to Madrid. We arrived at 5 pm and had no tours scheduled. This hotel is pretty nice and it has a great location not too far from the Plaza Mayor. We walked around with our professor while he showed us how to get to the Plaza Mayor and where all the stores are. I think all of us are liking Madrid more than Barcelona. There's just has so much to do and feels like there's a lot less tourists. We walked around in a few of the shops and I was trying to find a new pair of earrings because at some point while sleeping on the bus, one of my earrings fell off and I lost it. Then we came back to the hotel and got ready to go out. We had a group of 9 girls and went to get tapas and sangria at a restaurant that had a special deal going on. It was great and our waiter was awesome! He gave us discount cards for the souvenir shops and he told us he can take us to a place for flamenco for 25 euros which isn't bad because most places are in the high 30s or 40s. We're not sure if we want to go or not though because we don't even know what flamenco place it is. After our tapas, we walked around and had more of the club promoters coming up to us. We went to one bar and then a club called Coco. The bar was crowded and the club was reallyyyyy empty. After a while some italian guys came up to us to talk and it was pretty funny. We left at like 1:30 though because it was so empty. Then we just headed back to the hotel.

Today we went on a panoramic tour of Madrid and then to the Reina Sofia Museum. I'm hoping to go to Parque del Retiro and maybe eat some kebaps. I'm trying to eat as many different foods as I can because I want to get the full experience of the culture. It's been a lot of fun so far and I've taken so many pictures.

I'll try to blog more often rather than waiting like 5 days to do it :p but our internet was horrible at the hotel in Barcelona. Hasta luego!