this is hard to see but it is in fact my reflection in the window with that strange mannequin behind the glass

Picasso Quotes

My 20th Century Painters profe is constantly spitting out quotes from Picasso.  I love them!  Here are a few of my favorites:

"It takes a long time to become young"

"Whenever there is something to steal, I steal it"

"It is better to copy others than to copy oneself"

"I do not search, I find"

"If inspiration comes to me, I want it to find me at work"

"It took me my whole life to paint as a child"

The wind has left us for the most part and the sun has returned.  I have started running consistently again and I love it!!  I think I have been away from it for long enough that I know that no matter what, running will always be a part of my life no matter how much I want to pretend I don't need it.  There is a beautiful running path right near my apartment and it is so convenient.  I have been running there every day along with an overwhelming large number of males.  Chicas running doesn't really seem to be a popular thing here, its more about smoking a lot and looking skinny.  Alas I am glad to be addicted to running instead of cigarettes.

My classes are going well and for the most part I am really enjoying them.  My 20th Century Painter profe is especially entertaining and I cannot help but feel inspired every time I leave his class.  He is so excited about the subject and so excited about learning!  It's infectious!

This weekend Karina and I are headed to Granada.  It is supposed to rain but I think we will have fun anyways.  We seem to be able to have fun no matter what the circumstances.  I am consistently grateful and amazed at how lucky I got in having such an awesome roommate.  You spend so much time with your roommates here that if I didn't have such a great one I think I would probably be rather lonely.  As it is we snuggle in each others beds and watch  movies, do homework, or talk to our host mom in Spanish.  It's great!!  I can't believe it has already been almost 3 weeks- it has flown by and we are starting to realize that 4 months is not actually as long as it seems.  I am trying to take advantage of every second possible.  

The wind is blowing at over 100km per hour here in Barcelona on this beautiful Saturday!  Its crazy, this morning at around 10, the door to the terrace slammed shut and the glass shattered!  We now are lacking a door :).  Our house mom says it is "muy original, muy moderno" (as you can guess in english that means very original, very modern)  and then just laughs hysterically.   The blinds were also bent in this process and they stick out at a funny ninety degree angle :).  It is a funny day because we wanted to go to Sagrada Familia and go up the elevator but there is no way that can happen now because of all this ridiculous wind!  There were palm trees blown over in the streets on the news and we are about to venture outside for ourselves and see what it is really like.  Our senora says it is never this windy here- strange weather this winter in BCN.  Oh well, we are off to make the most of another Saturday, hopefully at Casa Mila, a house built by the infamous Gaudi himself.  Adios  

I have officially finished my first full week of class!!  It was surprisingly easy- I think that might have something to do with the fact that the classes are so much shorter than I am used to and that I changed one of my classes so it doesn't start until the first week in February.  It is an art history class- in Spanish- yikes!!  But I think it will be good for me.  How else am I supposed to learn Spanish?  So, so far so good.  I think my classes will all be very interesting and I will have plenty of time to explore and wander, which I seem to be very good at these days.  

I had lunch with Kwin today because he is in Barcelona for work and got to see his lab and meet all of the people who work here.  They are all great and I went out to eat at a nice restaurant for the first time here which was delicious!  It was fun and funny to be with family in such a random place!  This afternoon after lunch I just wandered around and met up with my good friend Lena who is studying here for the year and we had a great time catching up.  I feel like I am finally getting a feel for the city which is a great feeling.  I definitely do not know where everything is but I am getting a more general idea.  This weekend should be really fun- no plans yet but there is always something exciting to do!!

I have now lived in Spain for approximately one week!!  I can't believe it- it seems like I am on permanent vacation, which I guess in reality is truly the case.  The city is magical, around every corner there is something new and wonderful to behold and there is just so much to do!  Since I have never lived in a big city before the sheer number of activities is really refreshing, and I actually can't wait to start classes tomorrow, just to have a little more structure in my life.  I am also ready to meet some more people in my program and i am hoping there are going to be some amazing people in some of my classes.  So far I have been very lucky in that I have an absolutely wonderful roommate but it has been hard to find other people here who really want to learn Spanish, learn about the culture, and really explore.  By slowly and surely I am finding more wonderful people and I am hoping the trend will continue.  I have now met all the people here in Barcelona who also go to CC and they are all great!  I can't wait to get to know them better- one of them is in my Spanish class!  

We went to the beach yesterday and though it wasn't warm enough to do anything but sit on a bench in the sun and read, it was so nice to be outside warming our faces and watching the sailboats go by.  Today, one of my good friends from home came back to Barcelona (she is studying abroad here for the year) and we got to see her and her cute apartment and explore her neighborhood, called Borne.  It is a great place and I am excited to go back there and check out all the local spots as the semester goes on.  I am glad to have a friend from home here to spend time with because I think there will be times when I need to reflect on home and on CC and now I have people here from both places. YAY!!!!  I'm off to bed now since I have to get up early for my first full day of class but I am going to attempt to post some pictures and a video of my apartment.  Whether is works or not is yet to be seen .  Adios de Barcelona! 

I have arrived in Spain!!  I cannot believe that I am actually going to live here for the next four months.  Barcelona is a beautiful city, full of crazy art and architecture, a mixture of new and old, and full of people!!  I had my first spanish class today, it was beginner two, and it was really too easy for me so I switched into Intermediate Intensive which means I have class for three hours, three times per week.  I am really excited to learn so that I can actually speak the language.  

I live with a host family- really only a host mom but she is absolutely wonderful.  She is super nice and very helpful and she has been hosting students for 19 years so she has really got the system down.  I have two roommates and we share and apartment upstairs while our host mom sleeps downstairs with a French exchange student and a young Spanish guy who works in Barcelona.  We all eat dinner together which is really fun because we are really forced to speak Spanish and practice the language all the time!  I am about 15 minutes away from school on the metro, which has a stop right next to our apartment, and school is right downtown.  It is really nice and has all the amenities we could ever need including, a computer lab, printers, doctors, etc.  

This week is just Spanish class and getting to know our classmates, but next week "real school" begins.  Hopefully I will do some serious exploring this week and weekend so I can get to know the city better!!  Besos