Porfaaaa

Thursday was full of classes that I am pretty much over going to, but attendance is crucial here (and I don't skip class at Tufts either), so I keep going. I had a pretty easy Spanish quiz, we finished watching the movie, and Marga moved our Spanish project to Wednesday. Thank God. I came home after Latin America and hung out for awhile before going with John, Tina, Christen and her friend Scott to Bar Mediterraneo. We met up with some other IES kids there, and it was really relaxed and fun. We soaked up the live music and corn nuts and had a lovely evening.

This morning I woke up motivated and ready to hit Barcelona running. I made a list at the beginning of the semester of all the things I wanted to do/see/go to while I was here, and I needed to check a few more things off this weekend.

My first stop was the Chocolate Museum. It is actually a Pastry school, but they have an exhibit dedicated to the history of chocolate that includes chocolate sculptures. We're talking La Sagrada Familia---made out of chocolate. There was also Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, Saint Jordi, among other things. My favorite was this knight in an arena, and the sand was all chocolate sprinkles. Pretty cool what they can do with chocolate.

My next stop was the Museum of the History of Catalunya. It is in this big old building at the port, but the inside is really modern looking. I got in free because I'm in university (sweet!) and started my tour. There was a LOT of information, starting from Prehistoric Catalunya up through the death of Franco. While there weren't many real artifacts, there was tons of info and lots of interactive displays. I'm glad I came on a weekday, because I feel that museum would be really overwhelming if it was crowded.

I then went on to meet Holly and Tina at the Columbus statue. We were going to try to go up to the observation deck, but it is still closed for renovation, and the guys working there told us it won't be open until May! :-( I guess I'll just have to go back on April 24th and try my luck. So we decided to go get some lunch.

Now, there is a little restaurant that I believe started in Amsterdam called Wok to Walk. Justin, Noah and Kyle had been raving about Wok to Walk ever since their European adventures a few years ago, and there are now 2 in Barcelona. I figured I had to try it. SO WORTH IT. Oh it was really really good. You have options of noodles (egg, rice or wheat), rice, or veggies. They all come with some veggies and eggs, and then you choose meat and sauce. It was amazing and Tina certainly approved.

We ventured on to our final destination, the MACBA, or the Museum of Contemporary Art (after stopping for a yummy meringue, of course). It was....contemporary art, but interesting and culturally enlightening. There was a video of the inside of a guys mouth as he grunted weird sounds, a box full of old chocolate, a life size pigeon cage, and business suits with writing and stickers all over them. An eclectic mix but it was kind of fun being silly for a little.

We came home and after grabbing some coffee, relaxed. I watched some tv, did some reading, ate dinner, and hung out. We took it easy tonight because Tina and Christen are going to Montserrat tomorrow, and we all have work to do.

Tomorrow I'm going to go to the old Palace and hopefully Finca Guell. Then it's work time for me. Gotta get stuff done before PORTUGAL next weekend!

Besos