Today was my first day to make my way alone in Barcelona. I'm so proud of myself. I was able to take the bus, the train and the metro without getting lost. It's hard to remember which bus, train, and metro to take and which station to get off at. It's always a different one, so it gets confusing. There is something so liberating about making your way alone in a foreign country. I tried my best to find my way around with confidence. I think I did a good job. Yes, I almost missed the bus stop on the way home, but I still made it back home without any problems. It was an amazing feeling.

Alone at breakfast-time in Barcelona, I really surprised myself. I also was able to order my breakfast in Spanish from a bakery cafe. Granted, my Spanish is choppy and my pronunciation is poor, but I am still proud of the fact that I was able to do that. I wasn't even planning to do so. I was thirsty and hungry. So out of reaction, I stopped in a bakery and ordered breakfast and a drink in Spanish. It really surprised me. I had never realized that I knew any Spanish. I have never studied Spanish before. I think there is a similarity between Spanish and French (which I'm currently studying) and that must have helped me. Also, it helped that I picked up a little Spanish while living in Texas.

I met with my friend Helena in the next town in the late morning, after breakfast. We spent the morning eating pastries and walking around town. Later, after I arrived back home, Albert and I went out for granizat (iced lemon juice) in Barcelona. Dinner with Albert's family was outside in the garden, where we eat many nights. We had bread, meat, cheese and wine, a very typical dinner. I like the fact that dessert is always served after dinner. I love living in Spain so much. Even the simplest things seem so exciting here.

I'm writing to music. The neighbor plays the violin each night outside in the garden. She plays so beautifully. I love hearing it every night. I'm exhausted and I need to sleep. I'll write again soon.

Ashley

I had a great weekend, but am so tired now. On Friday, Albert and I, along with four of our friends, spent the day at the beach. We played beach tennis and swam. The water was so incredibly cold. After spending about three minutes in the water, all of our bodies became numb and it was easy to swim. Here, the water is crystal clear and so beautiful. It's so different from the Texas coast. The beach was so clean and nice. The only thing I'm going to have to get used to is all the naked and topless people on the beach. It is definitely a lot different than what I'm used to in the US.

This weekend, Albert coached at a basketball camp and I went with him. The camp was in Tarragona and lasted only two days. We stayed in dorms and participated in a lot of activities. Albert was in charge of a team of eight thirteen year old boys, so as you can imagine, the weekend was very tiring! Since it was an all-boys basketball camp, I was definitely the "talk" of the weekend. Everyone was so interested in talking with me, and many of them couldn't speak English. Albert and I had a lot of fun though, but now we're totally exhausted from this weekend.

Today after the camp ended, Albert, his brother and I explored Tarragona. Tarragona was the second most important city, after Rome, during the Roman Empire. There are still many walls and statues standing from the time of the Roman Empire.

Not much else to say. I'll write again soon!

Arrival

I arrived safely in Barcelona three days ago. After having to wait two days later than I expected, I was able to get on the flight to NYC and then the flight to Barcelona with no problems.

After making a friend on the seven hour flight to Barcelona, I stayed up talking the whole time. When I arrived to Barcelona at 9:30 in the morning, I was so exhausted and slept nearly the entire day. It felt so great to be back in Spain. I love the relaxed, laid-back atmosphere and the wonderful food. The second day I was here, Albert and I walked around Barcelona and then spent most of the day at the beach. The weather is 75-85 degrees all of the time, which makes it perfect beach weather. The Mediterranean Sea is still very cold though. I'm planning on swimming this weekend, but I'll probably freeze to death.

Yesterday, I saw the most amazing magician on La Ramblas (a major street in Barcelona). The tricks he did were all so incredible- so much better than any I had seen on TV before. There are always so many surprises on La Ramblas. After all, all sides of the street are lined with human statues.

I am beginning to work hard on learning Catalan. Today, while Albert was working, I was left alone with his mother (who doesn't speak English). She and I sat on the couch for an hour, with a Catalan-English dictionary between us, trying our best to have a conversation. She is such a sweet lady. She really wants to learn English and I want to learn Catalan, so it works out well.

The food here is absolutely incredible, as always. The diet here is a lot like a typical Mediterranean diet, consisting of a lot of seafood, bread, olive oil and salads. However, they also eat a lot of pork. Breakfast consists of pastries and juice and lunch is usually pasta and salad. Dinner is always the largest meal with a ton of meat (usually 3 or 4 different kinds -both seafood and pork), bread, salad and wine. Dessert is usually fruit with dessert liquor.

Tomorrow, Albert and I will have dinner in downtown Barcelona again. After, we'll meet a group of friends at a bar for drinks. I will start working on Monday, so this week is almost like vacation to me. However, I will only be working 15 hours a week, so I'll still have plenty of time to enjoy Barcelona.

I am already having such a wonderful time here! :) I'll post again soon.
(Yes Grandma N., I'm sure there are lots of grammatical errors. Sorry, it's 3am and I'm too tired to check over what I've written.)

Ashley

Packing

Tonight, I nearly finished packing my bags. Although I've been spending the last month clearing out unneeded clothes and old stuff, I still had a lot of sorting to do. Now, after a few hours of strenuous packing, I am completely exhausted.

I leave for Barcelona on Friday. (As long as I have no trouble getting on a flight with my grandfather's buddy passes.) I will stay in Barcelona until August 24th, and from there fly to London where I will be studying for 2 years to complete by BA. It still seems completely surreal to me that my life is about to change so quickly. In a matter of days I will be living across the world immersed in a different culture and living amongst completely different people who speak another language (Catalan) that I don't even understand. However, I'm not very nervous. They way that I view it is that I have an endless amount of adventures ahead of me. I am so excited about all the new experiences I'll have and the new life that I am creating for myself.

I will be working in Barcelona this summer. I'll be helping to tutor students in writing, reading, grammar and spelling in English to students. The students that I will work with will have a relatively good grasp of the English language, but poor writing and reading skills. I'll be working with a variety of age groups, but mainly with middle-school aged kids.
I will be staying with my boyfriend's family in their guest room for the summer. They have a beautiful house in a neighborhood of Barcelona, located about 10 minutes from downtown. His family is so nice for hosting me this summer. I'm really glad to be staying with such kind people and am so thankful for all that they're doing for me.
My boyfriend, Albert, who is fluent in English, has begun to teach me his first language, Catalan. (Which is a not very well known language used in Catalonia, an area of eastern Spain. Although it's not particularly close to any other Romance language, it sounds closest to Italian.) He will also help me to improve my limited Spanish skills, because Spanish is his second language. I will also continue to study French. Hopefully, I will be multilingual someday!
I have made many friends in Barcelona through Albert; All who are so sweet and so much fun.
I'm so glad to have a group of friends awaiting my arrival!

Although getting around a city of non-native English speakers by myself will be both challenging and scary at times, I think it will be such a wonderful experience for me. Also, living in London will be a really great for me as well.

After I arrive in Barcelona and sleep off my jet lag, I'll write again. I will to try to write in this blog several days a week and a minimum of once a week. I'll try my best to keep everyone updated on how everything is going and on the things that I'm doing!

Ashley