Setting the stage!

Hi!!! Friends, family...I miss you all so much!!! But....

.....I LOVE IT HERE!!!

I´m so sorry that I´m late in getting this blog started! I´ve been so caught up here, living the life of a Catalan! What´s a Catalan? I´ll start off with a little explanation of Barcelona to get you acquainted....

Barcelona is the capital of Catalunya which is a region of spain consisting of 5 different cities. Here, they speak in Catalan which is latin, very similar to French and Italian and COMPLETELY different from Spanish. Fortunately, most people in the city can speak Spanish as well. Catalans have strong pride for this region, to such an extreme that they are striving to be separated from Spain altogether to form their own country. I had NO knowledge of any of this prior to coming to Barcelona so this has been a very interesting learning experience for me!

The city has a very ¨homie¨feeling. It´s metropolitan, but doesn´t have huge skyscrapers everywhere--rather beautifully crafted, intricate detailed buildings. Many of the buildings have significant meanings because they were created by famous Spanish artists. One of the most influential artists in this city is Gaudí (I´ve posted some pictures of his creations on webshots).

A huge part of the city´s infrastructure is the metro. I take it everywhere every day of the week! In the mornings, people pack in like sardines...it´s ridiculous! The bus is pretty useful as well. Now that I´m getting to know the city better, I´m starting to take advantage of the bus more and more.

Life in Spain is VERY relaxed. And it´s true, they have siesta from 2-5pm every day. Larger stores don´t close, but all of the little shops and markets do! At all hours of the day, you will find people relaxing in cafés, drinking café con leche (espresso and milk) and eating a croissant or some sort of pastry! Dinner is typically around 9:30pm, but it´s not unlikely for people to have dinner at 11pm.

In general, life here is very different than in the United States!!!