Catching Up (Again)

I apologize for my extended absence, but things have been ultra-busy this week here in Barcelona. With a midterm, an oral exam, and limited access to wi-fi at the dorm, blogging has not been too high on my list of priorities. Fear not though, because I am back and some good blog posts are in your future! I am currently sitting in the Barcelona airport waiting to board a flight to London (yes, London!) and I decided to use this time to reflect on the past week.

Sunday

Sunday morning came early (as usual) as, if you remember, Sarah and I had signed up for a 10K earlier that week. We meant to go pick up our packets and learn how to get to the race on Saturday, but we opted out of that in favor of spending more time at the beach. While I do not regret that extra hour or two at the beach, we definitely paid for it on Sunday morning as we were stressing out about how in the world we were supposed to get to the race. We managed to take the right line, but we got off five stops too late. Google Maps had failed us yet again as it told us to get off at Fondo (I know, this makes a lot of sense to you!) when we should have gotten off at the San Andreu stop. We ended up walking at least three miles through a not-so-nice area of town after riding the metro with people coming home from the night before. What an experience! We finally made it to the mall, La Maquinista, to pick up our race numbers and shirts, and we were ready to begin the race! We were facing two laps around a neighborhood that we had been warned was not the most scenic, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I ended up getting fourth in my age group! One place away from receiving some type of award! I guess I better run faster for the next one, which is taking place on July 1st in the Vila Olimpica. I am so excited!

After a shower, some Facebook, and a little bit of studying, we headed off to the Barcelona Cathedral to attend what we thought was going to be the 6:00 service. Evidently it was some special day in Catalunya, Corpus Christi, and the service was being held outside starting at 6:30. Sarah and I managed to get a seat, and though I didn't understand one word of the service (it was conducted in a mix of Latin and Catalan -- two languages of which I know nothing), it was still very beautiful and we had some of the sweetest people sitting around us. It was a good way to kick off what was about to be a very busy week!

Barcelona Cathedral

Monday and Tuesday were normal days at school, we didn't do much in the way of outside activities because for one, we had papers to write and studying to do, and we also felt ourselves getting very rundown and we felt as though we needed to get some good rest if we were going to be in tip-top shape to conquer the weeks ahead.

I did manage to have a conservation with one of the IES staff members for one of my class assignments. We had to ask a staff member to tell us a story about a trip they took, their job, their husband or wife, and when appropriate, we would respond with things like "No, really?," "No way!," "Then what happened?," and the like. Of course, it was all in Spanish! I was definitely nervous, but I found that I understood more than I thought I would. Who would have thought, I really am learning something here!

Wednesday

Wednesday was our weekly run with the IES Jogging Club, and this week we tackled a few hills. Josep, the leader of the jogging club, assured us that the hills would be small. Well, we ended up running up the stairs of Montjuic, a mountain near the beach in Barcelona. It is no small feat, and though we did not go all the way up the mountain, we went up pretty darn high. It was tough, but I really enjoyed it. Changing up my workouts is imperative to keep myself from feeling bored. It also provided us with some spectacular views of Barcelona -- I was such a fan! After a small break and some admiration of the scenery, we headed back down the mountain (love that downhill) and back to IES so we could gather our belongings, take the metro home and begin what was going to be a long night. Sarah and I put off doing laundry all week, which bit us in the butt because we needed some of our dirty clothes to pack for our trip this weekend. We decided to shower, put our laundry in the machines, eat dinner, put our clothes in the dryer, pack, and then start studying. Well, it really was a great plan, except for the small issue of having no wi-fi. The past two nights at our dorm have consisted of spotty Internet connection, which makes studying for exams and writing research papers a tad bit difficult. Fortunately, we didn't really need the Internet, but it is crazy how much of a comfort it is to have. I felt anxious all night not having access to my email (okay, Facebook and Twitter, too).

Elizabeth, Me, and Sarah 

Back up to the doing laundry part of the night. Sarah and I headed down to the laundry room around 8:45pm. We loaded up the machines, expecting them to work as they were supposed to. Well, Sarah's did. Mine, not so much. The machine next to mine was working, but there was one little problem: someone's clothes were still in it. I really needed to do laundry, as the laundry room closed at 10:00pm, so I did it. I took this person's clothes out of the machine, put them into my original machine, and put my clothes into his machine. I figured he probably wouldn't notice, right? Wrong. He came in right as I was staring into my (his) machine, waiting for my clothes to finish. The look on his face was priceless, but thankfully he didn't say anything about it. I was pretty embarrassed, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose!

Now, Sarah and I are sitting in the airport, with about half an hour until we board, freaking out with excitement over the fact that we will be in London in a few short hours. Our trip to the airport was relatively uneventful, but once we arrived in what we thought was our terminal, our flight information was nowhere to be seen. Not what we needed. Luckily, someone happened to see our tickets and he directed us to Terminal C, the terminal about as far away from the rest of the airport as you can possibly get. Thankfully, security was about the easiest thing I have ever experienced, as was going through customs. See you guys in London, and don't worry, I will provide day-by-day updates about our stay here -- we have quite a long list of things to accomplish, but we think with some serious planning and strategizing, we can do it! See you from the UK!


Due to having only 15-minutes of Internet access, I was unable to post this from the Barcelona airport, but I am currently sitting in my bed and breakfast and let me tell you, I am already obsessed with London, rain and all! Good day!

View from the plane