Brief vignettes of a day in Spain

First of all... even after dining on lunch for an hour and a half, our stomachs are growling.  Sarah P.'s sandwich was not quite what she desired and Sarah G. ordered a salad which was definitely a bad idea and from now on, she will stick to jamon o pollo (ham or chicken or some other type of meat).

So, that being said, we will each share our best story of the day.

Sarah P.: Once again, didn’t quite want to wake up this morning –what is up with that? I never sleep in! blame it on the jet lag. Nevertheless, after my school orientation, I braved up and decided to stroll the streets of Barcelona like a true Catalan. I found a quaint bookstore where I greeted the attendant with a cheery “HOLA!” and proceeded to scour the books as if I didn’t know that they were all in Spanish. Realizing I would not soon find reading material to occupy my time, I made a budget for traveling and excursions. Sad to say, on my way back to the school building to meet Sarah I did get a little lost but soon enough found my way thanks to my landmark of a woman sitting on the street outside of a store called “Orange”…how clever.

Sarah G.: As I was strolling through Plaza Catalunya today, attempting to avoid the swarm of pigeons flying towards me, I noticed a man moving closer towards me with each step.  I tightened my grip on my bag and picked up the pace, sure that this man was going to enact some pickpocketing ploy.  He asked me in Spanish for directions to find the train which I didn't know how to get to.  I was amazed to be asked for directions because that meant that it must have looked like I had some idea of what I was doing.  To make sure that this was really the case, and that it hadn't been an averted pickpocket attempt, I watched the man looking very confused.  So, yes, I was mistaken for a Spaniard!!