Catching up...

Okay, so before I begin, I’m going to remind you all of the old adage, “No news is good news.” It must be good news that I am not holed up in my room all day and night updating my blog. I can barely find the time to squeeze in a few hours of sleep every night, let alone update this religiously. I’ve got a lot to fill in here, so I’ll just pinpoint some the good stuff.

Last Friday, The ISA group took a bus to Girona, which is about an hour or so away from Barcelona. We visited the city and did a photo scavenger hunt. The team with the most creative photos will win tickets to a cultural event this week. And let me tell you, ‘The Mamacitas’ are in good standing within the competition. The photos speak for themselves:

After visiting Girona, we took a bus to Figueres to see the Salvador Dali Museum. The museum had some of the weirdest things I have seen.

Dali’s Art: Things that make you say Huh?!

Check some of this stuff out:

a ceiling in the museum

We continued the scavenger hunt here, and left after about an hour and a half. I left feeling like there were more things to look at, and scratch my head at, but it was time to get back to Barcelona.

Saturday morning, we all loaded onto a bus once again, to head out to Costa Brava. On all these bus trips, I’ve realized that I am not the only one suffering mild sleep deprivation, because as soon as announcements are over and the bus gets rolling, the entire bus of 50 kids goes silent. Too bad I woke up at one point with my mouth gaping wide open, and a few friends snapping photos: Thanks guys.

Upon arriving in Empuries, we took a rather quick tour of some ancient Roman ruins. I think the tour guide could sense our anticipation to head to the beach, because we quickly walked through through the ruins, as other stopped to take everything in. Not going to lie, the majority of all of this looked like a big pile of rocks..

Beach time!!

just cruisin..

That night was the best! We all went to dinner, then wanted to head out. We were limited with the locations near our hotel, so we decided to spend some time on the beach. A group of us went into the hotel, and threw blankets over the balcony to a friend standing outside. Then a group of about 10 of us, snuggled up on the beach, then attempted to sleep there… that didn’t exactly happen. We made it until about 2AM before heading in, too bad.

The next day, we took the bus to a port in Roses (after stopping at the Supermercat for some necessary Don Simon.) We all boarded the boat and headed out for Cadaques.

What's that? You don’t know where that is? Well, let me just show you on the cheesy towel I bought at the beginning of the trip, which is conveniently a map of Costa Brava!

We anchored the boat near some caves, and everyone swam around in the rather cold but remarkably clear water.

i think we were one person short of a star..

We then headed to the town for free time. We laid on the rocky beach for a while, then decided after we had had enough tossing and turning over the hot stones, to go to lunch. After lunch, I walked around with Meg and took pictures of the quaint town, I loved it, and didn’t want to leave!!

Random Fact for the Post:

Spanish people don’t go anywhere or do anything barefoot.

Before the trip, I received a list of some cultural difference that I should expect while living in Spain. I thought it was odd, that it advised everyone to buy a pair of slippers to wear around the house. I wondered why, but bought some anyway.

One morning, when tiptoeing from the bathroom to my room (a whopping distance of 4 feet) I caught Maite giving my feet the eye, because they weren’t covered.

I asked her later that day why everyone insists on wearing shoes all the time, and she explained to me something about the streets and your shoes and how everything is dirty because you walk on it with your shoes. All right, I’ll go with it. I guess she makes a point.

There’s another thing to add to the list of things I’ll do when I get home:

--Walk around the house Barefoot. (Maybe I’ll do it while drinking a tall glass of ice water… from the tap!)

Hasta Luego!