¿Is this only the second day?

I feel like I've been here forever already. So much to say.

So the room is pretty cool. It's dorm sized, with a couple small beds and desks and a kitchen. Roommate seems like a pretty cool guy. The hotel/residencia/whatever-this-is that we're staying at is pretty awesome. Pool deck on the 6th floor (read roof), internet in the basement. When I get a power adapter I'll have internet in my room as well. Definitely well taken care of as techies. ;) However, this keyboard is totally screwy. The punctuation is in all the wrong spots. lol.

Sharing the block with us is a market, so groceries are only a few steps away, which is perfecto. And of course, they have 1€ bottles of wine. Tried two different varieties so far, one which was barely drinkable, and the other which was pretty good. In the market is also a cafe, with awesome espresso. Aqui se llama "un cortado." They're awesome, and only 1€, as are the mini sandwiches. Que bueno. lol. Most of my meals so far have been tomato sandwiches (thanks Vickie!) with a little bit of cold cuts on them. Still waitin for my Stafford loan to come in, so I'm staying as cheap as I can.

Yesterday I devoted some time to digging up that modelling agency that tried to get me to work for them last summer. I found them, visited, and got a favorable response from the girl that I talked to last time, so I'll be doing work with them while I'm here. Hopefully I'll make some money, so my broke ass can go travelling during our vacation weeks. Working for them means I have to get a cell phone though, so she can get in touch with me. They have prepaid plans around here that are like 0.30€/min so I guess I'll be getting that rolling today when everyone goes back to work after the siesta. It's about 3p here now, so most stuff probably isn't open.

Michelle (the modelling agent) also wants me to do casting calls in Spanish. So I guess I better start kicking that back into gear. I can still get my point across in Spanish, but I definitely need to tune up my listening, cause I get lost frequently.

Found a running buddy. I will definitely be running every day I can with Kabir and anyone else. And I'll be working out with Zach most days as well, so this should be a pretty good summer for gettin in shape. Zach is the other cheerleader that's here on this program.

Running in this city is apparantly not the most common thing in the world, so we'll definitely be keeping to one park or another for our runs. We did our first run just around in the city, and for one it was hard to get a good run, cause you have to stop at all the crosswalks. And then all the people give you strange/dirty looks for running. It's like rudely speeding through traffic or something. So we're done with that. Would have been a nice way to explore the city, but oh well. The parks are beautiful anyways. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will.

This computer has 32 megs of ram and is running Windows 2000. I'm totally amused by that. Amazed that it's even running. lol

We went and visited the University today. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. http://www.upc.edu/
You can put the page in English as well. Seems like a pretty cool place. It's hysterical, they start telling you the way around (and this is our official guide), and the first thing they tell you is where the bar is and where to get cigarettes. They have like 3 bar-cafes on campus, and its not a very big campus. Quite the different approach. I'll have to get a gym subscription on campus as well, but its only 20€/month, so it's definitely worth it. 20€ setup fee though. Classes start Monday, all taugh by Tech professors (except for those taking Spanish classes). Here's my schedule:

Monday:
11:30 - 2:30 : User Interface Design
3:00 - 4:30 : Barcelona Architecture
4:30 - 6:00 : City Literacy

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday:
11:30 - 1:30 : Society and Computing
1:30 - 2:30 : User Interface Design
3:00 - 4:30 : Barcelona Architecture
4:30 - 6:00 : City Literacy

Friday: NO CLASSES!!!

So that's gonna be a pretty cool schedule. Probably run and work out in the mornings.

Still have to get my metro pass. Still debating whether to go 45€ for the unlimited/month, or the 30€, 50 rides/month. I can't tell yet how much I'll be using the metro beyond taking it to school and back. I'll probably opt for the unlimited, but we'll see. Walking here is VERY common.

Definitely needed all this time to get set up, especially if alot of the stores aren't open during the weekend.

We out last night with a small group. About 3 small groups went out last night, each to different clubs and bars, so it will be good to exchange our info. The TA (teaching assistant) also said he was thinking about setting up a wiki so all of us could share our tips on what to do and not do. I'll keep you posted. ;)

So that's about it for now. I think our window has a view of the top of the Sagrada Familia, which is pretty dang cool. Again, I'll have to take some pictures.

Ok, well I'm signing off for now. Hope everyone is doing well! The weather is here, wish you were beautiful!!