It took a week to speak!

Bienvenido a Barcelona!

It has been a week since I arrived in the magnificent city and I have loved every minute- minus the 35 degree weather of course! As soon as I arrived in Barcelona after a 24 hour layover in Frankfurt, I was greeted by two "guardian angels" of the Council of International Educational Exchange (CIEE program). These are designated student mentors for each of us that help guide and assist us through Barcelona.

We were later assigned our homestay arrangements. Me encanta mi familia en Espana! My "madre" in Barcelona, Maria, is very warm and cooks me delicious vegetarian food every day. Her motto is "no pescado, no carne, no problemo"... which means "no fish, no meat, no problem! Maria and her daughter Chus only speak Spanish, so I have been speaking Spanish on a daily basis which is GREAT practice.

This week:

Dia de los reyes: Spent this holiday with my host family. After all of us collectively opened up about 45-50 gifts from "los reyes" or "the kings," Maria cooked a delicious three course meal for the entire family including a few of her siblings, her two kids Chus and Rafa, and her precious sombrino or nephew Angel (pronounced Ahn-hel). After teaching Anjel how to play heart and soul on the piano, we got together to eat the traditional dessert cake on dia de los reyes. The tradition is that if you end up having the special surprise hidden in your dessert, you must wear the kings crown the entire night. Of course I was surprised with the figurine in my dessert and was forced to wear the burger king crown the entire night.

Placa Nacional: took a cable car to the top of Montjuic where 8 of us had a photo session overlooking the entire city of Barcelona! From the top we could see la Sagrada Familia and the Mediterranean Sea!

Chupitos Bar: Local bar that serves over 200 different "chupitos" or shots- don't worry kaku, they were not strong.

Razmatazz: My first visit to a "discoteca" in Barcelona which was packed with locals and foreigners looking to dance all night to techno music until 7 a.m.!