...or rather the country of Catalunya.

Did you know that Catalan is a Romance language? Descended from Latin like French, Spanish, and all the others? That it is a combination of a few other previously invented European tongues is one of the many assumptions our CIEE program guides here in Catalunya were quick to divest us of. This fact also makes it easier to understand this place as a country of its own, with an identity distinct from toreadors and flamenco.

Here is what I'm starting to understand: getting lost is no big deal when just about anyone is willing to give you directions and the metro system could be navigated by a reasonably bright 6 year old. I'm still not totally understanding the eating or sleeping habits around here, and I can't say I'm in a big hurry to visit a "discoteca", but I do know that walking around in the Barri Gotic (Gothic quarter) gives me the indescribable feeling of not wanting to be anywhere else. The other day I bought earrings made of zipper tabs in that neighborhood. It's like a labyrinth--you turn a corner and a cathedral looms at you like the dragon in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

And speaking of fire, yesterday I went with my group of students and our handlers to eat fire roasted onions called calçots up at the end of a road called Avenida de la Aguas in the hills overlooking the city. We also ate: bread Catalan-style, (which is easy to make--just slice a tomato in half, rub it cut side down on a piece of good bread, toasted, then sprinkle with olive oil and salt), white beans, salad with tuna and olives, roasted peppers and eggplant, the famous thing the English call a Spanish omelet, my family calls tortilla de papa, and Catalans call truita de patates, fried potatoes with allioli, and finally, some kind of barbecued meat, maybe lamb or mutton or pork, or all three. We had beautiful sunshine on the way up and a rain shower on the way down.
It's been my favorite field trip so far, but then again, I still haven't been to any art museums! That will surely change soon.

I wish I were writing this from a café in my neighborhood, but I'm not sure people take their laptops to coffee around here. I'm still looking for the perfect place to write postcards. I apologize for the confused format of this blog entry, it's my reaction to starting the blog two weeks into my trip--perfect chronology feels unnatural. Next entry will be about my host family and college experience!

petos/besos/xoxo