First 10 Days in Barça

I've officially been gone from the US for 10 days now, and I can't believe how much I've squeezed into my first days here! In just the first few days I've seen most of Gaudí's famous works, started school, settled into the Spanish lifestyle, and even went to a Barça fútbol game!  Here are some of the fun things I've been up to in the past week.

La Universitat de Barcelona

On Tuesday all of the UC students in the program had an orientation and tour of the beautiful Facultud de Filología (the study of language/literature/linguistics) campus we're I'll be taking my classes!  The university was founded in 1450 and the amazing building was constructed in the 1500s.  The building reminded me most similarly of Hogwarts, and we saw a great hall were graduations used to be held, the libraries, and the rest of the buildings.

The great all formerly used for graduations

This is where doctoral candidates stand to argue there thesis! Their professor stand on the other side in the same structure

Field Trips to El Museo de la Historia de Barcelona y La Pedrera

We also visited both the Museo de la Historia de Barcelona on Tuesday, and Gaudí's famous house/building La Pedrera.  The museum is underground, and it's all of these preserved structures from when Barcelona was a Roman city a loooong time ago.  While it did just look like a lots of rocks to us, it was cool to see that this old city is still preserved today directly under present-day Barcelona.  The museum is also located in a neighborhood called La Cuidtat Vella, the Old City, which is full of absolutely beautiful streets and buildings.

La Pedrera is another one of Gaudí's amazing pieces in Barcelona... can't believe I've seen three of his works in a week!  La Pedrera was constructed in the early 1900s and was an apartment building for Barcelona socialites.  We were able to tour the building, including an apartment and a really cool rooftop deck view.  

El Partido del Barça!

Last but not least, I went to my first (of hopefully many!) Barça fútbol games! The game was at 9:30 on a Wednesday night, and wasn't packed because it was against Malaga, a city in the south of España.  Our friend Jesus found tickets for only 10 euros, so about 20 of us from the program went! We took the metro from the university to the stadium and had such a fun night! Decked out in our Barça scarves we cheered for our amazing new home team.  I'm definitely a fan of fútbol, as the games move fast, and the fans are just as entertaining to watch.  Hopefully we'll be able to see many more games during the semester!

¡Vamos Barça!

More later this week! Today we're enjoying a lazy (very Spanish) morning, and heading off to an art museum this afternoon.  Adeu! (Catalán for goodbye!)