Just when I think I have it all together...

First and foremost, my apologies for not blogging as often as I had been earlier in the semester. Honestly, my life has gotten less interesting on a day to day basis so I basically just wait until I have something notable to blog about.

So this past week has consisted of me going to class and hating every second of being in class because there are so many better things to be doing. One cool thing about the classes here are the "study journeys". There are a few for each class and we go to places around Barcelona that are related to the class material. For example, for my Politics in Spain class we took a study journey to one of the preserved bomb shelters that was used during the Spanish Civil War (late 1930s before WWII). We go on these journeys during class time so it is nice to get out of the building and spend some time outside seeing new things. Other than that, Spanish class is my saving grace. There are 11 girls in my class and my teacher Raúl is the funniest little Spaniard there ever was. We literally just hang out and tell stories in Spanish (to get practice speaking) for the first half of the class. There are some (few) positives to the "study" part of study abroad!

Seeing as I have been here for a month, I was under the impression that I had a pretty good grasp on Barcelona and the life here. On Tuesday night I went out with Angie and Bo for our friend Saleh's birthday. It was a good time and around 2:30 or so we decided to head home. Because the metro stops running at 12 on weekdays, we could have taken a cab home or walked. Taking cabs is getting way too expensive so Angie, Bo, and I decided to walk home. Bo and I live close to each other so we parted ways with Angie and then it came time for Bo and I to part ways. Quick side note that Bo is the master of directions so he is very helpful when we are trying to get places. He gave me some direction and I was positive that I could make it home. So here I am, walking home alone around 3 am, definitely going in the right direction (I would just like to take a second to point out that walking alone at night is completely fine here as their main crime is pickpocketing which takes place during the busy hours of the day). I walk for about 20 minutes and then think, "I probably should have seen a familiar street by now..." so now I'm walking in circles looking for a familiar street name and that is just not happening. I definitely had the option of calling Bo and asking him for directions again to get home but I was trying to be an independent girl and getting home all on my own. I am way too proud. I ended up getting scared and getting a taxi. Once I got in the taxi I was able to effectively communicate in Spanish how lost I am and the driver was luckily extremely nice and helpful. I finally get home and the cab fare is 3.60€ including the entrance fee so I was really close to home...oh well. I gave him a 5 and told him to keep it for being such a good help. Lesson learned: I don't know where the f**k I'm going. Ever.

My next blog worthy story took place last night at a very, very local Spanish club. I swear we were the only Americans there. I went to the bathroom (alone-like the independent girl I am) and waited in a line that wasn't really the line because I am so American and dumb. Anyway, I get to the real bathrooms and I go to walk into the stall and close the door (the stalls here are like little booths, the doors are like real doors). When I went to close it I guess this girls hand or foot or something was in the way (I honestly have no idea) and she literally screamed at the top her lungs. So that was dramatic and then she yells, "¡Dios!" ....really? Ok whatever so I go to the bathroom and think nothing of what will happen when I walk out but she was waiting for me and she was ready to give me an earful. She starts screaming at me in Spanish about whatever I did to her and I can honestly say that I understood 0% of what she said (maybe it was Catalan?) but either way, all I said was, "No hablo bastante español lo siento" (I don't speak enough Spanish, sorry) and ran out of there like a bat out of hell. Thank god I just peed or else I probably would have peed my pants out of sheer terror of this Spanish chick. These girls are scary, let me tell you.

I'm gonna brush up on my Spanish fighting words. That will show them next time.

Today I did not leave the house (maybe I was hungover from last night, it's a possibility) but then Mercedes made a judgey comment about me still being home to my roommate so when it was dinner time I put my glasses on and pretended that I studied all day. In reality, I watched Frozen again.

Tomorrow we are going to the festival in honor of Barcelona's patron saint, Sant Eulalia. There's going to be castells (human towers that I have previously blogged about) and a parade and it sounds like it's going to be awesome I'm so excited! Then this weekend we're going to Prague so I'm also really excited for that. All that's standing in my way is two papers that I have to write...woo school.

Angela