Today, I took my Spanish placement test at la Universidad Pompeau Fabra (UPF) where I will be studying this semester.
Nikki and I
Nikki and I showed up ALMOST AN HOUR LATE, of course… Guess I’m going to feel at home here after all!
Seriously though, everything went wrong. We got all the way to the metro only to realize we had left the hot water heater on back home (It’s an open flame in a wooden electrical cabinet!!!) So yeah, we went back for that. We then couldn’t purchase metro passes because our credit cards had too long of pin numbers; After that, some little old Spanish lady tried teaching me how to hail a taxi cab, but when one actually came, she literally pushed me out of the way and jumped in!!!
Ok, lesson learned. Now I know how to reeeaaally hail a cab. (Don’t mess with me, New York!)
So, Spain was rough with me today…
Friends and I sitting near Las Ramblas
Although, later after school (which, by the way, my placement test went very well, thank you), we visited al Barrio Gotico and most of what it has to offer, including la Catedral. iQue increible!
Cathedral's organ
The Cathedral is so overwhelmingly amazing. It is like one huge church with tens of other tiny little chapels on either side; it seems like there is one dedicated to practically every saint there, even a couple of them dedicated to Jesus.
The ceilings are beautifully arched and tall; the wood work is so detailed, it’s hard to fathom it was built so many decades ago (in 1298!)
Sword cooling
The Gothic Quarters (Barrio Gotico) is very interesting because there’s so much old history concerning religion, kings, the Romans, etc.
Several stones near the king’s palace have markings from where swords were scraped to cool down after dueling.
The Old Roman Square contains the ONLY pillars left still standing from the original Roman streets, which are preserved under the current-day Barcelona streets.
The Roman mural depicts some of the old Roman traditions (such as the human pyramids which are still re-enacted in festivals today) and is located right outside the entrance to the Barrio Gotico.
Old Roman Square
Roman mural
This part of the city definitely contains some of the older, more historic areas of Barcelona and is well worth seeing. (Good, cheap shopping there too!)
Gothic architecture
Original Journal Entry Thursday, September 6, 2007
On European Soil 