on the road again.

So the rest of our classes started this past week. Looks like it’s going to be a great ride! I’m taking Spanish Literature and Cinema which I think is going to be a lot of work, but an amazing class. My professor Javier Pardo García is really great, very intelligent and he knows mogollons (new vocab word!) about Spanish culture and lit and cinema. Then there’s Phonetics with Prof Natividad Hernández Muñoz, or Nati as we’re supposed to call her. I think this is going to be my most valuable class because it’s going to improve my Spanish more than any conversation could. We’re learning how to pronounce things and how to use the parts of your mouth to form sounds. It’s so neat to learn about stuff like that, like learning that the way we speak is directly related to how our mouths move and whole languages are based on that. Next is Spanish Art with Laura Muñoz Pérez which will be great because we’re going to go to lots of art museums. Right now we’re studying La Alhambra, which we’re visiting in April. Lastly is Spanish Civilization with Maria Grande Jiménez. This class has been a bit dry this week, but I’m hoping it will get better. I actually did a fair amount of work this week, I’m glad to finally get into the swing of working again. Intensivo had some work, but it was more like non-mandatory work to help yourself. Now it’s real and I’m sure glad about that.

As for non-class stuff, a lot happened this week. I took a long walk during a break from classes to the edge of the city and found a beautiful view of the outside of the city and come of the countryside. It was a gorgeous day and the sky and the clouds were so vibrant.

outskirts of salamanca

Going on walks and finding new places has got to be one of the best things about being here.

salamanca house

Wednesday night Stacy, Dre and I went to this Bible study group type thing at Laura’s house (the girl from the DR.) We’re starting to study Acts, and this is a hard core study! We’ve got a whole packet of homework and all! But I’m going to learn a lot and it’s going to be great to learn all this in Spanish! Thursday night we went to En Vivo, a ministry started by Americans for Spanish students and exchange students at the University. Some Americans came over about three years ago and just hung out in bars and started to form relationships. After a year or so, they bought an apartment near the heart of the city and turned it into a hang out place in which they have various activities during the week. There are pinchos (tapas) at 9:30 and then around 10:30 they have some music and a short talk. It was so sweet to meet them and all the 40-50 people that come each week. I met a girl from Bolivia, a girl from Germany, a guy from Italy and a guy from Spain and got to see Hannah, Jessica and Irena. It’s another thing that’s really going to improve my Spanish, as all the songs and talking are in Spanish. It’s amazing finding all these things that really open all these new doors for my time here!

So Friday we had two hours of Cinema and Lit. We went home, ate lunch and then took naps, (of course!) Then Laura came over because Maggie and I were going for a run and she wanted to join. So 4:30 came around, when we had planned to go, and it looked a bit dark outside and we could tell it was drizzling. But when has a little rain ever stopped us?? So we took off anyway toward the park and about halfway there, we basically ran into the most violent thunder and lightening storm we’ve seen yet. And we saw the most amazing and beautiful lightening we’ve ever seen, in our lives! Dangerous, maybe, but we continued on, laughing about all the Spaniards rushing indoors and staring at us as we passed by. So we got to the park and ran for a while and when our faces and legs couldn’t stand the cold rain anymore, we went back home. All our appendages were beet red with cold when we got back to the house and Rosa must have thought we were lunatics.

ludicrously wet and dirty tennis shoes.


We were freezing, but it sure was fun.

Friday night, Maggie and I went out with the other students from JMU. We started at Desperado, the oh so touristy student bar, not quite to my liking, but we wanted to hang out with the other students, so we tagged along. We stayed with them until the decision was made to go to an all you can drink bar for 5 euro. So clearly, considering my drinking and spending habits, Maggie and I said ‘Adios!’ and headed home, making record time to bed on a Friday. Saturday morning we started our 10 hour journey by bus to Barcelona. It was awesome to be able to drive through Spain and see the countryside. Boy is Spain beautiful. It’s a breathtaking combination of burnt colors-reds, oranges, browns and greens. Really, it almost looks dead at times, almost romantic, mysterious, mystical--whatever you’d say.

beautiful colors

Around 4pm or so, we approached from afar what seemed to be wind turbines. As we got closer, we realized that there were basically huge fields of wind turbines. And these things were HUGE.

pretty sweet sight

It’s a rare, but very special thing to see something that you are just in awe of.

So after just a few stops, a whole lot of driving and one viewing of Mr. and Mrs. Smith in Spanish, we made it to Barcelona at about 8 pm or so. The trip I had been dreading ever since I knew it existed wasn’t so bad after all.

from the far west blue to the far east green
that's pretty far

So we got into the hotel, ate dinner and then a bunch of us met up to go out. Our hotel was like the farthest north that you can even see on the map, so walking to the city definitely wasn’t going to happen, so we all took the metro in to the major part of the city, the old city, with La Rambla, the main street Barcelona is known for. We met up with a friend of one of the girls in the program and we all went to his amazing apartment for a while. There were students from all over the world. Janet, the girl in our program, is a diplomat’s kid and her friend was too, so there were tons of internationals at the house. I got to talk with some Spaniards, a German, and an Irish girl. So cool.

Sunday morning we all got up, went to the Picasso museum in the middle of Barcelona. It was just astounding. I mean we all know Pablo’s a great artist, but it’s not until you go to the museum with more than 25 rooms all filled with beautiful works of art that it really hits. It was wonderful just walking though and seeing work after work, all with a story behind it.

inside the picasso museum

So after that we went to Montjuit, another place I’d been before to take a view of the city from a high peak. It was a beautiful clear day starting out and fortunately we got in some pictures before the clouds began to gather and fill up the sky. By the way, Barcelona is ENORMOUS. If you didn’t know.

barcelona from montjuic

After that we had some free time for lunch and so Laura and I want to central city and hit up a grocery store for fresh veggies and peanuts. My friend who’s studying in Florence flew in for the weekend so we met up with him and walked around the city.

Then it was Parc Guell and the home of Antonio Gaudi, another placed I’d been before, but it’s so cool, going a second time is no problem for me.

parc guell


tiling on the ceiling


parc guell

After that Dan and I went into the city and went to this music hall to a concert. That was pretty sweet, going to a show in a big city. We’ve gone to stuff in Salamanca, but this was a different ballgame and we took the Metro in, so that’s always fun.

Monday morning we started off with La Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi-esk church in central Barcelona. This church has been under construction for at least 100 years and is so unbelievable. It’s not actually the total plan of Antonio Gaudi, as he’s been dead for a while now and didn’t really plan it out in the first place, but it’s in a style like his.

la sagrada familia

The inside is under construction as well, but there are in place already some very beautiful stain glass windows, as well as intricate decorations.

inside cathedral


inside cathedral X2


stained glass window


stained glass window X2

We were able to go up to the top of the church and look out on to the city--that was a quite amazing view.

design at the top

Possibly my favorite part of the church is the front doors, which are made of wood, and have hundreds of words carved into them. They are so beautiful.

cathedral door


So late morning we headed to, La Pedrera, the home of Pere Milá, a friend of Gaudi’s. He designed the home they lived in and it was quite amazing. His work is characterized by combining architecture and nature. In part of the house, there is a huge open roof and there area plants everywhere.

inside casa mila


We got to go to the terrace on the top of the apartment building and see a view of the city.

from casa mila


After that we went to central city and had free time for the rest of the day. It was warm and sunny so the five of us headed to the beach. It was so nice, we just sat out on the sand and ate lunch and watched people. There were tons of surfers in the water.

line of surfers


It was freezing though, I mean, it is February. After an hour or so, all of a sudden, the sun disappeared and it got so cold. So we all bundled up and just withstood the cold,

barcelona playa

In the evening, Laura and I went to this Indian restaurant we had seen a few days before for dinner. It was great and cheap and really satisfied our lengthy longing for spicy food.

indian tandoori restaurant spells delicious

After that, we just walked around the city for a little more and then took the metro home.

It was a great trip to Barcelona, just long enough to see some neat things and have some fun, but short enough to be back in Salamanca when I was ready. I am so thankful that I’m studying in Salamanca; it’s the perfect size in my opinion. And I’m definitely happy to be back in a smaller place. Also, English is much more available in Barcelona, and it would be easy to get by without really learning the language. So another plus for Salamanca.

Still missing Uganda, especially this weekend in the huge city. I think I’m definitely a small town kind of girl and being in Barcelona really made it clear to me. So I've been struggling with that, but a huge comfort to me has been Laura. She has gone to Guatemala the past few summers and shares a lot of the same feelings and problems with me. And she's always excited to hear me talk about Uganda! Monday night we sat on my bed for a while and just looked at pics of Bundi and I got to tell her all about it! That was really sweet!