Rain Rain Go Away...

We had the worst touring weather today. It is cold, rainy, and foggy. Montserrat is a mountain range containing a monastery and several other beautiful things located about an hour outside of Barcelona. As we climbed up the mountain in our bus the fog continued to grow thicker and thicker. They say on a clear day from the monastery it is possible to see to the Balearic Islands, roughly 211 miles away. The monastery was beautiful! I would love to go back when it is possible to see into the canyons and further up the mountain. The inside of the church was breathtaking. There are so many details that it was impossible to catch them all, and catch them well.

Here are a few pictures from the monastery:

 

La Madonna

Sea creatures in the marble outside of the church. 

After eating lunch in the cafeteria at the monastery we drove to Sitges which is an oceanfront town, home to the founder of Bacardi, or at this point, home to a dedicated statue for the Bacardi founder. Even in the cold rain this city was stunning. I can't wait to go back when the sun is shining. The beach will probably be packed, but it will still be gorgeous! The buildings were all tropically inspired and some were very colorful. I got my first smoothie from a cafe today in Sitges. Is was called Tropical Breeze and was mango, strawberry, and peach. It was delicious, definitely what I needed! 

Here are a few pictures from Sitges: 

Tomorrow I am off to buy my Spanish book since I have homework due Monday from it. Other than that I plan on it being a rather lazy day. 

Hope you enjoy the pictures! 

xoxo

Kelcey

Mmmm...Xocolata!

To start, let me just say that in Catalan, X represents CH. It is definitely hard to get used to this idea!

Today we decided to venture back into the Gothic Quarters, but closer to the sea. There is a famous sandwich shop called Bó de B in the quarter's that we decided to visit for today for lunch...We got there at the absolute worst time, as it took us almost 2 hours to get through the line to get our food. Let me just say that this shop is more of an upscale Subway. The bread is 100x better (think baguettes) and they use fresh meat and bake it as you are waiting. I got a salmon sandwich with all the sauces (not really sure what they all were, but I know one was guacamole), lettuce, rice, and corn. The sandwich was good, but the salmon was a bit salty. I should have gone with the crowd and gotten chicken, but who knew it would be that way?

After lunch or linner as it was close to 4 o'clock when we ate, we decided to walk to the Chocolate Museum in Barcelona. When we arrived we decided to just get chocolates and not visit the actual museum part because it was mainly sculptures out of chocolate. No real history behind it or instructions for making it. But, the chocolate is DELICIOUS!!! I have only had one piece as I am trying to eat one piece a day (I bought 7). We will see if that actually ends up happening!

As we were walking to the metro stop we passed another chocolate store that sold nougat style chocolate and Dale and I were going to stop in. Well that didn't happen because the owner decided to blatantly lock us out as we walked up to the door. It was definitely not siesta hour, so Dale and I decided to keep walking and will probably never give him our business in the future. His loss as we both love chocolate a little too much!

Tomorrow is our visit to Montserrat and Sitges. I will be bringing my camera and will post pictures as soon as possible!

Hope everyone is having a good Friday!

xoxo
Kelcey

Goooooooooollllllllllll!!!!

Last night I got the chance to go to an FC Barcelona fútbol game and it was so much fun! Although the stands were far from being full, the fans cheered with so much intensity that they made up for those empty seats! The game started off kind of slow with Malaga scoring the first goal, but by the middle of the first period Barcelona had upped the score and had taken over the lead 2-1. They managed to hold onto the lead for most of the second half, but then Malaga scored to tie the game. We weren't able to stay for the whole game because we wanted to make sure we made it onto the metro before it closed at midnight. We didn't get to see how the game ended, but I am pretty sure it ended in a tie (I could very easily be wrong though!). Messi scored one of the two Barcelona goals which was pretty neat!

Other than the game, my day yesterday wasn't too exciting. Class is going well, although it's possible that Spanish could kick my butt. I am able to understand the context, but there is a lot of vocab that I either don't remember or I never learned. Having Spanish everyday will be nice, however, it is a pain right now because all of my other classes are only twice a week.

Saturday we are heading to Monserrat and Sitges for a day trip. I am definitely looking forward to it and will post pictures and more information on them once we have made it back!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far! I have had a decent first week of classes, but the days are very long!

Stay tuned for pictures from this weekend!

xoxo
Kelcey

The Good, the Bad, and the Not so Ugly

Today marks my first full week living in Barcelona and oh what a week it has been. It definitely hasn't been an easy one, probably more like one I would wish to forget, but, for all of the bad moments (mainly the pick-pocketing incident) there have been lots of good times and shared laughs.

I started my second day of classes today with my first one being at 9 AM. In order to get to the other UAB campus you have to take two different metros, the red line from Marina (which is a short walk from the Residencia) to La Sagrera. At La Sagrera you change from the red line to the blue line where you get off at Dos de Maig Sant Pau Hospital (or something complicated like that). I have to say, the metro is definitely not my favorite. It is hot, sweaty, gross, and crowded and this morning was no exception, especially since we were traveling during rush hour. After Saturday I decided to stop carrying a purse, but I can't get around without carrying my notebooks in a bag of some sort. Although I am only taking 3 classes this semester, I plan on taking my laptop with me to campus some days so I can have access to WIFI and because Alex and Kaycee have graciously (and thankfully) decided to come in early with me at 8 AM. This allows all of us to have someone to ride the metro with and gives us time to hangout before, or in my case, after class, to do homework. Now back to my original point. The metro was crowded beyond belief. Every car had people packed in like sardines. This made me even more fearful about carrying a tote bag with my laptop (who really cares about a notebook anyways?) on the metro. I feel like no matter how cautious and how attentive I am, when everyone is close like that, something is bound to happen. Luckily, it didn't happen this morning, and let's hope it stays that way for the four times a week I am guaranteed to ride the metro.

With all of that being said, I think I am really going to enjoy my Spanish Culture and Civilization class at the Sant Pau campus. The professor is younger and has been teaching with UAB for four years. She just finished her doctorate in November (from Pompeu Fabra University, I believe). Before that she attended UAB for her masters on Spanish History (to which she wrote a 600 page thesis on zombies, yes you read that correctly, zombies). She has structured the class in the more typical American fashion, several short tests, a presentation, seminars or debates, a midterm, and a final. This is the first class I have had with a class structure like this in Spain. My Doing Business in Emerging Markets class has ongoing projects throughout the semester and my Spanish class, well, I'm still trying to figure that one out...

After my class at 9 AM, I am free until my Spanish class at 5:45. I am hoping that during this break I can get several things done that are on my to-do list (I finally got to cross off laundry last night. It took us 4 hours), but who knows if I will really feel like doing anything once I am back at the Residencia. 

Now to the fun part of my time in Spain, (academics come first, but I do have fun sometimes!!). I am planning on attending my first FCBarcelona fútbol match on Wednesday. And hopefully next weekend I will be in Paris! A group of us girls have decided to take a short weekend trip to France to do some of the touristy things. I am so excited to add more stamps to my passport! However, as always customs worries me (even more since I speak no French)...oh well, it will be fine I'm sure!

Stay tuned for pictures from this weekend! We are headed to a monastery on Saturday, so hopefully I will be able to post more pictures! Talk to everyone again soon!

xoxo
Kelcey