I haven´t updated any posts recently - I´ve constantly been on the go so I haven´t had much time to blog (not to mention Rafaela doesn´t have internet and I am currently paying 1E por media hora at a nearby internet station...)
So far class is going really well - besides the fact that I am stuck indoors for five hours of my day, five days a week, I am really enjoying the lessons. In the morning we review our language skills, and after our afternoon ¨pausa¨we learn about Spanish culture, i.e. sports, relationships, museums, etc. I love our profesora, Maria - an overly animated born and raised Barcelona native who loves to learn about our American culture as much as she loves to teach us about hers.
Besides class, I´ve been beaching it daily, shopping frequently (on July 1 the entire city went on sale for the whole month!!) and trying to get in as much sight-seeing as possible.
On Thursday I visited Gaudi´s Casa de Milo, more commonly known as La Pedrera. It was built as an apartment building and still serves as one today(!!!), although two of the floors are converted into a museum. The architecture is absolutely beautiful and it was really interesting to see the original furniture in some of the old rooms. (Mom you would love it!) We went to to top and had the most gorgeous view of the city. I wish I could have spent the night up there. I´ll post more pictures of La Pedrera later...
Saturday ISA took us to another Catalan city called Sitges. Sitges is a really pretty town along the coast with beaches, shopping and lots of vineyards! We began our visit at the largest sparking wine cellar in the world. The cellar is 30 km long and 4 levels deep!! We took a tour of the cellar and learned how they make the Cava (aka champagne, I learned that the spanish had to come up with their own term for champagne because the French wouldn´t let them take their original name!) Cava literally means cave, named so because of the caves where they would make the sparkling wine. At the end of our visit we each got two glasses to try: A pinot noir and a less dry, white wine, the latter being my favorite. I wish we could have spent all day there!! Here's a picture of las chicas a La Cava de Cordoniu:
Then we had free time to go to the beach and have lunch. It was a really fun day :)
Sunday, of course was the 4th of July. I missed the fireworks I would have seen if I were back in Jersey, but I must say this was one of my better 4ths! All of us students spent the day on the beach celebrating, and later went to yet another Irish Pub (where all the Americans hang out) to drink American beer and sing karaoke to American songs! It was really a great time.
Now that the weekend is over it´s back to class, but that doesn´t mean my adventures will cease-- sometime this week I think we are going to visit La Sagrada Familia and emmerse ourselves in the local culture of the streets that we have not seen yet.
Hopefully I´ll be back to update soon!!
Ciao xxxx
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