fitness & fro-yo: Beachside Run

Hola mis amigos y amigas! Today was another wonderful day in the city of Barcelona. Sarah and I let ourselves sleep in a bit before starting our day, which was very relaxed and peaceful, yet still very fun.

We see lots of gelato and ice cream around here - yum!

Beautiful fountains, which you would think would be peaceful and relaxing, but there are pigeons that are friendlier than the pigeons in Austin - I didn't think that was possible!

Today was the second day of language orientation, tomorrow being the third and final day of it before our actual classes begin on Tuesday. During class I decided that I want to make the move from one Spanish class and one area class to a more Spanish intensive class that will meet four hours a day four days a week and will pick up where I left off at UT. The class in which I am currently enrolled has me skipping about a semester worth of material and while I would love to take an additional class while I am here, I think taking both "semesters" of Spanish will be more beneficial for me in the long run. One of my reasons for coming here was to really learn the language and to feel somewhat competent speaking it. I will attend that orientation tomorrow from 10:45am-12:45pm, and after that, Sarah and I have a very full and exciting day planned.

I'll stick to today for now though! I am really learning a lot in my language orientation, it is very much geared toward learning about the Spanish culture while also waking up our Spanish skills (mine definitely took a little nap this past semester)! We watched a movie about pickpocketing that told us who is the most vulnerable to becoming a victim to pickpocketing. The answer? Tourists who are together in families and tourists who are distracted by all of the magnificent sites surrounding them. We learned some of the cool places to go in and around Barcelona, we learned about the tipping policy (you don't!), and that you should absolutely not smile at strangers, as they will take that to mean something else entirely. That has been difficult for me as I am generally a pretty smiley person, even to strangers. I guess I should stop that as a man in a taxi winked at Sarah and I today as we were walking from the metro station to the school!

After my language orientation, Sarah and I took the opportunity to walk around the famous Las Ramblas - specifically going into El Corte Ingles - a store that seems to be on every corner (no joke - there are three within a two-minute walk of one another in Las Ramblas) and that has nine stories full of anything you could possibly think to buy. The contents in the store ranged from designer bags to hair straighteners to kitchen supplies to groceries. Seriously, everything. I purchased an Apple converter for my Mac, as I didn't have a piece to my charger that allowed me to use my other converter - rookie mistake - and I also purchased a bigger tube of toothpaste and a mini notebook to take notes of all the different things that I need to see and do as someone mentions them to me. More exciting shopping news for you guys - Longchamp purses are so much cheaper here than in the States, I will definitely be purchasing one (or two!) before I leave to come home. However, I have heard that they are even cheaper in Paris, and luckily for Sarah and I, we are planning to go there. Yay shopping! In other exciting shopping news, H&M is so prevalent here in Europe - seriously, we have already seen two of them and they are both HUGE! I will definitely be making many purchases here, it is a store that I don't get to experience too often in the United States!

One of the "El Corte Ingles" locations

A second location - and the one at which we shopped!

They are so huge!

After walking around a bit, Sarah and I headed back to the IES Center to kill some time before our "beachside fun run" that was scheduled to begin at 6. You know me, the big runner that I am, and I was so excited to see that they had this activity for us to do. We changed into our running clothes and set out for the terrace at the center to stretch and meet up with the other students and faculty members participating in the run. We set out to run about five miles, but I think I heard one of the faculty members say that we ran close to six! I can't tell you how good it felt to be outside and running again - I felt so at home and though I hadn't run that distance in a while, it felt great to get my legs movin'! It didn't hurt that our views were spectacular - seriously, they took my breath away and Sarah and I were so excited to discover these sites, so much so that we are going back tomorrow to enjoy lunch on the beach! The faculty members said they plan on making this a weekly event, and I hope to learn the route so I can complete a few runs there myself. It was so peaceful and I really felt very safe with so many people around - I know my parents are concerned about that one! All in all, it was a wonderful day, and we can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! It should be a fun one, starting from the very moment we wake up in the morning! Good night - or good afternoon to all of you who are reading from the States!