A bar, my homestay, peanuts, and more

Hello again everyone. Today, Thursday, marks the start of my last weekend in Barcelona for, um, I think 5 weekends. Goodness. So I plan on walking around, seeing the sights, and tearing up the nightlife.

Okay, I realize I've said, "I'll explain that more in future posts," about as many times as, um, shoot, I can't think of a witty analogy. Well, anyway, first, let me explain the Dow Jones bar. It's pretty cool and fun. I only went with two friends, and it was pretty early, so I bet next time will be even better. Basically, it's a small bar (not too smoky, well, at least not at the time we went) and a nice ambiance. There are computer screens with the prices of drinks, and unlike the lame bar called La Bolsa (stock exchange or simply purse in Spanish) where the drinks don't really change, the prices constantly change. If someone orders a drink, you can watch the price go up and other prices go down. Supply and Demand. Well, mostly just demand, but awesome. I talked to the bartender and he said that when someone orders a drink, they enter it into the computer that has some kinda program. Darn cool. Oh, and every once in while, there's a stock market "crash" where prices will just drop. Lights and sirens go off. It's cool. Good food, too.

Ah, and it sounds like Michelle will be staying a week at my homestay. It's great for her because:

• it's relatively cheap
• she gets breakfast and dinner
• gets to practice her Spanish and experience a homestay
• laundry is done twice a week, so she'll at least get to have one load washed
• She'll be with me :)
• It's in a great location
• And more

Now for the entertaining aspect of this story. After dinner, I told my housemates that she might be staying here. I explained to them that I was surprised he had an open room because the 2 Mexican girls were staying until January, and I didn't think he had any other rooms. The one housemate looked at the other and said, "You didn't tell him?" Well, it turns out the Mexican girls were kicked out, I guess. The one housemate who found out about it wouldn't tell me about it (he felt uncomfortable talking about it in the house), so I'm not too sure what exactly happened. I'll see. Regardless, looks like that helped me out!

As I was walking to school, I grabbed one of the free newspapers that they're always handing out on the streets. I opened it up and read and understood my first article! Well, it's more of a summary or headline. It's under the picture of the black man thinking on the right.
It basically says Spain is the second recipient of immigrants in the world, behind only the United States. Ah, and next to it is a bag of peanut M&Ms. We were eating regular M&Ms for dessert one night, and we started talking about peanut M&Ms. I saw these at El Corte Inglés and decided to splurge. I also shared it at dinner, so I think I got some bonus points with the señor, haha. Plus, I don't think peanuts are grown on this continent, so it was very special and nice to eat. Peanut butter costs about $6 for a tiny jar. Oh, I miss it.

Today we saw a movie and then discussed it in my class called The Iberian Peninsula: Cultures and Religions through the Arts. We had to come in early to watch the movie. It was called Le Destin. It was all in French with English subtitles. It was made by an Egyptian director and it was about a famous Muslim philosopher in the 12th century. It was all right, but still interesting.

The class has so far focused on Islamic art and architecture and it's been so interesting, just like my other art class. Again, I knew nothing about architecture, and very little about Islamic art (although I did take an intense Islam class at Santa Clara). It's so cool to look at stuff after you learn a little bit about it.

Man, I'm such a nerd.

I was supposed to interview a Spanish businessman for my management class, but I guess it was canceled. I'll have more on that later.

Okay, and one more story and then I'll let you go. I had two elevator "experiences" today (the second one had to do with the interview, so more on that later). Anyway, I was riding the elevator down from IES and as I hit the 0 button (I'll tell you more about elevators in this country later, too) the light read "-2." I don't know why it even has that capability. The door closes and it takes me up, not down. Doors open and I step out onto the 8th floor. I get back in and press the 0 button. The doors close, and then open. I repeat and the same thing happened. I press 0 again and the doors just stay open, so I decided to press 1. The doors close and I go up again! What the snap?! I go all the way to the 13th floor. Once I got there, the doors open, closed, and then took me down to the floor 1.

Sheesh.