Vive Barcelona!: So much to say!

Ok so I have a million things to write about so this going to be a long one! First of all I had my study trip this past weekend with my program to Girona and the Costa Brava. We were all seperated into 3 different groups and each group went to a different place on each day since theres like 300 people in my program. Anyways so I was group two with my new friend Alison from Colorado College and her friend Helen from school, anyway we went to this place called Jonquera first and went to see the Exile Museum or the Museu de Exilios, which is about the expulsion of Jews during the civil war of Spain, unfortunately my friends and I decided to go out the night before to this amazing bar called La Ovella Negra and had a little too much sangria. So since the whole museum was written in Catalan we decided to grab some cafe con leches instead... oops. But after getting some much needed caffeine our group leader informed us that we were heading to a little town called Coillure in France for lunch! I was so excited to visit my 3rd country in Europe! But this little town was the most picturesque beachside town ever. It was the definition of a postcard. We walked around for hours and stopped and grabbed some lunch, I got mussels and french fries (which were delicious) and we all split a bottle of wine (I mean we were in France, why not?). The poeple were so sweet and friendly the whole experience was just adorable. We also got to see the grave of the famous poet Antonio Machado, who I had never heard of but the graveyard was pretty cool. Afterward we headed into Girona where we would be staying the night and had an enormous feast of salmon and pasta for dinner.

The next morning we explored the city of Girona which is famous for its roman ruins and its jewish quarters We got a tour guide for the day and got to go in the Roman cathedral which was probably the coolest cathedral ive been in thus far. It was enormous and has the widest nave in all of europe. Girona was really cool cause it is a place with funny little stories and superstitions, like on the side of the cathedral there is a gargoyle called "witch of Girona" who is supposedly a woman who walked around cursing so much god made her into a gargolye so water would run through her mouth and clean it of its filthy words. After seeing some Arab baths which wasn't that interesting and just kind of gross Alison, Helen and I grabbed some sangria and delicious tapas for lunch. Girona also has really well perserved remains of the Roman city wall so we got to walk on top of the city walls and soak up the beautiful view of the city. After a long day of walking we headed back to the hotel for another yummy dinner of caprese salad, curry chicken and a baked apple with rice pudding ( a traditional Catalan dish) for desert, needless to say I had some amazing food this trip. Afterward Helen, Alison and some other girls from Santa Clara and me went out on the town in Girona which was definitely more low key then what I have experienced in Barcelona. We went to this cute little local Irish Pub where there were wasted Irish men watching a futbol game singing Amazing Grace and Simon and Garfunkel, it was hilarious, but we were all exhausted so we didnt stay out late.

The following day we headed into Figueres to see the Salvador Dali Museum or La Teatre-Museu Dali. This was by far the coolest part of the trip. I really didnt know much about Dali just that he was famous for his melty clocks paintings but I definitely know more now. He was a freaking genius. He used an old theater for his museum and designed the entire thing the way he wanted it. It was insane, everything was soo weird and so random. Right when you walk in theres this absurd exhibition of the play on the Spanish words Car and Naval..so carnival, I can't even explain it. Although everything was really weird no one could deny his talent. The works he accomplished in his lifetime is seriously mind blowing. I could have spent days there, I loved it. After the museum we headed to this tiny midevil town called Besalu which is famous for the Roman bridge that takes you into the city. I need to figure out how to put pictures on this thing because it was indescribably beautiful and overwhelmingly charming. I took about a hundred pictures..I'm going to attempt to put some up! Anyways, after that we headed to Cadaques which was the place where Dali grew up and lived. We didnt go into his house but I can imagine that its probably just as weird as the museum was. Afterward, we spent a few hours wandering around Cadaques, this cute little beachside town and then boarded the bus to finally head home. We were the last bus to arrive at 9:30 at night and as I told my mom I have seriously never experienced the weather that I did that night. This is surprising given that I from Tacoma but I have never seen it rain that hard...ever, and naturally I got to walk to the metro with my rolly suitcase in a complete torrential downpour...it was actually kind of hilarious how hard it was raining. Anyway aside from that I would say the trip was a definite success and I got to meet a lot of people which was good!

This week has been all sorts of exiciting. I only had 3 days of school because this weekend is La Merce which is Barcelona's biggest festival celebrating their patron Saint. Since its a four day weekend a lot of kids are going out of town but Nickie, Gina, Kelly and I decided to stay here and enjoy the festival! I'll definitely update afterward, I've heard its pretty crazy!! Today for class I had to go to the Musue d'la Cituat and see the old Roman ruins of the city. The museum is located in the Barrio Gotico which is where the orginal Roman city was and it is by far the best part of the city, I could get lost there for days. But the museum was pretty cool, we did an audio tour and learned all about Roman Barcelona. They perserved and renovated this entire section of the old Roman city ruins and have it undergound in the museum, I wish I could have taken pictures because this stuff was old!! Its weird that Barcelona is a young city by European standards but was created in 10 bc..I mean really. Anyways afterward Kim and I got churros con chocolate for the first time and I really wish I hadn't gotten it because now I am definitely hooked. The chocolate here is seriously amazing.

But now for the most exciting news..I booked my Salzburg flight! YAY!!!!! I am going the 25th of November to the 29th so I get to have Thanksgiving with the besties in Austria! It pains me how much I miss them. I get to see them on October 23rd though cause they are coming to Barcelona which is going to be absolutely amazing! I can't even express how excited I am!! Ok so I think I've pretty much got this all up to date..here are some pics from my trip: