Sorry for posting nonsense. But we just finished our longest day of classes. Mondays suck... for real.

Adios,

David.

¡Mis clases han empezado!

La Universitat de Barcelona

Hola a todos,

My classes have started! So far so good—everything is great! I’ll get to my classes in a little bit…

As for now, I’m just gonna blab. There are twelve Dartmouth students in my program and we all get along well! Everyone is really nice and we all like hanging out together! Like tonight, we are all going out because tomorrow is La Mercé, it’s a Catalonia holiday with a huge celebration. The official holiday is tomorrow, September 24, but the partying starts tonight and lasts through Sunday evening. I’m so very excited for this. Plus, like four of us have other friends who are here in Barcelona who have their own apartments so we can visit lots of people!

OMG, ok, so right now I’m listening to my Barcelona Playlist. It’s really international electro/house music, but I love it and it’s played 24/7 on my fav Spanish radio station. It’s way cool and I was able to download most of the songs right to my iTunes, so I’m just preppin for las fiestas tonight because we are going to do it big. Really big.

Some of the gang is at the beach right now, but I’ve already been twice this week, so I felt like coming back to my casa and taking a siesta. My bed is really loud though so it sucks. Well, the frame is like an old wooden one and it creaks literally every time I move. I feel badly for Francois, my brother here en la casa. His bed is right next to my wall and I’m sure he can hear my bed at night. Ay de mi!

Speaking of Francois, have I told you about him? I don’t remember everything I’ve already said… haha. Anyway, Francois is from Lyon, France and is a super chill guy. He’s awesome! He is here studying, too, but not a la misma Universidad. I’m not sure where he is studying. It’s funny because every time my host mother, Margarita, talks about him ella dice, “Francois es muy muy simpático”,,, y lo es la verdad. Quisiera ir a la playa y jugar volibol con él porque ambos nos gusta jugar volibol. We have a running joke in our little group because all the girls here want to meet Francois so they always stalk him through me. Not really, but it’s way funny! But really, he’s a cool guy.

We also have two girls from Switzerland living in the apartment with us. I don’t remember both of their names, but one is Jasmine. When Margarita told me they were going to come I thought she said girls who were “sucios” were going to come… so I was like, what? Are they like homeless dirty girls? But it turns out she said “Suizas” and I didn’t know that was the word for Swiss. Lol. So dinners are great because we have Margarita who only speaks Spanish, Francois who speaks French, and the Swiss girls who speak every friggin language of the world. It’s a very diverse house! (Margarita’s son, Miguel, also lives here and her other son Roberto has been here often, but he has his own apartment, so I don’t know why he is always here…)

So I live in a really upscale barrio. The street I walk down everyday has stores like Rolex, Giorgio Armani, etc. and they are super awesome! Today I went into a few and was surprised at the “low” prices. I mean they are still pretty expensive tiendas, pero not as expensive as, say, the Cherry Creek Mall. I went into the Armani store because I wanted to check out some cologne (Agua di Gio… which is on my wish list beeteedub if you wanna buy me some…☺) and was proud of myself because I talked to the sales clerk and was able to hold a conversation with fluency! She told me that this particular store doesn’t sell cologne but there was an Armani store near by that sells only colognes and perfumes. So that was cool. Then I went into another store that is awesome. I don’t remember the name of it, but I didn’t think the prices were too bad considering the posh-ness, chic-ness, and quality of the clothes. I’m definitely gonna do some major shopping soon! (And by major, I mean, buy like one item. Lol).

OMG, the littler girl outside my window who screams all the time is screaming again. She really needs to shut up. Like, now.

I’m supposed to be siesta-ing right now so I can charge up my energy for las discotheques esta noche, but I’m writing. So I’ll wrap this up soon. Speaking of clubs, omg, I’ll never be able to enjoy the Denver nightlife again. I don’t know why they call Miami the world’s playground when clearly Barcelona (sans Ibiza) is the place to be for nightlife. Ay dios mio, es una lastima! Even raves have nothing on the typical club in Barcelona. They’re great!

Ok, so I guess I can talk about my classes now. Well, the university is GORGEOUS. And by gorgeous, I mean, I’ve never seen a prettier place to study. The part of the building que es antigua is very beautiful and I will def take some pics soon. The part that is moderno is alright, but nothing special. Pretty boring, actually, but there are gardens in the old building that are just beautiful! And LOTS of stray cats. Hay muchos gatos alla. They all just roam the gardens, play around, and beg for food. I like ‘em.

I’m taking four classes; la historia y cultura de España, conversación, gramática y literatura. All the profs are pretty cool! The hardest prof for me to understand is the one from Dartmouth! My conversation prof is awesome! His name is Joan, which is the Catalan version of Juan, but pronounced differently. He doesn’t use vosotros and is a pretty chill guy, too. I am very pleased at how much I can understand in the classes. Granted today was just a lecturing day and we don’t have a lot of work yet, but I understand a lot more than I thought I would! The Spanish history is so amazing. It’s really great and interesting. I think I’ll enjoy that class. It’s fun taking classes in a completely different language—and yes, the classes are taught entirely in Spanish. In fact, some of my profs don’t even know English, so it’s impossible for them to communicate with us otherwise. I hope the term goes well.

Well, I really do need to tomar una siesta ahora porque I don’t want to be tired tonight. We are heading out as a group around 10:30 (but I don’t know why because that is so early) and we plan to shut down the clubs a las seis de la mañana. Pues, que tengas un buen día!

Hasta la próxima vez,

David.

Video Entry 1!

Hola Todos!

I don't remember what I wrote previously... I had a message, but it got erased. Anyway, here is a video update. Enjoy! lol.

Oh and I just met my host family! I was relocated because Roberto was too busy (I think) so I'm staying with his mother, Margarita. She is a very nice lady and lives in a great neighborhood!

Hasta la próxima vez,

David.

Jetting in T-58 Minutes (My plane just docked!)

Hola Todos!

I’m sitting here at Gate C36 in Denver International Airport waiting for my plane to arrive. As always, I got through security super quick. I always do (but when my bags went through the x-ray machine, they stopped the belt and the TSA officer had a puzzled expression on his face… that always happens too. I wonder what I always pack that looks suspicious!)! I got to the airport around 9:25 and am now blogging at 10:00. So much for needing two hours on an international flight! But hey, I guess it’s better safe than sorry!

I’m looking forward to arriving in Barcelona… but the amount of time it takes to get there daunts me! In 20 more hours my plane will be touching down in España. For everyone in Colorado, I will be arriving right before you wake up tomorrow! I’m not sure how the Northwest airplanes are, but I don’t think they have the same space and entertainment amenities, as does JetBlue., my favorite airline.

No one ever stamped my passport, so I don’t know when that will happen, but I did use it instead of my drivers license as an ID so at least it has had some use. Oh wait! OMG!! Haha, ok, so get this; I’m at the Northwest/Delta check-in counter and the guy is all, “oh, so you are going to Italy?” and I was like, “No, Amsterdam.” I thought he was talking about my layover flight… but he wasn’t! He thought Barcelona was in Italy! Now, that’s not that big of a deal because I definitely can’t fill out a world map with accuracy, but I did figure that since he works in an Airport, he would be familiar with some of the larger cities in the world… Imagine if he sent me or my luggage to Italy! That would totally suck. Oh well, everything is all good now. Except my backpack is super heavy and I don’t remember if I put the little back of shaving cream and toothpaste back in my suitcase after I brushed my teeth and shaved this morning… I guess I’ll find out when I arrive!

Ok, I guess I’ll let you go about your day now, thanks for reading!

Hasta la próxima vez,

David.

Almost Time To Go/ Introduction

Hey Y'all!!

So I'm almost ready to leave the States and head to Barcelona, Spain! I'm going to try and update this blog at least once a week while I am out there so that everyone can share my trip with me! Feel free to leave comments and whatnot and I'll try to figure out a way so that you can download any pictures I take!

Ok, so here is the first set of details:

I leave on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 11:20am from Denver, Colorado and have layovers in both Detroit, Michigan, and Amsterdam, Holland. Then I will arrive on Thursday, Sept 17 at 2:20pm in Barcelona, Spain (that's 6:20am Denver time).

I believe the total in-flight travel time is 13 hours, but from the time I step into DIA to the time I land in Barcelona is 21 hours! So I'm trying to prepare for a LONG travel time. But I hope everything goes well... in fact, my Aunt Ang helped me change my seats so I will be seating next to a window on the long flight (Detroit to Amsterdam = 8 hours) instead of in between two people in the center aisle as original assigned. Plus my mother gave me a travel pillow so I hope I can sleep comfortably for that eight hours!

Well, it's late and I have to wake up early if I plan to clean everything and pack my bags in time for my flight!! (My dad will be happy once my messes are FINALLY clean... but that's another story!). Oh, and just in case you are wondering, I am taking a medium sized suitcase, a small duffle bag, and my school back pack. I hope that will pack enough stuff to last me for three months! But if you know me at all... I pack more than that for a weekend getaway... Yikes!!

Hasta la próxima vez,

David.