BCN Day 1- May 30, 2010

Barcelona today! We had another nice hotel breakfast and set out on our 8 hour bus ride, which happened to be just as long as my planeride to Spain. It wasn’t too bad of a ride, minus the rest stop where we had lunch in which someone found a maggot in their food, and before we knew it we were in Barcelona!! I was so nervous to meet our host family, but also eager to finally practice some Spanish. We finally arrived in the city, with its palm trees and interesting buildings, and got to our stop in which all the Spanish “moms and dads” were waiting for us. Dana and I found our host mom right away, Asuncion. She was this sweet little lady with a big smile. She helped us with our things and walked us to the bus stop that would be taking us to the apartment. Dana and I communicated with her in broken Spanish on the ride home, Dana doing better than I as Spanish is her major. The apartment was quaint, nicely decorated and very “homey.” Much to our surprise Dana and I got our own rooms! Mine has some nice space savers in it including a couple very tall armoires in the corner and a raised bed over a desk. After we unpacked our things a bit, Asunsion walked us to a nearby park where her husband and friends were hanging out and enjoying some beer. There was some sort event going on at the time that they were all celebrating. My first outside festival! Their friends were all very nice and I did my best to talk to them. After the event we all went back to the apartment for dinner. Our program had told us that it wasn’t very common for families to entertain guests, so Dana and I found it amusing that our family had guests over the very first night. Dinner was a little intimating due to all eyes on Dana and I, but they were friendly eyes so it wasn’t too too scary. Dinner was late so by the time it ended I was ready for sleep. My first day in Barcelona! I had no idea what to expect for the next 6 weeks…