Today a Pigeon Pooped on my Foot :(

It was in the middle of Barcelona in this plaza and the people in front of me decided to scare up some of the hundreds of pigeons that hang around. Apparently one of them was quite frightened. I'm luck my book bag is so well stocked for such emergencies and the disaster was cleaned promptly.

Today in Barcelona we were able to walk around and visit the sights we saw on our bus tour yesterday. The people here are all so fashionable, the architecture is breathtaking, the art is everywhere, and the food is to die for. We started today with the open air market--so cool! There are booths filled with fruit, candy, fresh nuts, meat, bread, fresh fish...anything you could every want. It was filled with people and you need to use your elbows to make it through the crowd. In Spain it is normal to bump into people when you walk--even when it is not that crowded. We then took the bus up to a palace that serves as the national art museum. I saw a few Picasso's and a ton of other great work dating all the way back to the 1100's! You can't find that in America. The Olympic Stadium from 1992 was just a short walk from the museum, so we stopped by.

Our way back to the train station took us through the most popular street in town...La Rambla. It is lined with the hippest stores; from Dolce & Gabana to Puma to Jimmy Chew to H&M. The middle of the street has a large grassy area filled. Here there are all sorts of venders [lots of people selling pigeons--keep them away from me!] and one-man acts. There are the clowns that squeak while they try to take a picture with you so you have to pay them. There are human statues that come to life when you drop a coin into their hat. There are acrobats who can jump over three standing people! It is a whole mess of people and things to see.

Tomorrow we leave for Alicante where we will spend 3 weeks taking classes. After a tour of the University we meet our host families. I'm really nervous--I hope they are as great as my Ecuador family!