It's with a C.

Hola de BarcelonETA!!
I am at Calle Pescadores 54 piso 1º4ª with an awesome housemate named Rahul. His brother keeps cooking for me as well (he lives upstairs) as Rahul, so every night I have had the most delicious Indian food! Yes, it's quite alright to be jealous of me :)

Three days ago when I got here, I tried to unpack all my things, but I was exhausted and had to do laundry and homework etc. Instead of unpacking everything I decided to take a long train ride to the Corte Inglés (a store like Macy's combined with Sears) by the dorms. BIG MISTAKE, I almost fell asleep on the train because I was so tired, and then when I got to my destination I realized that it was closed because it was Sunday! That pretty much killed my day. I would say that at least it didn't get any worse, BUT it did. As it turns out, I should have checked the weather forecast because as I was walking back to the station, I got rained on, nay POURED on.

On a positive note, I finished my summer classes yesterday and I have today through Sunday to enjoy myself at the beach. Right now it is clear skies and sunny, so when I finish my laundry I can hop down the road and hopefully get some sun.

It's getting so much nicer here now that most of the tourists have gone. Barcelona's Port Vell as well as the public beaches are much quieter, and now the surfing season has begun! Yes, I know- SURFING in the Mediterranean? Apparently from September to April you can surf, the winter being the peak season for it. I asked two guys on the train today where they surf here because I sure as hell haven't seen any waves, and they told me at pretty much any of the beaches. So today I think I will walk down the boardwalk and keep my eyes open for both surfers and waves. Gaston will be thrilled to hear that the weeks he is coming are the weeks best for surfing...

Now that we're pretty much caught up I have to talk a little bit about my experience today, registering for my Catalan class in Catstella- thats my word for Castellano (Spanish) mixed with Catala (Catalan)- like Spanglish is Spanish/English. So anyway I woke up extra early to get to the building before the lines started, because the early bird gets the worm, right? WRONG!

By golly, did I forget my passport? Yes! I mean we weren't exactly told to bring it to register, but I should have figured that it would have been a safe bet to bring it. Early I was, and prepared I wasn't. Like the other day, I had to get back on the train and go home. This time though, I had to get back to my destination, and before 1pm, which gave me very little time due to the construction on the train line I have to take, and the transfer, and I had to eat something.

So I found the cutest little bakery/ snack shoppe and it turns out the owners are Argentinian, which means- they have kickass Alfahores, no offense intended to my Peruvian boyfriend, but these were even better than the ones in Peru. These were not soggy, not doughy, they were perfectly baked- slightly soft but you can bite into without a mouth full of dough. They had a great amount of Manjar Blanco (Dulce de Leche), and then, THENNNN they were rolled in coconut flakes, so that the sides were dusted with a hint of coconut. I bought one and ate it after my napoleon keesh (ham, tomato, cheese, egg in a pie slice covered in filo dough).

After I almost cried due to the deliciousness of the brunch, I headed back to the building to register, this time with my passport. On the train I fell over onto a guy who was reading a book, and then backward and landed into a seat, an empty seat- phew! I was so embarrassed. I kept trying hard not to laugh because I kept thinking about how I must have looked and sounded saying AY PERDONA, AY ok, es ok, ya... then at my stop I got up and tripped and my shoes made a really loud squeak and everyone heard it and probably thought that I was going to fall again. Personally I don't think things are ironic, I just think that God has a sense of humor, but I guess one might call it ironic that the same guy I fell on, (almost twice) got off at the same stop and walked next to me for a good 5 minutes. Good thing I didn't display anymore clumsiness until after he was out of my view when I tripped up the stairs. I don't know what the hell was wrong with me this morning.

I got to the building in Sants and saw that the line was not long, but that there were only 2 counselors. Each were taking their sweet, sweet time and making conversation with everyone! I was losing my mind. I waited for an hour and a half and then finally I sat down and got down to business right away. After 5 minutes we were through- too bad everyone else didn't know what class they wanted, because the line would have gone much quicker.

Now, after shaving my legs in cold water, I am waiting for my laundry and then I will go to the beach, if I don't fall asleep first.

Later :)
Cat