day 7 (1.10.09)

I cant believe I have been here for a week. This trip is already flying by! The last few nights were a lot of fun!! Friday night we went to 'Chupitos' (shots) which is a cool bar on the sea. If you look at a map of Barcelona it is right at the end of las ramblas (the most famous street in Barca full of street performers, shops, bars, etc.) The funniest thing about a map of Barcelona is that it doesnt have N, S, E, and W. They do not use directions like that here. In fact, the maps arent even turned so that north is up, instead the mountains are "up" and the sea is "down" and that is how they describe how to get places. So technically North=right South=left East=down West=up. I thought that was really interesting. Anyway, at chupitos there are over 300 different kinds of shots all for 2 euro. We didnt drink that much because it was a thursday and we have all still been really tired. Most of the shots included fire or other special effects. The boyscout was one where they set the shots on fire on the bar and people roast marshmallows on a stick over their shot and you take the shot and eat the marshmallow after it. I also went out last night but we didnt want to pay for a cab so we all had to leave on the metro before two or stay out until it opened at five. We decided to leave at 2. We went to a really cool Irish pub that was HUGE it looked kind of like an old opera house on the inside, we were on the second floor which looks down at the first floor where a band played all sorts of random music inclulding ABBA. It was a lot of fun, but a very short night. Now it is my first official weekend in Barcelona! All of my friends planned on sleepig in, but we are going to go be tourists today and maybe see La Segrada Familia or something else, tommorrow when it isnt raining, we are planning on going to Park Guell. This city is beautiful, I absolutely love it.
This morning I sat down to breakfast with my host mom. She was telling me this story that I thought I understood but I definetly did not. She asked me to tell it back to her because it was important that I understood, and I asked her to tell me again very slowly. It was a long story and I thought she was telling me something that happened in the past. Apparently what she was saying (atleast I think.... ) is that she has a friend who is the director of another program. There are two girls that they couldnt find homes for in their program because the house they were supposed to live in the woman got really sick. The director of the program called Antonia and asked if she would host them for a few months. She ended up saying yes but is very worried. We have an extra room here with two beds, but the director of my program doenst allow them to host other ENGLISH speakers from other programs. I dont understand that rule because my program allows to host other students who speak any other language, which I kind of understand because then we would speak english in the home. But, what I dont understand is that my program placed two students together in 3 different houses, so isnt that the same thing? Anyway, my host mother is sooo nervous about it. I guess it is a really big deal. Hopefully it all goes well because I am really excited to have two other Americans in the house who I can use the metro with at night and go out in a group instead of having to meet people by myself around the city.
I need to go shower and get ready for the day,
adios!