Second day in Barcelona:

I can´t believe am finally here! After arriving around noon on Tuesday I was pìcked up at the airport by a member of the IAESTE commitee, who took one of my flatmates and I to our apartment. I´m now living with 3 guys: a German, and an Indian, and there was a Croatian (but he just moved out today). It´s a great flat in a huge apartment building. It isn´t at the center of down where all of the tourists are, but it´s very close to a good metro and train station so it´s easy to get there (just 10min). There are tons of cafes, stores, and a gym, so everything is very convenient at the point.

Yesterday I walked the very popular street: La Rambla. It´s closed off from cars, and on this street you can buy anything: rabbits, chickens, iguanas, chipmunks, flowers of every colour,... anything. There´s an amazing market at the top of the street that is a large version of TO´s St. Laurence Market. La Rambla is lined with amazing stores and restaruants, however the cafe´s seem very expensive. At the top of La Rambla is Plaça de Catalunya (which is technically the center of town), and at the bottom is Port Olimpic (host of the 92´Olympics). There are tons of street performers to watch, and it´s always busy.

Today was my first day of work at Pinturas Hempel. Everyone is very nice, however, I´m realizing it´s going to be a big problem that I don´t speak any Spanish. Most people at the company can speak english, but they never do unless they´re talking to me. Everyone actually speaks Catalan, which is a version of Spanish only it´s more like Italian and French. I am able to take the company bus to work every morning which leaves 10minutes away from my apartment (again very convenient), and even better they give me free lunch everyday. I guess technically they take the costs of these right out of my pay, but since you´re not forking out the $$ it seems like it´s free :) The drive to work in the morning takes about 30min, and the bus drivers are crazy so it feels like you are always about to crash.