What I/We have been up to

Hey everyone! This is Chad. Yeah, sorry about recent posts, or lack thereof. I've been running all over the place and the Internet hasn't been that great. Sorry the pictures didn't come up. I tried posting that one a couple times. Anyway, I've been having a great time with Michelle. Madrid was awesome.

Anyway, I just got done with my econ final. I can't lie, I probably could have studied more for it, but I only need a 6/10 on it to get an A in the class, so I think I did all right. Michelle is currently with a friend of hers who is studying abroad in France but is visiting BCN. This gives me a chance to study and write a post that my Internet audience deserves.

On Monday morning I woke up early, picked up Michelle, gave my presentations, and then met up with Michelle. We got something to eat at the sandwich shop and got some gelato. We then went to the cathedral of Barcelona. And now the moment you may have been waiting for, here's a picture of Michelle on top of the cathedral (followed by a picture of me).
We then walked around a bit but by 5:00-ish, the jet lagged Michelle needed to go back. She took a small nap and then had dinner with all of us. She knows pretty darn good Spanish. It was a great experience for her. She enjoyed talking to our señor and his son. He probably enjoyed it, too. Normally he basically talked to my one housemate who speaks Spanish. So that was good. She's experiencing a tiny study abroad experience.

That night we went to this bar and stayed out until about 2am. It was a nice warm up for the nights that were to come. She had a great time, and the next day I took the day off from school and we first went to Parc Güel, a park designed by Gaudí. Michelle really enjoyed it. Here's some pictures of it. This is also the place with the world's largest public bench (makes me wonder what is the world's largest private bench). You may remember some of this stuff from previous posts.

And the outfit I'm wearing is my Christmas gift from Michelle. Carrie, I'm sure you'll like it. So I have my sisters and a girlfriend trying to dress me up.

After that we went to La Pedrera, an apartment designed by Gaudí. Here are some pictures from the roof. It was really interesting. Inside we learned a lot about Gaudí and how he designed some of his things. You'll probably figure out by the end of this post that Michelle and I are kinda nerdy...
Sagrada Familia in the background.

Here's Michelle drinking from a fountain at the top of Las Ramblas. If you drink from there, you're suppose to return to Barcelona some day. We were going to go to Batlló, another house designed by Gaudí, but for some random reason it was close that day. We ate at Pans & Company and got down to the waterfront. It was a little cold and Michelle still has yet to get a chance to get over jet lag, so we headed back to our homestay around 6 or 7. This is my trying to figure out the most efficient way to take the metro back.

You have to admit, I look good doing it.

We took a nap, ate, and then go ready for a big night out. We went to Pippermint first, the place that Michelle can assure you that yes, there are 13L beers. Here's a 2L drink. Pssh, pansy-esque.Next we went to the club called Up & Down. It was its 2 year anniversary so it was a big party and a lot of fun. We stayed there until a little after 4am or so and headed back.

The next day Michelle met me by Farggi (coffee shop) by my school after my classes. We then met up and went to an intercambio. She really liked talking with my guy. We had lunch at a very Catalan place and had a great time talking in Spanish/English. She made the process a lot smoother because she could translate some things.

We tried to go to Sagrada Familia, but we didn't have enough time. We went to Montjuïc and walked around that place for a bit. Here's us at the Olympic Stadium and a museum there. I guess I asked a professional photographer to take the picture because he took forever and produced some sweet photos like this one (the second one. We took the first one).

We then went to the Miró museum with my art class. My teacher let her tag along. We then went home and got ready for a game between Barça and Stuttgart. That was a lot of fun.
Wow, the Internet is flying right now. Lucky you. Tons of pictures, haha.

Anyway, we got home, and she was tired, but she still wanted to go out. We took a cab to the beach area and went to a place called Shoko. It was a great time.

We left there and went to this other place called Opium, but the place was empty so we went back to Shoko. Had some more fun then left around 2:30. There is a strip of tiny clubs along the beach so I took her to see them. She wanted to walk by them, so we did. A promoter guy urged us to go in, luring us with free drinks, so we went in and stayed for a bit. It was a fun, small place playing intense, European techno. We cabbed it home and got some rest for Thursday.

Thursday she walked me to school and she went to the Picasso Museum while I went to class. When then ate at Els 4 Gats. Great food, like I said before. When then went to Sagrada Familia. This cathedral by Gaudí is still being worked on. It is very unique and you can see the influences that nature has had on him. Gaudí was pretty much a genius from what I've seen.



We then went to Batlló, the house he designed.

That night I took her to a local bar near our homestay and then we went to Otto Zutz, a club nearby with 3 dance floors open up to everyone (as well as a VIP one). We stayed out until passed 3 and got some rest for Friday.

Friday I took my Spanish final and then the two of us got packed for Madrid. She slept late, and I think this is when she finally got over her jet lag.

For our first night in Madrid, we decided to party it up. We went to a couple bars, including one that played flamenco music. We then went to this club called Kapital. It has 7 floors and was crazy. It was a lot of fun, too. Michelle got a great taste of Spanish club entertainment there. There were buff guys dancing in place with their shirts off. Oh that's funny. We left around 5 am and tried to get a cab but it was hard for some reason. You'd think outside a huge club it'd be easier. There were so many people in the streets frantically waving down the few that passed by.

The next day we had a great lunch and then went to Reina Sofia, the museum that has Picasso's Guernica and other modern/contemporary works (Dalí, Miró, etc). We spent several hours there. It was a great time. We went back to our hostel and crashed a bit before going out to have dinner at, um, midnight. While we were leaving, people were still going in. It was nuts. This is Michelle at the museum.

The next day we woke up early and went to El Prado, the huge museum with Goya, Velásquez, El Greco, and much much more. So much that we spent 5 hours there. Whew.
Before we went in.

And after we went in.We then hopped on a plane, got back to BCN, slept, and I think you're caught up. Whew. I now need to study for my next final before Michelle gets back home. I hope you enjoyed this blog and are having a great week. Christmas is coming!