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