Monday, we started off by going after class to a "Cook and Taste" event arranged for us through the program. We split into two groups and took turns volunteering to prepare various things for our three course Spanish meal, all the while being instructed by a chef, of course. Afterwards, we got to eat it :). We made butternut squash soup with leeks and prawns (I didn't eat my prawn. I gave it to Cara), Spanish tortilla, tomato bread, chicken paella, and Catalan cream, which was similar to creme brulee. It was fun and it all turned out well and it was really good. There were some mystery pieces of chicken I didn't eat (they aren't quite as selective here with which parts of the animal are eaten, in general) and like I said, gave my prawn to Cara, but it was good overall. I just couldn't eat the prawn after seeing them all in a bowl with their little eyes staring at me and then watching Cara take off their heads and legs (she volunteered to do that, she's so much braver than I am) and get her hands all bloody. Blech, it grosses me out just remembering it, and I'm just not a seafood fan to begin with. With my limited cooking abilities, I decided to just volunteer to peel and cut potatoes. I was incredibly slow and my potatoes were not the nice little slices of even-thickness the chef had described, but what can you do?
Then on Tuesday, I got even further outside my comfort zone when I decided to accompany my friends to the nearby town of Sitges for the Carnaval celebration. That was an experience. Are you ready for this? So to begin, Carnaval is essentially a mixture of Halloween and Mardi Gras, whereby everyone drinks a lot and dances in the streets in costumes. I had bought a feathery mask earlier that day, but that was as much of a costume as Lindsey, Abby and I had. Juan was not impressed. We met in Plaza Catalunya, one of the main plazas in the middle of the city and got on a bus to take us to Sitges. There were over 400 Americans there in costumes trying to get on buses and it was a little hectic and the bus ride there was so full of obnoxious it was unbelievable. Thankfully, it's only like a 45 minute bus ride. When we got there, we walked over to the main street where there was a huge parade going on. The parade was pretty cool and there were some street performers too, like a guy with fire batons, and all kinds of craziness. I doubt I've ever seen so many people in my life. By the time we were leaving, you literally had to just push your way through the mass because there were more people than there was room on the street. Overall, I guess it was fun and it was worth the experience because it's a really big deal to the people here, but I would definitely never feel the need to do anything like that again. I don't drink (which I definitely don't regret after seeing some of the people who did) but I danced, so that part was fun. There were some really good costumes, too (unlike ours) and some really impressive drag queens. It was fun at the beginning, there was a terrible few hours in the middle where some of the girls in our group were really intoxicated and it involved one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life to date, in a restaurant. I'll just say it included vomit, spilled wine, generally a huge mess, and ended with some of the girls getting kicked out all the while flipping off and cursing out the restaurant workers (2 tiny blondes against 2 large men..) By that point I had left the restaurant and was waiting outside because I couldn't handle it (but witnessed it through the glass walls). I was so glad we were in a foreign country in a city I'll probably never return to. I knew there was a good reason I didn't drink/hang out with people who made a habit of drinking too much. So we then spent some time in Burger King so the vomiting girl could use the bathroom, and then the girl who'd practically thrown her wine glass across the table in her uncoordinated drunkenness realized she'd lost an expensive headband and literally ran out of Burger King into the night to search for it. Alone. We didn't find her the rest of the night, more on that later. I do feel a little guilty for not stopping her, like I lost a puppy I was supposed to be taking care of, seeing as I was the sober one and essentially the babysitter, but it was just so chaotic, I had no idea what was going on at that point and had been seriously considering finding the train back to Barcelona alone even though I had a round-trip bus ticket. Eventually, Lindsey, Abby and I left the drunk girls and went and danced some more, so then it was fun again. So it was fun at the beginning and end, with terrible in the middle. Like an Oreo, but filled with unhappy. We took the bus back to Barcelona and then I took a taxi back here. I got back at 4:30, slept until 7:30 and then got up for Spanish in the morning.
I actually expected Wednesday to be a lot more miserable, but I really wasn't even that tired. I was better off than most because I was only sleep-deprived where many were sleep-deprived and hungover. It was kind of entertaining to see who made it to their classes, but then we realized we still didn't know what had happened to headband girl. I still don't know the whole story but throughout the course of the night, she was mugged, possibly assaulted by a taxi driver, and somehow ended up at the police station, where our resident director had to go pick her up that morning (which meant our class with her was cancelled, leading to much curiosity for those who knew nothing about the situation). Moral of the story: alcohol is bad. So I made it through the day, I did have to choke down a cup of coffee (blech) and that helped, but it wasn't a particularly terrible day, even though Wednesdays are my busiest. I went and volunteered at the school again. For awhile I was worried I'd be alone because Hailey had gone to Sitges too, but she showed up after just like 20 minutes. I almost got my gloves stolen again, but by a different kid this time. I might have to stop wearing those. Of course, I got lots of hugs again :), those kids are so friendly. I was happy because they remembered me when I got there (even if they didn't remember my name) and asked where the others were, it was cute. It was better than the first time because I kind of knew what to expect, so I wasn't as nervous. I enjoy it, even if it makes my Wednesdays super busy, and I'm still hopeful it'll help me with my Spanish. I felt I was able to understand the kids a little better this time, but there were still a few times I had no clue. Maybe I should've asked them to help me study for my midterm..
Thursday I got to catch up a little on my sleeping because I didn't have class until 4:30. On Tuesday in that class, we had visited the Palau Reial Gardens, where Gaudi had designed two gates, one fountain, and a really impressive iron dragon gate, but on Thursday it was back to normal class after weeks of tours :(. Oh well, it's still an interesting class, even if we're not out visiting places every day. Thursday was a pretty uneventful day overall, except for it being my half-birthday. I bought a cupcake in celebration and it was delicious. Otherwise I just worked in studio in preparation for my midterm review; I've been pretty busy with that, a lot to do.
Friday I planned to work some more in studio after my Spanish tutoring session, but instead we planned our Spring Break trip to Morocco, Granada, Seville and Cordoba and then went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and then down to the beach. That was much more enjoyable, though, and I'm sure it was good for my mental health. The weather was really nice, we took off our shoes and walked along the water (in February!). The sand itself wasn't that warm yet and the water was freezing, but it was fun and very pretty and we had bought some wonderful bread and pastries from a bakery nearby that our studio professor had shown us, so we ate those on the beach :). After we were done at the beach, we headed back here and then I did have to do more work, unfortunately. I also looked up some things to do in Dublin, though, so I'm really excited :). The other two girls who are coming and I are meeting after our midterm on Tuesday to make some semblance of an itinerary and basically just decide what we want to see while we're there. I also realized I have so few weekends left in Barcelona due to all this traveling and decided to make a list of all the things I still want to do in and around the city and I'm going to focus on that from now on. Not that I haven't been until now, I feel like I have, but now I'm officially making a point of it. Since I'm studying in Barcelona, and in Spain in general, I decided I'm going to focus mostly on seeing Spain and then it just means I'll have to come back to Europe in the future and see everything else :). But at the same time, I just had to take advantage of our three-day weekend and cheap tickets to Dublin ;). I figure as long as it doesn't interfere with me having a chance to see something in Spain, it's allowed, and this won't because I have all the things I still want to see all nice and planned out :).
Yesterday I didn't get as much work done as I would have liked because our host parents are staying at the beach house and they invited us to come for lunch. We left at noon and I brought my computer so I could do homework. Little did I know, it was a big family event with at least 10 people and it would've been rude of me to do homework instead of being social. It was a typical meal with this family, Juan (Sr.) brought up politics, religion and sex all during one meal and there were three different conversations (arguments?) going on at once. I sat quietly and ate my ravioli. Also, I was unaware we'd be gone for 8 hours, but that also happened. I underestimated the leisureliness of the Spanish lifestyle and their being absolutely okay with doing nothing. For hours. Needless to say, this all caused me extreme anxiety and I was then up until midnight doing homework to make up for lost time. I wanted to do something today to get out of the apartment but because of that, I don't feel like I have enough time and I have too much work to do, so it looks like Sunday is solid homework for me. Oh well.
I apologize if this was a little scattered, but my brain is feeling a little scattered with everything going on: midterms, planning Spring Break, planning Dublin, all kinds of craziness. And although it's enjoyable (minus the midterms), it's still a lot to think about with one brain. If only I had another where I could store things. Or a Pensieve. That would do (yay for Harry Potter references in everyday life ;)!). So thanks for reading and next week's post should be exciting because I'll have Dublin stories to tell!
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