Adventure is Out There!

     I had the most incredible, truly inspiring experience today.  In retrospect, it affected me much more than I could have predicted and more than I initially thought.  As a field trip for my Cross-Cultural Psychology class, we went to a restaurant in Barcelona.  Unfortunately we didn't get to eat though.      To get there, you need to take the metro and then walk for about fifteen minutes.  You wind through small streets and back alleys.   All of a sudden, the narrow alleys open up to this: It's a beautiful park, with families and dogs playing.  Then as you look around, you start to notice the graffiti and the crumbling buildings.  It's like something straight out of Brooklyn.        Then you notice it, nestled in between the decrepit buildings, chipping paint and fire escape ladders: a little ray of sunshine in a struggling area.      The restaurant is called M...

     Today my friends and I headed back to the part of the city where the cooking class was last night to stop by the bakeries and do some souvenir shopping.  Things didn't exactly work out as planned though... Kelli was there...just not in the photo, haha. YUM Very crowded streets We're ridiculous, but we love us :)      We ended up in this square somehow ( shown below) , which incidentally connects straight through to Las Ramblas! We had no idea we were in that part of the city!  We've been here for two-ish weeks and clearly we are still learning where things are.  We'll get our bearings eventually...       We didn't actually end up buying any souvenirs.  We stopped at Burger King and went home.  Pathetic, I know.  Maybe another day... Aren't my friends cute?  We found Kelli, but now where did Anna go? 

     One of the cultural activities that the school arranges for us was a cooking class!  We had so much fun tonight.  We not only learned about technique when cooking a classic Catalan meal, but also about etiquette, the proper amount of wine to fill a glass with, and passion about food.  We were split into two groups, but we prepared the same meals.      The kitchen was very impressive; it had an old time feel, mixed with modern aspects.  Our chef, Luise, was a great teacher.  He took the time to explain everything and why we were doing things a certain way, instead of just telling us to do it.  He explained to us that wine should be filled high enough in the glass so the drinker does not need to tilt his or her head back in order to drink it.  He also told us about all the places he has lived (an incredible number).  He was very friendly and make cooking an enjoyable experience for everyone. Luise...

Las Arenas (mentioned in a previous post, but this time at night)  

"You've got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly, the little experiences that you tell at dinner. This is especially true when you begin to write, when you have not yet developed the tricks of interesting people on paper, when you have none of the technique which it takes to learn. When in short, you have only your emotions to sell." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

     My freshman year of college I worked at the college tv station editing videos.  Actually, that's where I met Brianne - we worked together at TVS!  Since then, I've grown a little foggy on how the iMovie and Final Cut programs work.       I decided that video might give a different perspective of our adventures here.  However, there's so much going on that I already finished one video!  So I may end up doing one a week to keep it manageable.  I haven't decided yet.     Anyway, take a peek at my video!  It's a little rough, but I will get better!  Hope you like it!

     We finally visited the amazing open-air market in Las Ramblas!  I have been DYING to visit this, almost as much as Park Guell.              When you walk into the market, you notice two things first: One, that there are a lot of people.  It's not quite packed like the straw market in the Bahamas but it is crowded.      And two, that there is color as far as the eye can see.  One of the really great things about this market and one of the reasons why I have been so looking forward to visiting it is that everywhere you look, there are colors and excitement.  Everything is ridiculously bright and vibrant.            I may have mentioned this before, but all the produce and meat here are super fresh.  It's not so much about having the completely red apple or perfectly round orange, but about how it will taste.  They use much less pesticides an...