Un poco mas.

Some photos I took of Barcelona, with a disposable camera:

*I didn't think any of these photos would come out well. Luckily, most of them look pretty good, but the rest are almost impossible to figure out. Digital pics from Spain/France next!

Hey! Its a wonderful kind of day!

I listened to the "Arthur" (the kid's TV show with the Anteater) theme song, I can't believe I still know most of the words! haha, and I forgot how good it is, its like a child-appropriate reggae.

The concert that I worked at on friday for my internship had a really good Spanish reggae band play. I've never been to a reggae concert before....I have never sen so many people with dreadlocks/smoking weed all at the same time in one place. It was an interesting experience, I wish I had taken photos.

http://stereomood.com/activity/summer
^^listening to that right now.

feels like summer. feels good. don't want to go back home that bad. I just want home to come to me...all of my friends and stuff could just suddenly appear and I could live in Barcelona, going out all the time, and doing whatever I felt like. The weather is so great here, right now, sitting on the porch is perfect. However, this week it did rain on wednesday and thursday. We were celebrating a friend's birthday with a party at the beach, but we got poured on around 3 am. It was bad, but we had had a great time anyway.

I think the most exciting thing that has happened this week, would be running into the German boys that I met on Wednesday night twice on thursday! Haha, what are the chances? It was really cute, but I still don't remember their names....oh well, I think they left already. I ran into my favorite of them on the stairs of the Metro, I was going down, and they were going up. They yelled "hey" at me while passing, but I kept walking a little, then turned around and yelled "hey" back. It kinda made my day a little.

Ghe-deh?

^^ I think thats how you incorrectly pronounce guide in Spanish. Like the way Americans say it, because in Spanish, it actually ends with an a. I think its funny, I don't really know why. Its just one of those words that gets stuck in my head (like a song), and I keep saying it over and over for no reason.

Today makes one week since I've been in Barcelona. But it feels like I've been here much longer than that--but not in bad way, I've just done so much and met so many people.
Oh and exciting news! Today, on my way to my internship, two different people asked me for directions! They must have thought I was a local! I think they were both Spaniards too, because they had the accent and spoke good spanish. Unfortunately, I only know the city a little, so I had to say: "hmmm, yo no se..." and they were disappointed.

Yesterday I went to Parke Guell and Sagrada Familia. I took a ton of photos. I'll put them up soon--I am going to try to get used to my mac and use iPhoto instead of Picnik or Photoshop (which is only on my pc) because I hear it is very convenient.

While eating at a cafe, my roommate, two friends, and myself made a 'Barcelona Bucket List' yesterday on a band-aid wrapper of things we want to do in Barcelona. There is still so much left to do, and it feels like time is running out! I only have three more weeks, and they only have two.

Here are some of the things that I still feel the need to do in the next three weeks:
- shopping during las rebajas
- go to a least one nightclub right off the beach (in Barceloneta)
- shop at the flea market in El Gothico on Thursdays
- go to the beach during the day time and tan
- take the cable cars to the mountain top and bring a camera!
- go to the chocolate museum
- check out the Palaude la  Musica Catalana
- picnic at el Parc de la Creusta del Coll
- see the Font Magica de Montjuic at night
- go eat at tapas bars
...I must be missing something.

*Update, 7/18/11: I have officially crossed 3 things off of this list, as well as do somethings that I forgot to put on the list (go to the Picasso Museum, eat a ton of gelato).

No Harm Done.

I just saw the band Cinema dub Monks, at Dostrece, a restaurant/bar/small venue in Barcelona. I still dont really understand, but my internship also has something to do with working there, with the owner....maybe choosing bands to come play? I am not quite sure yet.

Anyway, they people I work with told me I would love it, after they heard some of my music/I told them about what I am studying. I almost didn't go because I was really tired, but I went, and they were right, I loved it.
I think they describe their music as 'experimental Japanese jazz'. Well, it is hard to understand unless you hear it (sorry this isnt the best video):




My roommate (from my home-stay) is a such a great person. I didn't believe her at first when she told me about this song:



*Its an ok song. I just wanna sing with all of my friends too, so I 'get' that.


I feel like listening to this song, its sounds like beautiful sex:




Oh, and this super cheesy dubstep song is great at 0:37 seconds, if you haven't heard it you need to:




Do you like cheesy dupstep?
Who do you think is the 'Prince of Dubstep' (via HRO)?
Do you want to sing with all of your friends (in Barcelona)?
Have you gone to any 'hip' concerts lately?

Got Lost. Whats New.

I got lost on the metro yesterday. Came out of the wrong exit, went back, used the correct exit, but walked a mile in the wrong direction. Then I decided that I must have got off at the wrong stop because I didn't recognize anything. So I went back to the earlier stop and walked around for another 10 minutes...Then realized I was right the first time and went back. Then I finally decided to call someone to help me. I wasted 2 metro rides...and walked over a mile in the heat. I sweated like crazy and then chugged a ton of water--room temperature water and not from the bottle, because thats frowned upon here. It did not satisfy me thirst!!!

But had a great time last night. Went to Barcaloneta with my roommate (from my homestay) and some of her friends, and some of their friends and roommates. It turned into a really good night, we met a lot of people from many different places, spoke in several different languages together, and paid a waiter 5 euros to let a few of us use the bathroom in the bar before it closed. We got home around 4:00 am. The taxi driver drove scary fast and started singing to Rihanna. But we got home safe!

We are gunna go 'bar crawling' tonight with some Brits we met last night. It'll be fun, they said they'd let us start small (so no 'bar golf' quite yet).

Oh, and below are a few pictures I that took this earlier week.

My room on the 6th floor:

a side street of Las Ramblas:

From the porch, it looks better in real life:

*Its annoying to bring my camera around, so thats why I have only taken like 10 photos and only a couple good ones. My Nikon is heavy and expensive, and I have to bring my laptop to my internship, that it is also heavy and expensive, and I have to fit them both in a purse, so its just a pain. Barcelona is known for pickpockets, so I'd rather just not risk loosing everything.

*Damn, I still haven't written anything in Spanish. I'll get to it, tomorrow...but you know, tomorrow never comes. But I promise that my Spanish has gotten so much better in such little time!

Barcelona, Day 2.

Barcelona is beautiful! I love it so far, I just wish my Spanish was a little better (but it will be soon, I've already noticed improvement), and I miss everyone/everything at home a little. My mom is going to Skype me with the puppy tomorrow! Sadly, Chuleta (my puppy) is who I miss the most. She is so cute, and I keep seeing dogs on the street that remind me of her.

11:00 pm: I'm sitting on the porch right now (on the 6th floor) and there is a building beneath us that has lots of stay cats on top of it. From what I understand, people from the surrounding apartments throw food to them. and they are all 'fixed' and maybe someone cleans up their 'living space' every once in a while. Kinda reminds me of the musical Cats.

There are a lot of customs in Spain that are not too different then anywhere else, but are just odd to foreigners. A few examples:

• Spaniards don't like to drink cold water because they think it will give them a cold/sore throat. 
• Its not normal to drink anything out of the bottle, you have to pour everything into a glass.
• Lunch is the biggest meal, but dinner is not that small either.
• Most people don't start work until 9, break for lunch at 2, go back at 4, and leave around 9.
• Most vehicles on the road are mopeds.
• Everyone is very energy conscious: there is little air conditioning, 4 different types of large recycling/garbage bins every few blocks, no one owns dryers.  
• They use military time.

*I like a lot of these things, but I am just not used to them.
I think my favorite thing about Spain right now, is that it doesn't get dark until 10:00 pm.
I also like that the metro is easy and effective---if you know where you are going. The best part is that you have to push a green button or pull a lever in order for the doors to open (they don't open automatically). haha, its fun, but I recommend anti-bacterial gel afterwords.

4:30 am: I just fell asleep on my laptop, I was quite confused when I woke up, with my head on the bottom end of the bed. Now that I got up to use the bathroom, I can't go back to sleep. I was going to write a lot more today, but I can't remember most of what I wanted to write about (because I passed out).

Oh, all clothing stores are having "Rebajes"/"Rebaixes" right now. Which means everything has to go on sale (via government required). The sales are really great, well known stores are up to 50% off, and might get to 75% by the end of the week. I can't wait to shop, but I am afraid I'll splurge (the Euro is worth 1.5 dollars).