Mullets everywhere. Joder!

THINGS I LEARNED TODAY:
1. Mullets are in, In, IN. They are so in that they could jump flaming with fire out of a closet and they would still be IN. Watch out, I may return in December with this drastically layered 'do.
2. Bathing suit tops are always optional.

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SORRY this entry is long....future ones won't be, I promise!

So, it's been a few days and I'm feeling pumped. I was a little culture shocked the other day, but I'm all about Barcelona now. Vale! A ver! Pues, claro!

First order of business, a recap of the roommates, of which I have 5, not 4. Let's go in the order of our habitaciones:
1. Me: American chick, 22, endearing for all her feeble attempts to speak Spanish
2. Pavel: Chilean dude, maybe 28, an actual working architect
3. Maximo: Italian guy, 26ish, gay and speaks excellent Spanish and some English, a bus tour guide here
4. Maria: CRAZY Spanish babe, 27, does marketing for a hotel here, born and raised in Barcelona but has travelled A LOT
5. Virgenie: French chick, 24, here studying at a private business school for the semester, first time in another country
6. Olivier: French dude studying in same program as above, 24, magically nice, speaks great Spanish

Second order of business, a recap of how much dumb luck I have:
1. I happen to live right off La Rambla (the Michigan Ave. of Barcelona) and right behind La Mercat de la Boquería (a huge open air fresh food market) and a 20 minute walk from great beaches....score!
2. This weekend happens to be La Mercé, the one big annual festival in Barcelona. Fireworks, singing and much more all weekend long. Yee-ha!

Third, a second and final correction to my address. It was right before:
c/Jerusalem, No 11, 2º A
08001, Barcelona, Spain

And finally, what I've been up to:
WEDNESDAY:
After Parc Güell and shopping, Olivier, Virgenie, other French students and I went to see a movie (Mar Adentro by Alejandro Amenábar) which was great. Didn't understand everything of course, but it was still quite good. I then passed out for 12 hours.

THURDAY:
Went out to see fireworks with the French dudes. Have to say these fireworks were the most amazing things I've ever seen. The timing, colors, everything was more dramatic and artistic than anything I've seen in the US, which is saying a lot since I'm not usualy impressed by fireworks. Afterward, we drank vodka and apple juice out of a water bottle on La Rambla, listened to some Spanish babe sing in a plaza (a LOT of screaming, not my type of singer really), had some sangría at a bar and went sleepy. Best part of the night was when a French dude who spoke no Spanish or English made fun of George W. P.S. Love my French roommates.

FRIDAY:
Supposed to go for free on one of Maximo's tours but there was a miscommunication (which happens often) and I ended up just giving myself a walking tour. Went to the Sagrada Famila (AMAZING) and then stumbled, by dumb luck once again, onto my school and the pub we're supposed to meet at tomorrow. It's a quick walk from the school to the nearest train stop which is only 2 stops from my apt. By the bye, more dumb luck, my apt. is a block from the central train station which links to almost every other line. Score again.

Finally started to get to know Spanish-speaking roommates. Maximo's always at work, Maria parties all night and works all day and Pavel is always at work, smoking pot or sleeping with our French neighbor Claire. Maria and her friend Silvia and I hung out for a couple hours chatting it up and they helped me immensely with the whole "speaking-Spanish-like-a-normal-person" thing. The Spanish are very direct and have no problem correcting you when you ask, which is GREAT. Most useful thing I learned: "Joder!" which basically means "fuck." the Spanish youths use it after everything. Por ejemplo:
"Maximo worked like 7 hours today." - "Joder!"
"Man I have a lot of homework to do." - "Joder!"
"Time to make lunch." - Joder!"

SATURDAY:
Went to la playa! Virgenie and I walked an hour to the furthest beach because Maria told us it was the nicest. She said La Barceloneta, the nearset beach, was dirty and full of "Moors"....Hm, I'll take that with a grain of salt.