This past weekend

This past weekend Joel had a couple Singaporean friends who are currently studying in Lisbon come to visit. On Sunday, we set out to Parc Guell to hang out and get some pictures. The weather was beautiful and the view was amazing, but of course my camera battery was dead. However, Joel got some pictures for me with his sweet camera. The day before Barcelona had hurricane force winds that did some real damage around the city. We went in the side entrance of Park Guell and there were fallen trees everywhere (see Julien below on fallen tree). We practically had to hike through the park, climing over fallen trees and making our own paths. When we finally made our way back down to the main part of the park we were greeted by two police officers who promptly kicked us out. Apparently, the park had been closed the whole time! It was kind of a bummer, but I'm sure we'll make it back to see the whole park soon. We then made our way down to the beach and were greeted by an older drunk gentlemen on his balcony who was performing his own strip show for the tourists below. Needless to say it was very....interesting. After we were bored of his "performance" we made our way to a restaurant for some Paella and Sangria, a traditional Spanish dinner.

Mas Fotos

Mike, Me, and Miami at Shoko Disco

Mike Super Happy at the Barca gameSagrada Familia by night

Casa Batllo by Gaudi

Plaza Verdaguer near my flat

More Pics

Street in the Center of Barca

People Dancing to Street Performers

Joel loves the old Spanish ladies

1 Block from our Apartment

Free Kick

Some pics

Finally, a few pictures! The internet at the school is terrible so it takes forever to upload. Anyway, the first picture is of my bedroom. The second is of one of the views off our balcony of la Avenida Diagonal. The third is me! on the balcony. The fourth is a picture of us eating and drinking with my roommates Joel (Left-Singapore) and Julien (right-France). The last picture is my living room (note the great sun). Unfortunately, that's all I have time for, be on the look-out for more soon!

Getting Adjusted

This past week has been very eventful. We have had a chance to get to know and go out with several of the other exchange students from Singapore, Italy, Finland, France, Canada, and Mexico. We've also made several new American friends as well. Hopefully, we can get more regular access to the internet soon and I can post some pictures, but as for now, I only have internet at school. There is a lot for us to do, as lots of club promoters cater to Americans, so they are always sending us invitation on Facebook to something every single night. The city is expensive but we're slowly figuring out where to eat, drink, etc.

The other night we got out of the metro to meet a friend and happened upon a HUGE protest against Israel and the latest attacks on Palestine. It was loud and long and I wish I would have had my camera. Last night, we got to watch the NFL Playoff game between the Giants and the Eagles at this place called "Sportsbar," go figure. Hopefully, we can catch some Tarheel games there, especially since they lost the last 2 games that I wasn't able to see. Alright, well I suppose I'll start paying attention here in my Business Economics class....over and out.

Primeros Dias

Hello from Barcelona. The trip over was pretty smooth, can´t complain too much. I left RDU for Baltimore at 1:15 and arrived about an hour after. My friend Mike and his mom picked me up at the airport and brought me back to their house in Laurel Maryland. We had a light dinner and then they drove us to Washington Dulles airport and we flew out to London at 9:25. The flight was great, British Airways provides you with eye pillows, blankets, socks, and a pillow and a free snack, meal and wine. I sat next to a young couple that live in London and we had a great conversation about all kinds of stuff over a couple mini-bottles of wine. I didn´t sleep much, but it was fine. We were delayed in London for a couple hours, but were able to get online and get in contact w/ our friend in Barca to let him know. We finally got to Barca at 4pm and our friend Cesc picked us up at the airport and drove us to the apartment. We met our Singaporean roommate Joel and a couple other kids from UNC who were visiting and got some Xurros (catalan for Churros, fried dough snacks w/ hot chocolate). Then, Cesc´s friend Nacho came over and brought us all passes to go to the FC Barcelona match vs. Mallorca that night. It was absolutely amazing! Barca won 3-1 with Thiery Henry, Andrès Iniesta, and Yaya Touré all scoring. It was fascinating to watch how passionate everyone is about their teams and observe all the traditions that go along with sporting events here.

We`ve been able to meet up with all of the other exchange students and my good friend Matt (Miami) from UNC. We all went out to a discoteca at the beach last night and got to know each other. The other students are from Mexico, France, Italy, Finland, Singapore, and Canada. Once the internet becomes a little more accessible I will post some pictures. Take care!