Costa Brava

Hey all!

Sorry it's been a few days! I've been on the coast cut off from civilization for the weekend, but not to worry, I'm BACK.

Sooooo lets see, where to begin. Friday was orientation which was pretty standard. We went for a visit at UPF (the university we're studying at) and had a nice lunch. After that we all went to the beach for a little bit and hung out as a group. That night, I went with a few girls to some clubs by the beach and had a great night enjoying the night life of Barcelona! The only problem: getting 2 hours of sleep before having to jump on a train to Costa Brava and go on a million tours was a little rough. Needless to say I passed the train ride sleeping in a coma like state. I don't do well without sleep.... haha

So we got to Costa Brava around 1 o'clock and went to lunch at this really fancy place. I decided to be adventurous and get a whole fish (scales and all) for my meal. When in Rome right? I ended up eating more scales and bones than fish I think....but it was pretty good, although too much effort for my taste. After lunch we went to the Dali museum which was so cool but SO weird. He's a very strange artist and is obsessed with fallic symbols, so the museum was definitely a little out there haha. I have a bunch of pictures which I'll post soon! There was one room (the living room) where he created a couch in the shape of a woman's lips, a fire place in the shape of a nose, and had two large pictures of eyes. When you stood up on a platform and looked through a glass, the whole effect was a portrayal of May West's face. It was pretty epic.

After spending time in Figueres (where Dali was born) we went to our Casa Rural (rural house) to put our stuff away and take a nap. Then we had a delicious dinner prepared by the owners of the house and played a few games before calling it a night.

Sunday we went north near the border between Spain and France and visited the Museum of Exiles which gave a history of all those who were forced from Spain during WWII and Franco's regime. It was very interesting but also a bit sad. After a quick visit, we went to San Marti de Empuries which is a small coastal town with beautiful beaches. After soaking in the sun for a few hours (I now have an even BETTER tan than when I left :-) hahaha) we went to visit the ruins of the first Greek city in Spain called Empuries. There was also Roman ruins that we visited. The site was amazing and quite well preserved considering. It was like a smaller version of Pompeii in some ways. The Roman ruins, while not was well excavated, showed some amazing history. They had complete tile floors that were preserved under years of debris that I just found spectacular. Roman and Greek culture has always fascinated me, so this trip was really great, and we went around 6 pm so the weather was cooling off and the lighting was FANTASTIC for taking pictures. Again, I have a billion and will put them up asap!

Monday we got up early and traveled to Girona, the capital of the Girona province of Spain (of which there are four, Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, anddddd....one more, I forget...dammit...anyways). The city is famous for its bridges and it's amazing Cathedral which was built on top of pagan temples. It was a beautiful work of architecture and I spent most of the day snapping pictures of the gothic building. Apparently I wasn't supposed to take photos inside, but I got a few before I was told to knock it off so you can see a little bit of the inside too. After a nice lunch, we caught a train back to Barcelona where I spent the rest of the day with my host family.

I finally got to meet Monica! She's so sweet and really really really funny! The two of them together are hilarious. She calls her mother "chica" and it makes me laugh so hard! haha. They're really great and make me feel at home!

Anyways, I need to go make myself presentable as I have to meet people to take a tour of the neighborhood where the Trinity Space is! Hope you enjoyed this entry!! I'll be writing more regularly now that I'm back in Barcelona!!!

Miss you all :-)

~Amanda