Days go by

I´m on my break in between my classes, and it occurred to me that I haven´t really said a whole lot about my typical day. I´ve talked a lot about sightseeing (which is usually part of my typical day), but not so much about my routine.

Monday through Thursday, I have class from 9:00 - 10:30 and then from 14:30 - 16:00 (ha I´m finally getting use to military time. My early class is Contemporary History of Spain. Not going to lie, it´s pretty boring, especially at 9 in the morning. After class, I have a nice long 4 hour break. Usually, I try to get some sight seeing in--I´ll meet my roommate Danielle and we´ll do a bit of exploring. Today we went searching for a jewelry designer´s stuido, but it was closed. However, we did get to walk through the Barri Gotic and the Borne neighborhood, both really really beautiful places. Narrow little streets and cute little stores. We also checked out the Cathedral. Very beautiful. After, we walked back towards school and had lunch at this fabulous little cafe, Farggi, on the corner by the plaza. It has the BEST gelato and pretty tasty sandwhiches. It´s kind of like a Spanish version of Starbucks, except with gelato! They also have fancy coffee drinks, but they´re pretty pricey. For regular coffee there are a few choices: cafe solo, cafe con leche, or un cortado. Cafe solo is just plain black coffee and is tiny. Like really tiny. Like less than a shot of espresso, but waaaay stronger. Cafe con leche is half coffee, half milk. There´s definitely more of it because of the milk. I´ve had it a couple times, but I´m not too big a fan of the milk here. A cortado is coffee with just a little bit of milk. I haven´t tried it yet, but I´m guessing it´s probably a happy medium between the other two. Although, drinking a cafe solo is definitely enough to keep me awake during my afternoon class. I can´t talk about food without talking about pastries and bread. The bakeries here are soooo fabulous. The sandwhiches are made on fresh baguettes. I´m sure it will only get better in Paris.

Also while on the topic of food, currently there is a transportation strike in Spain. Gas prices are super high, and truck drivers want the government to help pay the outrageous cost because their livelihoods are in jeopardy. What does this have to do with food? Well, there are no truck drivers to deliver food to the grocery stores or restaurants. I went to the grocery store on Monday and there were very very few fruits and veggies, and almost no meat left. Should be interesting to see what happens in the days to come and whether the price of food goes up. There´s also no gas because the gas trucks aren´t delivering. And the border has been closed to transport trucks, so nothing can come in from France. I guess western Europe is also affected by the high cost of oil.

Back to my day. Usually after class, I´ll do some more sightseeing with my roommates or we´ll hit up the beach. However, the weather is a factor. Last week it rained quite a bit, but this week has been gorgeous. We make it back to the apartment in the evening, do homework, have dinner, and sometimes go out. And that´s pretty much a typical day for me.

I´m leaving for Paris tomorrow!!! I´m so excited!! We´re staying at a cute little hotel called Hotel Bellevue. It had a good rating and it looks safe and clean. The best part is it´s cheap and the location is great. I´m excited to see Ivana, too. So far the list of places to see is: The Louvre, Notre Dame de Paris, St. Chappelles, Arc de Triumf, Eiffel Tower, the Seine, the Pantheon, Moulin Rouge and just walk around. Of course we´ll be doing some shopping (duh, it´s Paris), and hitting up the bakeries. We figure food is probably expensive, so I think we´re going to stick with baguettes, cheese and wine. I´m also looking forward to the crepes, french fries, and pastries.

None of us know french, besides a few words (Bonjour, Au revoir, etc) and one inapporiate phrase (I know everyone remembers that music video), so it should be interesting, and if anything an adventure! I´ll be sure to update on Sunday night or Monday about my fabulous weekend in Paris!