First Day in Barcelona

1-08-07
    We arrived in Barcelona at 6:00 on Sunday night. After a long plane ride, with a stopover in London, we were happy to finally be here! There were a ton of students studying in Barcelona on our flight from London and I even ran into a good guy friend of mine that I went to Hebrew school with. When we got here, we took a cab from the airport to the hotel, Hotel Barcelo Sants, and got settled in our rooms. Noelle wasn't feeling good so Ashley and I let her sleep while we walked around outside the hotel, which is located above the train station, to find something to eat. It is VERY different than America but we loved it right away. We walked down little alleys and attempted to read the menus that were in 'Catalan'. We ended up eating at this little cafe and I, not finding anything that looked appretizing anywhere, just got a cheese pizza (my first night in spain and I ate a cheese pizza). Ashley ate a Gyro... or whatever they are called. We walked back and stopped in an internet cafe where I called mom and dad to let them know I was here and safe.
     We forced ourselves to sleep in an attempt to avoid jet lag, with the help of sleeping pills, and woke up at around 11. We met our program adviser in the lobby and received our cellphones. We also met up with two girls that we met the night before in our program, Lisa and Nichole, that go to school at UCSB. They are really nice and we decided to all get ready and go out for the day. We walked around right outside the train station again and ate at a really cute little cafe where we had a pasta salad with tomatoes and mozzerella cheese. Then the five of us took the metro (successfully) to 'El Corte Ingles' which is the major department store in Barcelona that literally has everything!!! Even MAC make-up... I was soo happy.
     We walked around there for a little bit and all the buildings are just so interesting and different. The people have been really nice and welcoming. Most people speak spanish and I am trying my best to communicate, as are the other girls.
     We just got back a little while ago and it is now 7:30. We sat downstairs with our program director, Jordan, and adviser, Julia. We just chatted with them and asked them a million questions about the upcoming semester. They told us that we have a great apartment in the middle of everything and just a lot of really great info that got us all really excited. They are sooo nice and feel more like friends than advisers. 
     We have our group dinner tonight and then orientation tomorrow, then we get to move into our apartments and out of the hotel... whew!
    Until tomorrow...