Barcelona: Day 3 : New Arrivals .

Today was the first day that we had almosttttt everybody here. It's almost hard keeping track of the days when you don't have work to keep you on schedule! We had decided the night before that a group of us were going to go to the beach today. The main ones are down in the Port Olímpic area, and that is the same place that I had been before when I came with the Student Ambassador group. It is absolutely gorgeous, and I'll post some pictures here since the one that I choose for picture of the day won't be enough to capture the whole experience. This houses two defining towers, in addition to a sculptural work of Frank Gehry's, El Pez.


 It was supposed to be hot today, but down by the water the breeze was quite strong, and it felt absolutely great. I made sure to pack on the sun lotion, but apparently I didn't quite cover myself fully because I have random splotches of burned skin. Oops... The water is a tropical aqua/blue color, and the temperature, despite feeling a bit cool at first, was perfect. The interesting thing about these beaches is that they initially drop off at a very steep rate, but then they drop at a very shallow rate so you can walk out a fair amount into the ocean and still be able to stand. The other thing that you learn quickly is that the water is extremely salty. One dunk underwater will surely teach you to make sure you keep your eyes above water....

Our group of six headed back when we saw some storm clouds heading in, and despite the huge billowing black clouds, it only rained for a little tiny bit of time. We had made it inside by then, and the combination of a cloudy blanket and the breeze made it extremely pleasant outside.

From then on we were out to discover a place to eat for dinner. Initially I think the plan was to all eat together, to go out as one big group, though that would still be excepting Rebekah and Croopatroop, because Rebekah was here with her dad and Croop hadn't arrived yet. But we escorted the girls to the Movistar we had found earlier in the week near El Corte Inglés, and then got hungry so we went on our way.

Apparently, El Corte Inglés is a big chain that had multiple stores that were around with different sort of themes. We stopped in the sports themed one that had all kinds of shoes and sporting apparel -- We were looking for a drawstring bag which would be easier to carry items in than a backpack. (One entry/exit into the bag makes it tougher for pickpockets) We ended up eating at a Turkish-run place, really small, but had great cheap sandwich-like stuff. 3€ is a good deal for sure. It's interesting to think about prices of things because of the worth of the Euro compared to the Dollar.

We ended out the night with everyone watching the Barcelona football game; luckily the girls made it through dinner and safely back without a hitch. This is the latest we've stayed up so far -- gotta make sure we still stay on the Barcelona schedule though! I think we're all still recovering from jetlag -- but that will hopefully be done with in a week or 2.

Buenas noches desde Barcelona -- nos vemos!