Day 13 – September 10th – Wednesday
Last day of school this week, thanks to Cataluña Day and it went smoothly. I do have to write a composition and find a way to print it, but I have a four day weekend to do it. I met up with Ian in the Metro after class and we shot the breeze for a little while before meeting up with the ISA group at 6:00 to go to the Picasso Museum. It was nice to be able to get Ian in for free, too. It was a cool museum and we got to see a lot of the evolution of his art. Many people think of cubism when you say Picasso, but he was quite a talented realist as well. They say he never actually went fully into cubism because one can still recognize the form of his paintings. I had already seen “Guernica” in Madrid, so I has hoping to see “The Guitarist,” but it wasn't there. However, “Las Meninas” was. This is an interesting painting because it is actually Picasso's take on a famous painting of the same title by Velázquez, the famous Spanish realist. Originally painted in the 16th century, Picasso's version is quite different, of course, but all the parts are there. He did change the prominence of some aspects, such as bringing out the original artists self-portrait from the background and making it the focus. I had never heard of artists covering the work of others, similar to what some people do with music, but it was very interesting to see. Then Matt and I headed back home for siesta and dinner while Ian when to the hostal for the same. We met up again afterwards and headed down to the beach. We walked along the docks for a little while and saw the biggest yachts and sailboats I've ever seen as well as some wildlife. A whole school of minnows was up near the side, with a couple jellyfish and larger fish amongst them, searching for dinner. By the time we made it to the beach and sat watching the waves for an hour or so, the police came along and kicked everyone off for cleaning. I guess they clean the beach every night, which explains why its so clean. Some beaches in the States could use the same thing. After they had moved on to a farther part of the beach, we walked along on the sand until we got down near our school. Here, we picked up the NitBus, or NightBus, which runs from midnight to 5:00am and called it a night. We'll see what tomorrow is like, as it is the biggest fiesta in all of Cataluña.

Day 14 – September 11th – Thursday
I spent most of today on the beach, as was the idea in the minds of thousands of other Spaniards. It is quite beautiful just sitting there watching the people and the boats go by. There were actually not as many people trying to sell cold drinks today, which made it even more enjoyable. We had some delicious spaghetti for lunch with lots of cheese on it, but a rather small dinner of potato chips and deviled eggs. So after dinner, Matt and I went out to find a little more food. We were supposed to meet up with Ian, but apparently he fell asleep because I didn't get a call from him until 1:00. We did, however, make our first Spanish friends, Carlos and Gordi. We met them at El Gato Negro where they were celebrating Gordi's birthday, which was a few days earlier. We talked for a few minutes before they invited us out with them to a discoteca (this is pretty much just a dance club). They had free passes for entry, so we went. We hopped in a cab and ended up at a two-floor club near the sea. I've never been anywhere like it. We hung out here for a little while, danced to a few songs, and then took off. I thought there were a good amount of people there, but Carlos said he knew of a much better place. So we again hopped in a taxi (its pretty cheap when you split it between four people, only about 2 euro, which is not that much more than the Metro) and this time we actually ended up on the same street that I live on, just a little further up the road. This club was pretty nice and it was packed out. There were about four different rooms, each with its own type of people and music. We spent most of our time in the main room, as it had the most girls, and Carlos was chasing all of them. As for me and Gordi, we both have girlfriends, so we just picked out the girls for Carlos. The next time I checked the time, it was 4:30 and Matt and I were getting tired. It seemed, however, that Carlos and Gordi were just getting started. I did get both of their phone numbers though and they are also going to the Barcelona F.C. game on Saturday, so I will see them there if I don't call them tomorrow. They said I should get seats in the upper deck because they have seats in the lower deck and I can just come sit with them. Getting home just after 5:00am, I feel like a real Spaniard and I feel like I took full advantage of Cataluña day, but now, all I want is sleep.

Day 15 – September 12th – Friday
With no school again today, I woke up right before lunch, with is usually right around 2:30pm. After lunch, I met up with Ian and we walked around the city for a little while, before meeting up with the group at Plaça Jaume to go to the Picasso Museum. Ian just kind of tagged along and the ISA directors seemed to not notice or not care, because he came into the museum with us for free. This was a pretty cool museum, though I liked the one in Madrid more. Picasso was a very talented artist, and although he is best known for his more abstract work, he could paint in pretty much any style at a very high level. Many of his portraits are considered different because in addition to showing the physical characteristics of his subject, he is also able to convey a sense of what their personality is like. One painting, of his grandmother, was interesting because she always refused to sit for him and when she did, she told him he had one hour. What he did with that hour was quite phenomenal. I also learned that many times artists would go to the art museum and sit and copy the paintings they liked, of course in their own style. Picasso did this as well, which was my favorite painting of this museum. He copied Velázquez's “Las Meninas” in a few different styles including cubism and impressionism. There was an entire room full of these at the museum. It was interesting to see what he considered the more important parts of the painting. After the tour, we headed back home, where dinner was waiting for us. I had asked earlier if Ian could also come, not only to see a typical Spanish house, but also to experience the wonders of Teresa's cooking. She made paella for us and it was phenomenal. I will unload the picture I took of it and maybe you can pick out some of the ingredients. It of course had rice and then a few different kinds of seafood, including, but not limited to, calamari, oysters, mini-octopus, and another type of shellfish. I'm not the biggest fan of seafood, but this was perhaps the greatest meal of my life. Ian was equally impressed and Teresa was loving how excited he was. Though he doesn't speak Spanish, so I was translating for him, there is something international about, “wow.” Needless to say, we all had seconds and definitely were not hungry for the rest of the night.