Jungle Trek and Beach Altafulla

Today I went to the Jungle Trek in Tarragona, Spain. The jungle trek consisted of many different obstacles done up in the air. There are many different levels in which you can start most people start at the beginners which is blue, I was following Ronak and Kylee little did I know that they were going to the advanced part of the obstacles. We started and I saw the height of these obstacles, I was scared as hell but I had no choice but to go because the only way you could get to the ground is by going forward. We did three colors orange, red, and brown, which are the hardest. I ziplined backwards having to pull myself across, I ziplined forward swinging through the jungle, I crossed bridged with only a rope to hold onto, I tightroped across many the jungle many times. It was very fun and I did things I thought I couldn't do but I accomplished them all especially my fear of heights. At one point my ziplining rope came undone while I was ziplining because I had gotten scared so I was holding on to the two safety harnesses and the zipline thing and I accidentally pushed the ziplining thing in and it came undone so it was open but I was still going. I had never hung on to something so damn hard, I was not going down not in Spain. Let me tell you when your scared you do things that surprise the hell out of you. Overall I liked the Jungle Trek and the moving trees we had to stand on  to get from obstacle to obstacle. After the jungle trek we went to a nearby private beach called Playa Altafulla. The beach was gorgeous and very relaxing. It was the first time I had set foot on a real beach and by the Mediterranean Sea. I did end up getting a stripe on my arm that is sunburnt, so now I have one random stripe on my arm. 

Dinner by the Sea

Thursday- Today was the day we took our midterm exams for our class, it has only been a week of classes but this program is only a month long so what did I expect. After taking my exams I came home to get ready to go out to dinner with the roommates as we won a dinner at a 4 star restaurant called El Cangrejo Loco with a beach view. We got there and the place was really nice although the service didn't start off too good it ended up being great at the end of the dinner. The dinner was a three course meal so I got a chicken habule for my coldstarter, seafood croquettes for my hotstarter, and i finally tried the famous Seafood Paella that is very popular in Spain. After the dinner I headed out with my friend Katie to Chupitos and had the Harry Potter and Jordin shots, don't know what it is about the fire shots but they are the coolest, especially when m thumb was on fire during the Jordin shot. After Chupitos we headed to Club Otto Zutz where the music was hip hop and R&B. It was a good night over all considering we left the club at 3am and had to be up by 8am the next morning for Jungle Trek and the Beach.

Indignados???

Yesterday after class I went to Las Ramblas which is a very touristic area of Barcelona. I went to the clothing store to see if I liked anything and there were a lot of stores. One thing that I learned to do while in Spain is never to convert the euro to dollars when trying to buy something, it will just depress you. Living in Spain and shopping in Spain or Europe is very expensive. I went to a store called Desigual and for one tshirt they wanted 79 euros which is almost the same amount that an original soccer jersey would cost. Its about 130 dollars in American money. I might just have to get a part time job to support my spending habits while in Spain...lol. Also smoking is another big thing here in Spain, its normal for everyone to smoke as they are walking down the street or as they are just going on about their day. The first days that I was here there were some people in the plaze near my school called Plaza Catalunya and at first I thought they were gypsie type people because they had tents set up around the plaza and signs and graffiti on the tarps and posters. On Monday I found out they were called los Indignados because thats what they call protesters over here in Spain. Los Indignados were protesting the budget cuts or los recortes of health and education funding. It is something normal to do over here in Spain, protest. The economy also is not that good in Spain as they are in a recession so our professor was explaining to us how many banks had let people borrow money as a mortgage to buy an apatment in a building and that many people have een getting laid off so then they do not have money to pay the mortgage and the bank keeps the property but the person still has to pay back the mortgage even if they get it taken away. I read graffiti on my way to school that said 80,000 pisos basillos y la gente duerme en la calle, meaning 80,000 floors empty and the people still sleep on the streets. This is a way of saying that people are left to live on the streets even though there are all these empty apartments.

Tapas...New Experience

Last night we went out to the bars to celebrate te 4th of July with other people in Barcelona. We went to Dow Jones Bar where the price of drnks is determined by the people in the bar and how many people are ordering that drink. The place was packed with tourist and students from the United States and Europe. As we were all having a good time everyone starts singing the Star Spangled Banner, let me tell you that was the first time I heard people sing it without forgetting the words, some peoples minds just work better with alcohol..lol...I like going to Dow Jones because the bartender Spicy Mexican Diana hooks it up with free shots, as you can tell we have something in common, we are both Mexicans so she hooks it up. After an exciting night we made our way back home. We had a field study today for my international marketing class, a field study is just an activity we do for the class which requires us to go somewhere to learn from something we do or someone we talk to. Today we went to the Association of Retailers here in Barcelona, which is like a marketing association for almost 200 stores which are located near the the Espanya district and on one of the msot shopped streets. This association is in charge of bringing in customers to the area and promoting the different stores and restaurants. It is an award winning association. After listening to the director speak tonus about what she does I mentioned if they have internships for students and she said around the months of May and June is when they need people to help so I'm looking into internships. Today after going to class and doing my normal routine throughout the day I was exhausted from classes and homework but that was not going to stop me from going to the tapas experience. Tapas are our version of appetizers. With the program we went to this tapas restaurant where we started off with some basic tapas such as ham and bread little did we now that we were going to be having over 10 different tapas...we didn't mind it was FREE food and being college students we never turn down free. WE tried everything from tortilla de patatas con cebolla to chorizitos en vino to even just hot peppers with salt. It was a really great experience and finally learning the names of some of the items was a good experience.

Finally...My type of Club

I have finally tried Sangria for the first time...let me tell you I'm not a fan, yet, maybe the second try will be better. While having the Sangria there was a bachelors party going on where they had the groom dressed up as a chicken with a hanging penis. They would call him bandilon (whipped) while his friends were blowing whistles in the street. Maybe he was the groom of a bride we saw dressed as an angel while her friends were all dresses as little devils and they were also blowing whistles through the streets of Barcelona. After we had a glass of Sangria at El Raco, we went to Club Otto Zutz...im probably going to be a regular there. This club was what I was waiting for, the hip hop and R&B on one floor, and the other two floors were playing techno and 80's music. Enjoyed my time at the club with the roommates although we got home late but that's what Barcelona is about!! The next day we went on a hunt to find the Picasso Museum. On our journey there we stopped to grab something to eat at a restaurant called Txirimiri, which I got a footlong sandwich thing that looked like egg and chorizo(txirimiri sausage). It was quite good although a lot of food. After eating we went to the museum and stood in line for an hour to wait to get in. The time went fast considering how long we waited but that's what we get for going on the first Sunday of the month which is the day that all museums in Barcelona are free. I saw some incredible artwork, wish I could post pics up but we were not allowed to take any pictures while in the museum. The museum is located in an older part of town where the buildings are very interesting and there are a lot of shops and restaurants. After a long day my roommates and I came back home to stop by the gelato store right next to our apartment. It was a good day and a good night. Now to do homework...:(

First Night Out

Last night I went out with the roommates to Espit Chupitos which is a bar where they have over 500 shots, i would hate to be the bartender having to remember all those names. At around 1am we went to Club Razzmatazz which is a house and techno type club, not really my style but I made the best of it. Managed not to get lost in the 5 floor club which had a lot of the same music. Didn't lose any of my roommates and we all made it home together. So far Spain has been good. I also met some Mexicanos from La Ciudad de Mexico, were pretty cool people. Next goal: to bring back sand from the beach for Briana...

EL Fin de Semana a Llegado...

So considering I was late to both of my classes yesterday you would think I would be on time today. Nope, didn't even happen, still went to sleep at 4a.m. and got up late for both classes. I am taking a Spanish class taught in Spanish and an International Marketing class taught in English. I also cooked my first home cooked meal today it was pretty good, chicken and onions. Going to take a nap as my sleeping and eating routine is really messing me up. I am still stuck on Iowa time so hopefully I can get out of it before next week. Need a little nap to be ready to go out tonight!!! The weekend is finally here and I am ready to go out and have some fun.