Adventure the First: Getting to Know Barcelona

It's hard to believe that it has only been a week since I landed in Spain. I've been so busy that it gets hard to keep track of the days, but now that classes have started things have calmed down a little bit. My time in Spain began around 9:00 a.m. on Sept. 2nd when I landed in Barcelona. Shortly after I was taken to meet my senora (host mom) and unpack. My senora is very nice and caring, but she doesn't speak English so I am learning Spanish as quickly as I can to communicate with her. Already I find myself thinking in the little Spanish I know. After meeting my senora she took me on the metro to day 1 of orientation. Honestly, I was so jet lagged that I don't remember much else from that first day. My only thought for the day was that I was really hungry and they don't eat dinner until 9:00 p.m. in Barcelona! I'm still getting used to the late meals; it certainly is an adjustment.

Day 2 I remember very well, mostly because my legs are still recovering. The second day, after another hour of orientation, we took a hike up Mt. Tibidabo for lunch. The hike took around 2 hours and there were portions that felt like we were going straight up! But the views along the way and the lunch at the top were well worth it. But again they eat lunch later, around 2:30 p.m. so I was hungry for much of the hike. Lunch was a traditional Catalan meal. We had pan con tomate, salad, sausage, duck, ice cream and coffee. It was at this meal that I discovered my new favorite food; pan con tomate. It has garlic, tomate, oil and salt on bread. So simple yet so delicious! Later that evening I enjoyed tapas and sangria with the other students from NCC.

Day 3 was not kind to my legs, but nevertheless fun. There was no hiking; instead we did a two hour tour of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona. The legends that are told about some of the buildings are wonderful. My personal favorite is about the gargoyles on the Catedral de Santa Eulalia. The gargoyles were once witches who were enchanted to forever spit water out of their mouths as punishment for spitting on and cursing the Christians. The legend is meant to be a bit comical and the gargoyles are animals like sheep and pigs. The entire tour was interesting and was mostly in Spanish and I actually understood most of it! In just a few days my Spanish was already improving.

Day 4 rolled and was the day I was most excited for; a day trip to Tarragona! Unfortunately I was still very jet lagged and had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before. Tarragona is built on ancient roman ruins and has a roman amphitheater as well. The amphitheater was used for various games like racing or having people battle animals. The romans actually caused a small breed of elephant to go extinct because of these games! Our tour ended with a delicious lunch where I enjoyed fideua and paella. Fideua is very similar to paella except it is made with small noodles instead of rice. Personally I prefer fideua to paella. Our day in Tarragona ended with a short trip to the beach and it was beautiful! Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed the beach.

Day 5 began our first weekend in Barcelona and the NCC students made it a Gaudi day. We visited Parque Guell and La Sagrada Familia. If ever you go to Spain you absolutely have to visit la Sagrada Familia it is magnificent. Not only did we get to enter but we went up one of the towers as well; 70 meters up! Not really great for someone who is afraid of heights (me) but it was well worth it. We could see all the way to the sea and the mountains; it was absolutely beautiful. The climb back down was not so fun. We took an elevator up but chose the stairs on the way back down. The stairs wound and wound and never seemed to end; seriously I was dizzy when I reached the bottom and once again had sore legs. But this whole first week the pain and tiredness has been well worth it. I've seen some amazing things and already learned so much.