PERI: School starts at UPF

    Well, it is official, I am not just here for vacation, I actually have to go to school... ;).  I have been in the Intensive portion of my language class since last Friday.  The class is going well, there is a lot more speaking and listening involved than in any of the other Spanish classes I have taken, and I feel like it will be very beneficial.  I have had a little bit of homework every night, but it has not been overwhelming yet.
     I have been spending my afternoons living the best of Barcelona: on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea and exploring the city with my roommate, Elizabeth.  Yesterday, we decided to take a walk through the giant park in the center of the city; little did we know, we walk through a small portion of it every day on our way to school!  We had no idea how huge it really was, or what it has to offer!  We came upon the main attraction of the park: a gorgeous temple-like pseudo-palace with lakes around and a gorgeous pond with fountains at the foot of it.  We were amazed at how gorgeous it was, but we climbed the steps all the way to the top to see the view from the top.  We then looked out the back of the temple and see ping pong tables... the same ping pong tables we pass on our way to school!!!  We couldn't believe that we walk right past this beautiful installment everyday!  It was pretty funny.

Fountains and temple in the park

Beach :)

Marina and beach :)

     I have really enjoyed exploring this lovely city; I am so proud of Elizabeth and I and our sweet directional skills!! :) (Ok, yes, we have had some minor glitches...) but for the most part we have been finding our way very well around the city!  We are in such a great location; so so so many things are less than a 25 minute walk away, it is fantastic!

     In other news...... Elizabeth, Mitzi, and myself booked flights to Rome!!!  We are so excited!  We have a 6 day break in December so we are going to go spend 4 nights there!  Other random comments.... there is a very noisy bird somewhere in our apartment complex (it doesn't really matter where, because we can here everything going on everywhere), so I have not actually taken a Spanish seista, which I am a little upset about.  Josefa (house mom), has made some strange/interesting dishes, and quite surprisingly, I have not hated any of them (surprising if you know how picky I am)!  I really have been branching out and that makes me happy :).  This weekend, we are going to make a trip to Monserrat, it is an ancient city nestled in the mountains about an hour away from Barcelona; I am so excited to go, the photos I have seen are absolutely breathtaking!  Will post pictures after :)