Arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro!

Wow... I'm ashamed. More than a week of being inactive on the blog. Sorry all! Thanks to everyone who has messaged me at some point about liking my blog... I really do appreciate it and at least I know my efforts (or lack there of as of late) aren't going to waste. All right: instead of doing the in-depth posts that I usually do, I'm going to do a quick bulletpoint list of some of the activities. If you want more info on any of these days, just let me know! Hopefully, I'll be able to remember most of the events. Here we go:

Friday:
-completely useless orientation that we all had to wake up early for
-left for Tarragona, which took 2 hours by train
-arrived at this rural village, right outside of Tarragona where we stayed for Fri and Sat night
-"Cal Compete" was the name of the place we stayed, which was this really nicely renovated house that was anything but rural: the accommodations were absolutely amazing and we had the BEST dinner there (I tried goat cheese and veal for the first time: loved both, the cheese more so)
-the weather was unusually cold, with it snowing a little and slush on the ground

Saturday:
-went to see a monastery and watched a video about how the monks used to live
-then went to a winery: saw how wine is made with all of the equipment, then had a wine tasting (I bought a few bottles of the ones I liked the most)
-had a ridiculously long lunch once again and we all went into food comas afterwards. They have this crazy wine jug with 2 ends: one is used to pour and the other tapers off to a point, so that you need to catch the stream of wine into your mouth... it was awesome and I got tipsy off it (whoops...)
-walked around this little village that didn't have much of anything around. Carlota decided to take the most dangerous routes walking around and Nadjeda slipped down this slope that was covered in this slick moss... it was pretty funny actually
-found out Chris can do an amazing Chris Farley impression

Sunday:
-got a full tour of the house that we were staying at. The owners decided to buy it because if not, foreigners were going to renovate it and they wanted to preserve their culture. The house had a lot of historical value and I even saw a ridiculously old urinal that soldiers used during the Spanish Civil War
-took our bus to Tarragona
-went to the amphitheater, where there used to be gladiators who would fight lions and bears. The view was absolutely amazing.
-went to a museum, in which we watched a completely romanticized movie in english about the Roman Empire's influence in Tarragona. Then we walked in the museum which featured numerous objects from the time period. The most impressive were the displays made using stones and precious gems, which were placed strategically in the concrete to make intricate designs
-walked through the city and ened up seeing the place where the chariot races used to take place
-went to an italian restaurant for lunch and had some of the best pasta of my life!
-walked around more and then took the 1.5 hour train ride back

Monday:
-started intensive spanish class. I'm in the Advanced II class which runs for 2.5 hours every day for the first 2 weeks. Shoot me now. The only thing that makes this class bearible is the fact that my professor, Maria, is pretty hot.
-started my UPF class in english. It's called Labour Markey Policies. It's a Political Science class in theory, but it's turning out to be more and more econ. My professor is from Geneva and talks with an accent. I asked him during the break if I should be in the class, since I've only taken Intro to Econ (yay Miggy Ramirez!). He said that the language skills vary, as does the econ experience so I don't need to worry. In this class, I've also befriended a girl named Antonia who's from the UK. It's nice to talk with someone during the break in English.
-started my Spanish Conversation class. Like Intensive, it runs every day for the first two weeks. It's 1.5 hours every day except for Fridays, where it's 2 hours (no other program has Conversation on Friday). What makes this class bearable is the fact that its.... fun. Magnolia is the name of our professor and she's so nice and energetic. She keeps us engaged and likes to pick on me and Chris (as of late, mainly Chris).
-went to a Jazz club at night with Iolanda, Chris, Caitie P, Laz, and Lauren. The music was great and we each got a free beer, which is brewed by this local brewery. Afterwards, we met up with Carlota and had tapas. Carlota is actually a lot nicer that she comes off as... She even told me to order another beer after dinner because it would help me sleep better. Oh yeah, I also ate octopus...

Tuesday-Thursday:
-nothing out of the ordinary happened. Also, I can't remember what happened. Whoops...

Friday:
-after Intensive, walked across the street to El Cafe. I had lunch and stayed there for 2.5 hours, reading my book. I'm reading the book "The Year of Living Biblically." It's pretty hilarious and is a great read. It's follows a guy (an editor of Esquire) through his quest of living his life by the rules of the bible. He devotes 8 months to the Old Testament, and 4 months to the New Testament. Hilarity ensues after he follows the rules, such as stoning adulterers (he finds a guy and throws little pebbles at him from a distance... pretty awesome).
-at Conversation, we ended up having a ridiculously relaxed class which was nice. During a video clip, I ended up sprawling out on top of one of the tables.
-at dinner, ate lamb for the first time. Got a little sick afterwards... but I still enjoyed it.

Saturday:
-woke up and went to meet Jo, one of the professors in our program, to go visit the Miro museum. Only Lauren and I went which sucked, but actually turned out to be great because I learned to much more than I would have if there was a larger group. I also learned that I'm not a huge fan of all his work, but there were some pieces that I absolutely loved.
-had lunch with Lauren at Schilling, which was hilarious due to drunk Americans at the bar across the street. They saw us looking at them through the window and came over. One guy lifted his shirt and pressed his nipple against the class. I couldn't resist: I stroked it from the other side of the glass. Do I regret it? Well...
-walked around La Rambla and looked at all of the stores. Saw a guitar store and hopefully, I can buy a new classical guitar and bring it back to the States. Where else can I get a better classical guitar that Spain?
-videochatted with Bryce, Allison, and Sarah. All of them are doing well in their respective countries. Can't wait to go visit other countries soon!
-met up with Ms. Alyssa Simpson after dinner. We went to a bar and had a few glasses of wine. Then we went to this nice bar and met up with Melissa, her house mate Leo, Nadjeda, and Elizabeth. It was a fun night and I learned that I should stop drinking white wine because to me, it tastes like water... meaning I can drink it like water... bad decision. When taking the free shot, I learned what some people say in Spanish when taking a shot: Arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro! It translates to "up high, down low, in the center, and inside." Of course, you take the shot and hold it up, then bring it down, then put it in the middle, and then take it... fun!
-walked to this place at 2 AM and got durhams? I don't know if that was the name of it but it was ridiculously delicious. It's like a burrito that had spicy meat in it with vegetables. They were just about to close but were nice enough to let us get some to go. Great call Melissa.
-took a cab back... rather intoxicated by the time I made it back home

Sunday:
-woke up and... no hangover! I love that I'm never hungover...
-currently watching the Simpsons... in English
-going to start work soon...ish...

That's about it. I'll try to update more, so that: (a) you guys know what's going on in my life and (2) so that I can read this later on in life and remember the little details. (iii) Status: happy