Bienvenidos a Barcelona!

Well I made it!

I left JFK in the evening and flew to Heathrow. The flight was only about five and a half hours. I love British Airways. The staff was so kind and everyone had awesome accents. I had about a two hour layover in Heathrow which was a bit overwhelming. Lots of shuttles had to be taken and I had to check in at a few different places, but it wasn't too bad. I arrived in Barcelona and then had to check in with IES (the program I am participating in) and then got in a taxi to my host-mom's house!

I am staying in the top floor of an apartment. It's a cute place. It's on a semi-busy street, but we're 6 km away from the center of Barcelona so it's not too crazy. I have a nice view of the mountains from my window. It is only my host mom who lives there. Her husband passed away years ago and her son is 27 and lives in his own apartment. She has four bedrooms, but I have to share one with my roommate (who has not arrived yet). When I arrived, Maria (la mamasita) showed me around. Maria speaks no English, so when she was explaining all of her rules (and there are a lot of them), there was a lot of confusion and laughing and acting things out. There are many things I am going to have to get used to. She is very peculiar, for lack of a better word. She likes her towels a certain way, and her bed sheets a certain way, etc. She keeps a very neat house, which is good because I like clean things. The shower and the toilet need to be cleaned after each use. The shower is going to take some getting used to. I don't know if any of you have used a European shower before, but it's quite different! She was not happy to learn that I was a vegetarian...she threw her hands up in the air and said "NOOO!" and I just smiled awkwardly.

Anyways, after I unpacked and took a shower, we went to her neighbor Rosa's house who is her good friend and there is another girl from IES staying with Rosa. Her name is Kate and she is from Alaska! Rosa and Maria showed Kate and I around the streets surrounding their apartments. They showed us how to buy subway passes, where to buy stamps, where the super market is, etc.

I should probably stop typing on here and go hang out with Maria.

I plan on buying a cellphone tomorrow and exploring the city even more!

I'll post some pictures soon.

Hasta luego!