Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Barcellona - over :(

Hola! Last night in Barcellona, this month has FLOWN.

I'm very happy with my level of Spanish, it's enough for me to have decent conversations. Actually, I fear it's better than my French, which I've been studying for the past three years. I would have REALLY liked to stay a bit longer to get more fluent though. My big fear came true, French has almost entirely slipped out of my brain in the last four weeks. The course has also made me get to know a few people from Eastern European countries, of which I hadn't met anyone before.

I spent five lovely days in Mallorca. Visited the island a fair bit, beached, visited the charming capital Palma, siesta-ed, enjoyed the numerous free chupitos offered by clubs near my hostel.

In Barcelona, I also caught up with Tom again (we've now caught up in 4 countries together!) and my friend Alizee from Oz and her friend Anne-Marie. We went to watch a 1960 French film open-air film with Spanish subtitles, interesting. To ensure I didn't miss out on enjoying Barcelona, I rode my bike for numerous hours around the city, exploring its most unusual quartiers and sometimes snacking on churros whilst riding.

I also visited a lovely nearby beach town (and gay holiday destination), Sitges, the Casa Battlo, and finally the Sagrada Familia, which was totally worth it.

The last night, my flatmates cooked me dinner and we enjoyed some last times together... packing my suitcase again was a bit sad, but less than when leaving Milan.

I haven't posted any photos on the blog, but there are some wonderful ones on my facebook page which might be worth a look - the link is in a previous blog post.

Tomorrow I'll be back in Conegliano, my parents are waiting for me! After seven months it'll surely be nice to see them, get spoilt and most of all RELAX. Oh, and I'm REALLY looking forward to a decent pizza and gelato, of which I've been deprived for a whole month.

Hasta luego ;)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Holaaaa...
before I run off for a few days to the island of Mallorca with no net, I'd better briefly update about Barcelona :)

Things are going just as well as I expected here. I'm enjoying the beach, the Spanish nightlife, the uncountable places to eat around the city, have made friends with a group of interesting people, have ridden a bicycle with no breaks, managed to survive a whole week without a map, and after two weeks advanced to the most advanced Spanish class my school has! I do wish I could stay a bit longer... there are so many things to do here.

Then again, I'm looking forward to seeing mother and father in 3D version after 7 months.

That's all I think! Sorry :p
Hasta luego... when I return from my island getaway ;)

Thursday, July 7, 2011

images

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150696192990035.706097.852995034&l=09eb298572

Sunday, July 3, 2011

hola...

I'm not going to write much, because during this month I'm trying to use as lease English (or any language other than Spanish, for that matter) as possible.

Barcellona is great. I'm living with a Spanish chica and two chicos, who are all very relaxed and friendly. My room is cosy and lovely, as is the flat, so I'm happy with the housing solution I found. I've also adapted to Spanish times again like in Valencia... finishing lunches at 4pm, and dinners at 11pm ;)

Every (week) morning, from 9am to 1pm, I go to a Spanish school with 8 other students in the class. I'm learning a lot obviously and it's a nice way to meet other people; I find however they move a bit slowly through the content so I'm investing in some private lessons a few times a week.

I'm very pleasantly surprised at how much I can understand and make my way through long conversations. It definately is confusing as I expected, in the sense that when you're talking Spanish (half guessed based on Italian) to a Frenchie, in the company of English speakers... it's common to not notice the change in languages, or respond to someone in another language! Very interesting and fun.

Also, I've had Mary over lately, she's "couch-surfing" with me for 6 days. We had a fun weekend which included some beaching, a very relaxed pool barbecue with about 20 people at a beach town just out of Barça, and a massive free music festival at the Montjuic park, situated on a small hill in the city along with a castle, museum and other charming things.

Y ahora me voy, hasta luego :)