Eating Nutella straight out of the jar...

There are about six places I would like to write about that I've visited, but it seems too long and difficult to do. I am considering just uploading some pictures or just writing a brief list. I would almost rather write about the day to day things that are happening to me and how it feels to live here. It's boring, in a way, to simply recall activity after activity when traveling around.

Life in Barcelona is awesome. This is my last weekend in the city before three straight weekends of travel. Megumi and I have vowed to make it unforgettable. Friday I don't have class so I'm going to try to do something cultural like visit a museum or go to Sagrada Familia, since I still haven't been. I also want to take some pictures of my school since it'll be mostly empty and less embarrassing/annoying. Thursday and Friday night are for boys. Reluctant. Saturday Megumi is going to be Cava tasting and my other friends are going to be in Rome. I'll have a sort of free day. Maybe indulge in another cultural experience. I was thinking I could take the train to Girona for the day, but I'd rather save some money. Saturday night is our big night. Megumi and I are going somewhere really fun. We're not sure where yet, but we're buying champagne and drinking it on the beach while we watch the sunrise. If we don't become too exhausted first. Then Sunday! Today we bought tickets for a fútbol game! We're going to see Barcelona play Almeria on Sunday night. It's going to be so crazy. I'm not the type to spend money on a sporting event, but watching a fútbol game in Spain...it has to be done! Then the next week begins and I'm leaving on Wednesday morning to go to Southern Spain.

This past week my host mom's dad, Fernando, has been staying with us because his wife (my host mom's mom) is in Madrid with Carla (my host mom's daughter) to see the dentist. They've been gone since Sunday and I think they won't be back for another few days. It's strange, for a dentist he must be magic. On Tuesday Fernando cooked paella. It was so gigantic. The paella plate was as big as a large pizza. It contained at least three lobsters, clams, mussels, shrimps and squid. There were so many shells all over the place. I really like seafood, but it's much "fresher" here, which means it's much harder for me to each. When someone serves me a dish that has eyes and legs and hairs still attached, I don't know where to start. It's mostly the lobster and shrimp that gives me trouble. After lunch Fernando told Megumi and I there was still a live lobster in the refrigerator. Super fresh. Today we ate him in a stew for lunch and I got the head. I couldn't eat it. Seafood is hard to eat when it has a face. After getting lobster face in my stew Ana brought out a hunk of cured meat from Mallorca that looked like it was stitched together in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They told me the mixed meat inside was being held together with skin from a butt. It seriously looked like some kind of rotten football. And then I ate a big piece. Sabroso y picante. Cada día hay una nueva adventura de comida. Pan con tomate y aceite is so good. Bread with mashed tomato, olive oil and salt on it. Mmmm. I'm already wondering where I can buy Spanish type foods when I get back to the US.

Less happy news, Nuba, Ana's dog, is getting old and sick. She can't climb/descend the three flights of stairs to/from our flat anymore because her legs are messed up because she's old. Ana kept trying to get her to go out to use the bathroom but she keeps falling. Now she's started taking dumps in the house because there's nothing else to do. It's not like we have a backyard or anything. Ana tries to lay out newspapers and stuff, but I don't know how long this can go on. It's really sad because Nuba is like Ana's child.

I can't believe my stay here is half over. I'm already getting so sad. This life I am living is nothing like I've known in so many years. I have so little responsibility and so much time to do what I want. It's going to be a drastic and difficult change when I return to the US. I don't know how I'm going to deal with it. Though, right now I wish I could be in the US for a few hours because I read they are re-releasing Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. As soon as I saw the ad, I tried to figure out if I could see it in Spain. Unfortunately this appears to only be a US engagement. :( Someone see it for me and tell me how cool it was. I miss movies in English. I've seen many here for my film class, but it's not as enjoyable when you're trying to translate everything. Luckily, Jamie (Carla's husband) has a huge collection of DVDs (in ENGLISH) and is letting us borrow them. Problem is, when am I going to have time to sit down and watch a movie?