I have a home!!

Hi again, everyone!

For those people who have found my blog by accident, thanks for coming!! Check out my first post for a synopsis of what I'm doing in Barcelona. This is geared mostly toward family and friend-type readership, but if you have any questions about Barcelona, feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I'll do my best to help you out!!

I am writing this update from my very own desk in my very own room! After being frustrated the majority of last week, I visited three places on Sunday and got three offers! How strange. In another interesting twist, the place I ended up choosing is not a result of any internet searching that I was doing. Instead, I just mentioned in passing to the guy working at the hostel that I was looking for a place, and he goes 'oh, well there is a room open in my flat, we haven't been looking for someone, but you're welcome to live there if you want!' So I went to visit-- it is in a barrio called Poble Sec (meaning Dry Town in Catalan, apparently because they didn't install the first water fountain until 1854- I need to verify that one though). It is not one of the places I had been looking, but in talking more to people, it comes extremely highly recommended. So I moved in last night! It is a fifteen minute walk to the beach, ten minutes to the port, I walked up to the Montjuic Castle this morning, and my commute to work will be 20 minutes, tops. Perfect!

My roommates are Tiago, who is Portuguese, and Matteo, from Italy. So there's the potential to walk out of here with five languages! I need a lot more work on my Spanish, of course, first. Tiago is 22 and works crazy 8:30 pm - 8:30 am shifts at the hostel to pay for classes in photographic journalism, while Matteo is older and works in accounting at a Beyer Pharmaceutical office just outside the city. Both seem to be awesome people, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them!

Here's some Catalan culture for you. Each year Catalunya celebrates their 'independence' on the 11th of September. Tiago was griping about this to me last night, though, since theres nothing independent about Catalunya, haha- it is firmly a state in Spain. However, I get the feeling that Spaniards are willing to do anything for a day off, so it amounts to a big party. There are some people who are slightly more involved, and so there are Catalunyan flags springing up all over the city. The state of Catalunya has a red and yellow striped flag, while the independence flag (not recognized by the main government), has a blue triangle on the left with a star in it. I've seen both all over the place today.

So since nothing official is open today for the holiday, I mentioned that I climbed up to the Castell de Montjuic. I didn't take a map, but knew that there was a castle up there somewhere, so I just took off from my house. It took about 45 minutes of gorgeous gardens and vistas before I reached the castle, which is stunning (I already hate tourists). Despite a rather hazy day in the city, the views from Montjuic are superb. I don't actually know very much history about the castle, as this was a serious impromptu visit, but I'm sure I'll be there again so I'll keep you posted.

On the way back down, I ran into a huge crowd in the square at the base of my street. I had heard something about 'Castellers' before, but didn't expect to see them at this festival. So when I saw tiny girls climbing around a huge human tower, to say I was amazed would be an understatement. I stayed to watch for 20 minutes as they did three different towers, all equally high and scary, and all successful.

Hey, I made a flickr account! I will upload a lot of the photos I have taken to it in a minute, so check it out!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasclift
I will post a few select ones here, but that's the place to go to see a bunch.

Thanks again for stopping by! I miss everyone lots!!!

Hasta Luego!