BARCELONA

We are still here for a couple more days, but I´d like to share a few thoughts about Barcelona.

1. Catalan is a very intriguing language. It is a mix of Spanish and French, both of which I can understand (well, my French isn´t so great, but I get the gist when I read), but when mixed together it can be a little tricky. They also like to leave the last letters off of words, such as -o, -a, and -n. Examples: informacio, turistic, pa

2. Mullets are cool. We have seen so many!! More than I´ve seen in my entire life previous to this Tuesday. And the best ones are the dreaklock mullets, which are quite interesting. I´m considering growing one myself.

3. Man capris are hott! I am loving the man capris, and I wish that American men would get over their ¨manliness¨and not be afraid of the capri.

4. Midriffs and bras were designed to be shown. It doesn´t matter if you are hugely overweight and unattractive, if you´ve got it, show it!!!

5. Everything costs lots of dinero.

6. There are so many international people here!! We have only actually talked to one other American the whole time we´ve been here. There are tons of French people and I like them.

7. If you get hot, just take your shirt off.

8. Armpits are smelly. You don´t need deodorant, just a little sweat and you´re good to go! It´s most important to stand really close to other people on the subway.

9. Baguettes are very common here. Something that we have noticed is that if you buy one, you shouldn´t cover it or wrap it up, just stick it halfway into your bag and walk home. This is very unlike our need to cover up food to protect it from the unknown environment, but I like the ease of just tossing your bread into an open-air bag and carrying it home. We have also seen a huge head of lettuce sticking out of a bag.

10. This city is amazing. The scenery and the buildings, and the people. Don´t get the wrong impression from my previous notings, I love it here!! There are things that are very different from my culture and things that I am familiar with, but I love getting to observe the differences and realize certain things about myself and the place that I come from that tend to go unnoticed. Although we laugh and kid about certain differences in cultures and places, I think that the most important thing is to notice the differences and appreciate that they exist. I love this place and can´t wait to come back!!