This is a picture of the bullring in Madrid that was mentioned in a previous post.

Day 12 – September 9th – Tuesday
I had my second day of class today and am starting to settle in. I got a “muy bien” (very good) on my first homework assignment, so I must be doing something right. I like my teacher a lot. I've figured out she's about 28 years old and she is also of French and Spanish decent. Her name is María Trouillhet-Manso. You can see the French in her first last name. All Spanish people take on both last names of their parents, father's and then mothers, though her email address only includes her first last name. She insists that we call her María and not Señora because, she says, Señoras are older and have families and children and what not and she is still single and young. After class, Matt and I went to the beach again where we laid of about an hour, just soaking up the Mediterranean sun. It was pretty peaceful, except for two things. One, the onslaught of Moroccan immigrants trying to sell drinks. “Cervesa, agua, Coca-Cola, cervesa, agua, Coca-Cola, cervesa, agua, Coca-Cola.” Never ending. As soon as one would walk by, another on came into the picture. The other thing was all the little Asian women walking around offering a massage, aggressively. One of my friends actually gave in and got a twenty minute foot massage for five Euro, and said they were actually really good, using oils and everything, but still I don't want to listen to you're sales pitch every five minutes. Ian also arrived after dinner tonight and we went to find his hostel, which is off of Las Ramblas, the main drag in Barcelona where street performers, vendors, and pick-pockets can be found at all hours of the day and night. He hopped on the Metro without realizing that it was almost midnight, which is when the Metro stops running during the week. There was a nice Italian family down there too in the same predicament. The father had asked me how to get to Universitat, which was also my stop, so I just told them to follow me, but when we got off the train and got to where we needed to pick up our next one, it was clear there wasn't another one coming. With me speaking in Spanish and him responding in Italian, just like me and Jessica have done in the past, I eventually got across to him that we would both be walking home. They seemed not to care at all and just laughed and said okay. So Ian and I started our little trek. It really wasn't that far and we had El Gato Negro waiting for us, where we had a chance to catch up, so it wasn't too bad. Its nice to see a face from home. We left when the bar closed and woke a sleeping taxi driver to get Ian home.

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.