Vroom, vroooooom!

I have recently decided that I must become a biker chick...no, not the kind of leather-clad, covered head to toe in tattoos kind of biker chick...a classy European biker chick.  Whilst once again perusing the racks in H&M, i noticed a girl near me, about the same age, carrying her purchases in a shiny white motorcycle helmet. she just had this look going for her, skinny jeans, leather jacket, nose pierced.  I don't know why this struck me as especially cool, nor why i decided that it must be the motorcycle that gave her such a fashionable appearance, but it did.   Thus, my new-found desire for a street bike upon return stateside (because if i tried to drive around here i'd either die or kill someone, so better to wait and do it in my own backyard...)  And now, since my car has been getting into a little bit of trouble since my departure, i'm thinking motorcycle could definitely be a possibility.... :) hopefully at least a matter up for discussion...

 I have almost finished week one of intensive classes with CIEE, and Friday will be our midterm exam.  I'm really enjoying the class, although it is 4 hours long....the break in the middle for coffee and chocolate croissants helps to make the last two hours go by pretty fast (you know what they say about a spoonful of sugar!)  Saturday is our first cultural experience outing as a group.  We will be going for a hike on a nearby mountain, and dining at some restaurant along the way.  The food is the cultural part...we will be eating "calçots", or cooked leeks drenched in some sort of special sauce.  Maria tells me to wear clothes i dont particularly like because the stains are bad and the smell is worse...sounds like a great time to me!  hope you all are enjoying the snow back home, and the sun in other parts of the country/world! hopefully the weather perks up soon here. i'm anxious to visit the beach!  hopefully talk to you soon! love and miss you all, ~Keri


PS. my address, for anyone who wants it, is:

Maria Hidalgo
Compte Borell 56
Barcelona, Spain 08015

just write my name on the envelope somewhere and it will be delivered to me! :)

Rebajas!

Here in Barcelona, January is el mes de rebajas, a whole month dedicated to discounts!  And believe me, everything can, and is, on sale.  What qualifies as "on sale" for some people however, chopping the price of a shirt from Custo Barcelona from 180€ to a much lower 135€, doesn't necessarily work for poor college students like me.  But have no fear, in the city, there are stores for everyone, and the rebajas are especially hard to avoid.  Boots for 15€, accessories for 2, dresses for 6€ (I now have two), everything is on sale and easily catches the eye.  So this is the daily schedule that I have been following for the past week or so: get up and go to class until 2, eat lunch with a few program kids til about 3, then, with intentions of running a few quick errands, spend 4 hours walking around the streets of Barcelona, unable to pass by a Mango, or Zara or H&M without taking a "quick" look around.  But I have to say, I have done pretty good for myself, keeping my purchases mostly below 10€, and only for the most essential items, of course. And with the amount of walking that shopping in this city takes, who needs the gym? after a waffle covered in melted Nutella, or a little cup of coffee gelatto, a walk around the stores is all it takes, and you're good as new...maybe even ending up with a cute scarf or something. sounds like quite the deal to me! Alas, I realize my back account isn't exactly bottomless [unless Mom and Dad are feeling generous] so I must cut down to the bare essentials, lunch and metro passes, because the 2 minute ride to school on the metro beats the 10 minute walk on the cold streets, any day (plus it gives me a little more sleeping time). 

Don't yet know what the plans for this week might be, besides doing some cultural thing with onions on Saturday...but I suppose we shall find out soon enough!

Much love to all!

A change of pace

so clearly I'm not so good at this writing everyday thing...but I decided it's only because in the past couple of days, I actually haven't done anything that worthy of my theme, which thus far has been the "dumb foreign college student".  Yes, I am actually getting the hang of the metro, understanding/speaking more Spanish, and people even have stopped me on the street to ask for directions.  I'm not gonna lie, that makes me feel pretty cool...for about half a second until I realize I actually can't answer their question, I only know my own routes (by landmarks, not street names).  Oh well, I suppose I have a couple months still to figure it out.  Anyways, for a change of pace, there will be no embarrassing stories about my Barcelona bloopers in this post, unless I randomly remember something...
Since my last post, I have had two sessions of my intensive writing and grammar course.  And I actually really like it. My teacher is really laid back, but engaging.  The class is small, 10 students, so it's a lot less intimidating than I expected of an "intensive" course.  i guess the 4 hour daily sessions are what make it intensive.  But anyways, I have gotten to know a couple of people (yes, I actually have talked to strangers and made some friends, Mom.) and am especially excited for my new friend, Kori from Colorado.  When we were introducing ourselves to the class, Rafa (our teacher) asked her where her name came from.  She replied "a book...it's called The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom." Only two weeks ago, on my missions trip to Costa Rica, I was feeling very nervous about coming to Spain, and adjusting to the change of scenery from my Christian friends and classes in the "Gordon Bubble".  I really wanted to look for a church to go to for the semester, but I am super shy, and dislike going to new churches by myself, so naturally I was feeling pretty anxious, trying not to worry about it, knowing that God had it all under control.  So when Kori mentioned the origin of her name, although I suppose I was jumping to conclusions, I was relieved.  And after talking to her a little more, finding out that she indeed is also a Christian, worrying and praying about the same things I was, I am now even more convinced of His perfect plan. Plus I'm really excited that I won't have to go to church by myself  :)

In other news, my birthday came and went, although this year it sort of lasted 30 hours instead of 24, and at last I am 20, the year that really doesn't mean anything (as I have been told...).  I did a little shopping, a very little, finally got to go out for tapas with our small group, and did a little dancing afterwards.  All in all, it was a good birthday, apart from missing all you guys back home.  By the way, thanks so much for all the birthday wishes! :)  Today, Andrea and I got up with intentions of going to La Sagrada Familia (if you don't know what it is, google it...very cool) because it's free admission for Saturdays in January, but by 12 they weren't letting anyone else in.  So instead we ventured in the opposite direction, toward the ocean.  We ate lunch, waked around la Parc de Ciutadella, and through the Arc de Triumf, of course snapping a few photos along the way.  Although it was a measly 45 degrees outside (which I realize doesn't exactly compare to the weather back home, but I prepared for warmer...) it was a nice day to be out exploring.  However, I'm sure when the 75 degree weather rolls around in March, I will enjoy walking around much more :)  Well, time for me to say goodnight.  Thanks so much for your prayers and birthday wishes! Love and miss you all lots!

I once was lost....and so were my keys

Today I was excited to have a little more time to explore Barcelona.  Andrea and I had talked last night and decided to meet at her house around 11 am.  I would walk to her place because I knew how to get to the area, and it wouldn't be a bad walk. so, at promptly 11:15 i left my house to meet andrea for a little bit of shopping. i was pretty impressed with myself when I got to la plaza universitat, where andrea lives, but soon after less impressed when i realized i didn't actually know where she lives, aka, here address. so i walked around looking at house numbers, relieved to see the right street name, but as i walked around the block realized the street numbers skip...while i stood there wondering why one side had houses 1-4 and the next side 61-58 it occurred to me that its probably because they are different streets....okay so i'm clearly not a city girl...anyways, after 40 minutes of walking back and forth, up, down and around (a couple of times), i decided to sit on one of the benches near the plaza. basically on the verge of tears, wondering if i should just return home or how the heck i was going to find my friend, i noticed the street across from me was Plaza universitat also...i walked closer to the street and sure enough, saw andrea walking towards me. so i basically sprinted over to her, excited to see a familiar face after circling around like the sad little lost american girl that i was.  we laughed a little about the situation and she presently showed me exactly where she lived, for next time. fast forward through a little shopping, chatting with a few students from the UB and another 2 hours of orientation to walking home from the hotel with andrea.  I'm definitely getting more confident with directions, so we make a good pair, i'm the navigator and she just talks to people. anyways, we found our way from the hotel to andrea's place and decided to walk to my house so she could see where I was staying.  all was well and good until we got to my house. i had andrea wait downstairs because we're really not supposed to bring people over, and i went inside to drop off a few things and see what the plan for the night was. when i finally figured out how to open the door, i let myself in and realized  no one was home.  so i dropped all my stuff off in my room and went back down to andrea.  then, horrified, i realized that when i dropped all my stuff off, i really dropped all my stuff off, including the keys to my house. so now, i was locked out of the house, had no number to reach Maria at and no cell phone to call a number as it was.  luckily we had bought a phone for andrea earlier so i called the CIEE office helpline for dumb american students who do dumb things like this. after a frustrating chat with the receptionist there, only frustrating because she couldnt understand my name, i finally got Maria's number, called her from andreas phone, and left a message explaining the situation.  by that time, we had taken the metro (my first ride) back to andreas house, stopped at the cell phone store and bought a sim card for the phone that Maria had given me yesterday.  as we sat in the plaza, on the same bench i had been sitting as a lost little girl earlier today, Maria called back to say she was home and that it wasnt a big deal. so i took the metro back to my place.  all i could think was "at least i have some good stories for today's post..." :) tomorrow i start my first class here, and intensive writing class from 10-2 everyday for the next 2 weeks...should be interesting. i'll let you know how it goes, and maybe have a couple more stories for you all tomorrow. hasta manana!

PS. am i writing too much? i'm new to this whole blogging thing and i have a problem with telling really long stories...lo siento.