5 Banana's for 1 EURO!

The beautiful Las Ramblas Market, La Boqueria.

Here are some pictures from the market.  I was able to buy 5 bananas for 1 euro... that is seriously like free food compared to our local grocery store.  This market is incredible.  It is so cool, and there are so many different types of fruits and vegetables.  I bought banana's, potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, basil, cherry tomatoes, almonds, peaches, red peppers, lemons, and more for under 10 euros!  It was such a cool place, I am going to do most of my grocery shopping there from now on.  Here are some more pictures of the market.  I hope you enjoy them! Miss you all.. XOXO. 

These are pictures of candy, nuts, and other goodies!

Whirlwind weekend...

Hi Fambam!

This past weekend I went to the Pyrenees Mountains with my program.  It was a lot of fun.  We left Barcelona on Friday morning... the second we left our apartment to go to the metro station it started to rain... and not just rain but downfall.  By the time we got on the metro, exited and tried to find our group we were drenched in water... the bus smelled like wet dog and everyone was pretty grumpy (seeing as it was 8am, which is equivalent to 3am in America since everyone sleeps in here!)  Everything in our bags/suitcases were drenched... it was a great way to start the weekend!  But its ok, we all just fell asleep and woke up happy!  We drove there in a bus with about 60 kids.  We stopped at a little village about 40 minutes away from the town we were staying at.  Once we got to the town, we were given about 5 hours of free time to do as we pleased.  Well lets just say, there are less then 200 residents in this town, and it is the off season.  Mom, you think Breck is boring?  Breckenridge is like New York City compared to this place.  So me and my friend AK (Anna Kate) decided to make it an adventure and have a coffee (con chupito y baileys) in every cafe in town.  We visited two churches and just walked around for a while... but as soon as we started venturing out it started to POUR down rain...  While we were walking around this American guy approached us, asking if we were from the states.  We told him we were and he invited us into his cafe for beers.  We ended up hanging out in there for about 3 hours, and got all of our friends to come in as well.  It was rainy outside and this cafe over looked the whole town... it was super comfy in there with couches, chess tables, games, etc.  He told us to come back after dinner with anyone in our program for drinks (CHEAP) and to hang out... which we did.  The school took us to dinner in another village about 15 minutes away... it could have been the worst meal of my life... it was seriously Kraft Macaroni and Cheese noodles (way to over cooked), in a chicken noodle soup type broth, with chunks of fatty ham, and chickpeas... So after dinner we went back to hang out with our new friend Tony.  The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then took 4-wheel drive jeeps up into the national forest.  We hiked for about 6 hours, with an hour break for lunch.  This was seriously one of the prettiest places I have ever been... I didn't take my camera on the hike unfortunately, but my roommate Lindsay did.  There were all these little bridges that would take you deep into the forest.  After the hike finished we were on our way back to Barcelona!  We had a few hours to rest until it was time to go out for the night.... On Sunday I slept the majority of the day... it was definitely a whirlwind weekend!!  Here are some pictures from my trip...

This is the view of the town from our hotel parking lot... pretty spectacular.  

This was right outside one of the churches that we visited.  We even light a candle and said a little prayer in the church.  It was very small and quaint.

A pretty little stream in the town...

Wahoooo Bar/Cafe #1.

The girls enjoying some Sangria with our new friend Tony.

(Megan-roommate, Chesleigh, Me, AK)

From Saturday night back in Boulder at the Elephant Club, with two of the other Kappa Kappa Gamma's in my group.  (Christina, me, Fiona).

So there you go!  The Pyrenees was a success and definitely a fast trip!  As you can see I am doing well here in Barcelona.  I cannot believe that it has already been almost a month!  It seems like just yesterday that I left.  Today I went to the famous outdoor markey on Las Ramblas... IT WAS SO COOL!  I took a bunch of pictures that I will upload tomorrow and post this week sometime. (One of my friends is borrowing my camera cord).  Sorry about the grammar/spelling... I tend to do these pretty fast right before I go to bed.

I miss you all, especially you Mom and Dad!  I hope everyone is well back at home. XOXO.

I am ALIVE... don't worry!

HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY! Welcome to my BLOG of BARCELONA!  I figured I would start a blog for a few reasons... the first is so that my parents know that I am alive and can follow my adventures!  I hope you all enjoy my pictures and stories.  I will try to be good about updating this, as well as taking my camera out with me during the day... I never remember it unless we are going out!  Well here you go, I hope you enjoy it! :)  (I JUST REREAD THIS, I NEED TO PROOFREAD IT... SORRY, I WILL DO IT TOMORROW... it is bed time in Spain!)

www.LLLinBARCELONA.blogspot.com

These are two pictures from Gaudi's famous church, which is called the Segrada Familia.  It is famous because it has taken hundreds of years to be built.  When he died he left not plan for the church, so they have been winging it ever since.  They hope to finish it by 2026.  It is seriously so gorgeous, and huge I cannot even describe it to you.

This is the Placa de Espanya.  Last night (Sunday night), I went here with my friend Chesleigh to watch the famous magic fountains.  There is a light/water show at 9:00 on Sundays.  It was packed.  It was really cool, and all the famous buildings can be seen from the top of the palace.  We had gelato while we watch the show and the scenery... there was even lightening in the background which was cool.  This picture is from a different day, my camera was dead last night unfortunately... we will just have to go back again! :)

My school took us on a tour of the city and took us to the top of a mountain... where all the Olympic stuff was form the 1992 Olympics.  This is the view from the top of all of Barcelona, pretty spectacular if you ask me.  This was from my first day here and I couldn't believe this was my new home.

Our first trip for Paella (I dont know how to spell it)... it was really good.  But going to Las Ramblas is such a pain.  Las Ramblas is the super touristy area with a lot of restaurants and what not.  You have to guard your belongings for your life, it is jammed packed, and SUPER over priced.  We ordered Sangria which was really fun.  There were about 15 of us total... we wandered the streets for a while then went to a local bar called Dow Jones (it works like the stock market.. the drinks in demand are more expensive, the ones that nobody orders are cheap, a crash about once an hour)...

These are pictures of my room!! My bed is on the bottom, and the top bunk is for visitors... We have a lot..  Since all of our apartments are miles away from each other, my friend Chesleigh sleeps here a lot so she doesn't have to go home alone at the end of the night.  She is in a dorm on the other side of town.  We are also located 3 blocks from campus, and everyone has to take the metro to/from school everyday so we got lucky!! That is my desk, the pink thing is my closet! (Mom... lamby sleeps with me every night, but I miss angel bear!)

These are pictures of our family room/dinning area as well as our kitchen.  I am currently sitting on the couch while I update this.  My room is right off of the family room as you can see in the picture.  Our apartment is SO nice, it is like living in luxury.  We have a great location, close to everything as well as a metro stop.

This is the egg room! it is just a little room with a cool chair, and Christmas lights... right when you enter the apartment in our entry way.  The windows are open so it is airy.  Its really cute.  The picture on the left is our entrance way.  My room is all the way down on the right side.

Here is a picture from one of the main streets by my apartment.  It was on my walk over to my guy friends apartment, about 1.5 miles away.  I just thought it was a pretty view and should be admired since it is my new everyday scenery.

The group went out for Mexican dinner for Sam's birthday.. it was really good! Rosa Negra was the name of the restaurant and it was walking distance from my apartment... about a mile away.  After I went to a local Irish Pub (weird to say in Spain) with Chesleigh and Sam to celebrate his birthday!  It was really relaxed and I met a bunch of kids from the bay area which was cool.  We made a Barcelona 2010 Bucket-list of things we want to do while we are abroad! :)

This is my really good friend Chesleigh (or Ches).  She goes to Duke and is from New York City.  She is awesome.  We have been having a lot of fun together site seeing and just hanging out.  We have made dinner a few times and are making some cool travel plans together for the semester!!

These are two of my guy friends here in Barcelona.  Sam is on the left, and Leonard is on the right.  Sam is from the Bay Area (Los Altos), he went to Bellarmine!  MY RIVAL!  I met him a few weeks before we came on this trip through a mutual friend.  Leonard is on the right and he is from Kansas City, Missouri.  They both go to Duke as well.  (My group has about 30 Duke kids in it).

This is my friend Anna Kate, we called her AK.  She is from Kansas City, Missouri and goes to Elon College.  She lives in the apartment above me with 5 other girls from Elon College.  She is a lot of fun!

These are my roommates.  Lindsay Strand is on the left, then me, then Megan Gamwell, and on the right is Betsy Howard.  Lindsay and Betsy both go to Colgate in New York, and Megan goes to the University of Charlseton in South Carolina.  Lindsay is from Minnesota, but her dad lives in San Francisco, Betsy is from Alabama, and Megan is from Miami!  (Sam and Ches make the picture by adding bunny ears... see mom we are all kids at heart still, not just me).

The clubbing is crazy here.  We eat dinner at like 10:30, and the clubs don't even open until 1-2am.  We stay out until 5 or 6am!  It is sooo weird.  All the stores close during the day from about 1-4 for Siesta time.  There really is no schedule for anything here so it gets annoying when you have things to get done... but I guess I just have to learn to let go a little and be more relaxed.  I can definitely tell my "American" tendencies being here.

Yesterday I had a school assignment that was very interesting.  We were told to take the Metro 7 stops away from where we live and venture out into the "Real Barcelona."  We had to go to a cafe (Un Bar, in Spanish) and order something.  We were to sit and watch for about an hour and compare the Spaniards to our everyday American lives.  It was really interesting, and I felt completely foreign.  I was in a totally foreign area.  Barcelona is very touristy, and I live in the heart of the touristy locations.

I have been having a great time here in Spain.  Everyday is a new adventure... from learning to Grocery shop, going to the farmacia to get medicine, taking cabs, or finding my way home after venturing out, I am always on my toes and learning more about Barcelona.  I love my room-mates they are so much fun, and we all get along really well.  I feel like I am making some of my best-friends for the rest of my life.  I really love Spain and I am so grateful to be here!  I miss you all so much, and I hope any of you can come and visit me!! :) xoxo.