I'm not sure where to start, so I guess I'll just pick up where I left off. Last Friday we went out for tapas with our GAs, and that was  a lot of fun. Some of the tapas were a little bit to seafoody for my taste, but they were good for the most part. It was one of the girls' birthdays, so our GA brought some sort of traditional Catalan cake/pastry thing for us to share. After the tapas we met the other 3 groups of students and went to a huge bar called the Oveja Negra (Black Sheep). The majority of the students in my program were pretty intent on getting drunk to the point of blacking out, but there was a small group of us that just hung out and talked at one of the tables. The plan was to go to a discoteca around 2 am, and most of them did. I grabbed a taxi and went home, and judging by all the stories I heard the next day, I think I made a good choice.

I told you that we had plans to go to Montserrat the next day, but we decided to save that for another time. However, going inside La Sagrada Familia was free on Saturdays for the month of January, so after sleeping in for a while, a friend and I went to take advantage of that. There were tons of people there, and the weren't letting anyone go up the staircases inside, but it was still worth going. La Sagrada Familia is beautiful, but it's also kind of strange to me. Barcelona has all sorts of beautiful cathedrals like that, but they are just pretty buildings for people to see. They are like skeletons of the church, or like some sort of shrine. Christianity is in a strange state here. The citizens pay taxes to the church, stores are closed on Sundays by law, and very few people actually believe the gospel. Our GA explained to us a traditional Catalan addition to the nativity scene. It's called a Caganer, and it's a little elf-like character defecating on a toilet. Apparently the story is that he was so "moved" by the birth of Christ that he couldn't help himself. People just laugh at it, but I think it kind of sums up the general attitude toward the gospel here, and I find it really sad.

The next day, I went with some people to see Parc Güell, which is another place that is full of Gaudi architecture. I'm taking a class on Catalan art, so I'll be able to tell you something about Gaudi by the end of the semester, but for now I can just tell you that I think his stuff is super cool, and that's good because it is all over Barcelona. Park Güell is up on another one of the hills that surround Barcelona, so once again we had an incredible view of the city. Here are a couple of pictures of our trip to Parc Güell.

Nothing too interesting happened during the week, so I'll just skip to the next weekend. On Saturday, we had an excursion with the whole group. We met at the base of Tibidabo, and hiked part of the way up it to a Calcotada to eat. A Calcotada is a restaurant that serves Calcots, a traditional Catalan food that is really tasty and messy and fun to eat. They're a type of onion that they cook on a grill, and then you dip them in sauce and then eat them like this:

The bibs they gave us were also very useful for drinking the wine, since they served in in a special pitcher called a parrón, which you drank like this:

After the Calcots, they just kept bringing more and more food, and I think I probably ate more than I usually do at Thanksgiving. I think I counted 8 different types of food, plus dessert and cafe con leche at the end. We must have been at it for two and a half hours.

Later that night, we went looking for a festival that we heard about. It was supposed to have fire and music and meat, which seemed like a good combination. We found it, but I'm still not sure exactly what it was. It might have been celebrating a holiday or been some sort of rally for independence for Catalunya. There was a big banner that said "Independence and Socialism," and there was lots of music and traditional Catalan dancing, which was really cool to watch. There were a couple of bonfires and people grilling meat in the fires and sitting on the ground in circles with food. Here are a couple of videos from the festival:

  

Well I think I might have overloaded this blog post, so I better stop. Love you all and I hope you're doing well!

Un Montón de Awesomeness!

Hello everyone!

Here, they like to use the phrase, "un montón de _____" to mean lots of _____. Literally, montón means pile, and you hear people saying it all the time. This week has been montón de new things, new faces, new places, new customs, and so far, I'm loving it!

I met one person at the in Newark, and then sat with someone else on the plane who was also in the program. It turns out that there were several people in the program on that plane, but we didn't know it at the time. It felt like forever getting over here, but it was really only 21 hours worth of travelling and waiting in airports. On top of that, I lost 8 hours, so I was really tired when I finally arrived, but so was everyone else. 

Our "Guardian Angels" picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel to start our orientation. GA's are students at the University of Barcelona who kind of take groups of us under their wing for the first week or so. Mine is awesome! Her name is Silvia, and she might be the sweetest person ever. 

After one night at the hotel, we moved into our homestays. I'm living with a single mom who has two kids, Marc and Anna, who are 12 and 10, respectively. I like them a lot. Gisela, the mom, does art and music therapy for a living. They speak Catalan and Spanish, and the kids don't like to speak Spanish, so Gisela has to remind them that they have to speak Spanish when I am at the house. The house is apartment style, as most of the houses in Barcelona are, and the location is perfect. Out of the 31 or so kids in my program, my homestay is closest the University of Barcelona (UB), the CIEE study center, and downtown. So far I've been able to walk everywhere I've wanted to go, and I haven't gotten completely lost. (knock on wood)

We started our 2-week intensive Spanish class today, and I think it is going to be really helpful. I like the professor too. After class today, we went on a bus tour of the city, and we saw the Sagrada Familia, and then went up on top of one of the hills that borders the city. We could see everything from up there! Starting in February, I'm going to have a three day weekend every weekend (woohoo!!!), so I'll have lots of time to explore in Barcelona, other parts of Spain, and hopefully take a few trips to some other countries too.

I got to talking today with a girl in my program and found out that she is a Christian and is also interested in finding a church here, and is having the same dilemma as I am with what to do with all the drinking that everyone else is so excited about. I was really relieved when we talked. I think we're going to be good friends, and I had been praying that there would be at least one other Christian in the group.

Well I guess that's all for now. Tomorrow night we're meeting our GA's for tapas, and then to a discoteca. Saturday I'm hopefully going to Montserrat with some other girls, and on Sunday, perhaps Keri and I will try to find a church. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Hope all is well!

Love, 

Kori

Hi Everyone!

It's less than 24 hours before I head out to Barcelona! I can't believe it's almost here already.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, mine sure was. I had a whole month to relax and spend time with my family. No papers, no tests, no stress, just doing things for fun. We skied, sledded, played lots of board games and card games, and spent a lot of time on the new Wii that Santa brought this year. It was good to just be home for a while. I really miss getting to see Nick and Joe's games, and this break I got to watch them both dominate on the basketball court. I also got to read for fun, which hardly ever happens at Vandy, sadly. I read the Chronicles of Narnia again, which I love, and I'm halfway through East of Eden, which I will probably finish en route to Barcelona. It was also good to see everyone at my church in Rifle again, as well as reconnect with some good friends from home. I said goodbye to my family yesterday morning, and now I'm at my Papa and Grammy's house getting ready to leave for the airport early tomorrow morning.

I'll start meeting people in my program tomorrow in the airport in Newark, leave on the same flight as one of them at 7:00 eastern time, and arrive in Barcelona at 9:00 on Monday morning. I'll be picked up from the airport, and then start my orientation in Barcelona. On Tuesday morning I'll move in with my host family, and the next day will be the beginning of our two week intensive Spanish class. Semester-long classes at the study abroad center and at the University of Barcelona will start around the second week of February. I'm excited to meet new people, and see new places in Barcelona, other parts of Spain, and hopefully in some other countries too. I'll keep you posted!

Take care!